Susan Boyle: hairy angel or savvy media manipulator?
Now that everyone with an internet connection has seen her performance on Britain’s Got Talent at least once, and Susan Boyle has begun her stateside media tour, there’s an emerging meme that maybe she’s not all that she seemed. Reports are flooding in: she lied about never being kissed! She was caught wearing a leather jacket! She’s started trimming her eyebrows!
The subtext—and, in some cases, the text—of these reports is that there may be a backlash coming if her fans feel they’ve been snookered. I’d like to go on the record now that if it turns out Susan Boyle knew what she was doing all along, my admiration for her will increase exponentially: she goes from being a dowdy-looking English Scottish** villager with a good singing voice to a dowdy-looking English Scottish villager with a good singing voice and an amazing ability to exploit pop-culture media expectations. The latter is much more interesting and, yes, even admirable.
Go back and watch that clip again and see Simon Cowell’s reaction. If you look into his cold, dark eyes, you can see him figuring it out. There are very few people more media savvy than Simon, and he knows something’s up. That doesn’t stop him, of course, from giving Boyle a standing ovation—maybe that’s why he gave her one.
**Edited to account for my typical American ignorance of British sensitivities.
Clearly she was lying about never having been kissed. To me that isn’t a big deal. If the whole thing was an act, then she’s quite the actress. Rarely does one see such a perfect personification of the word awkward.
Comment by a random John — April 24, 2009 @ 10:20 am
How can it not be manipulation? Each of these contestants are pre-screened. They know what they’re doing (and have done the dowdy villager thing before).
Comment by Supergenius — April 24, 2009 @ 10:20 am
You saw Simon’s coaxing of the new phenomenon—that little boy Shaheen (or something)—right? Seemed very staged:
Boy comes out, putters along in some song.
Simon stops the music, says, You’ve got it all wrong.”
Our hearts break for this little kid.
Simon asks, “What else do you sing?”
Cue Michael Jackson’s “Who’s loving you?”
Surprise!! (or not)
Comment by BrianJ — April 24, 2009 @ 10:46 am
Well there’s manipulation and there’s manipulation. It’s not like she’s going to unzip her fatsuit and step out looking like Paris Hilton.
Comment by Last Lemming — April 24, 2009 @ 10:47 am
SG,
While the contestants are pre-screened, I don’t know how often the judges know what it is they are going to see. Is this person being put in front of them because they’re terrible or because they’re great?
It seems to me that the judges were expecting to mock her. Perhaps it was the producers manipulating them?
I do agree with BrianJ that the little kid (who I didn’t think was that great anyhow) was a total manipulation. And who on earth would have him sing the first song when he can do the second?
Comment by a random John — April 24, 2009 @ 10:54 am
I’ll add that the title of this post assumes that this is an either/or proposition. I think it is entirely possible that she is both and that the show is somewhat complicit.
Comment by a random John — April 24, 2009 @ 10:55 am
Said English villager is a Scot. That explains the eyebrows.
Comment by The Brit — April 24, 2009 @ 11:03 am
Eh, she’s a person. She’s now caught up in the whirlwind of being famous. And I doubt she has hired yet any PR manager to train her how to behave in public.
Comment by Dan — April 24, 2009 @ 11:22 am
That’s pretty much what I was going for.
Comment by BTD Greg — April 24, 2009 @ 11:33 am
As far as I can tell, the hubbub is because people are amazed that awkward, ugly people can sing nicely. If we have been manipulated because she’s not as awkward and ugly as she pretended to be, we all deserve it.
Comment by Norbert — April 24, 2009 @ 11:46 am
Welcome to the discovery that Britain’s Got Talent is a television show. It’s all a manipulation. Susan, the producers, and the audience are all complicit. Susan isn’t the first phenmomenon of this nature, google Paul Potts. His initial moment is worth watching because a) I think it is more genuine and less of a media manipulation and b) it was such a hit that it no doubt sent the casting producers of BGT scouring the UK for the next Paul Potts-like persona, hence Susan, who wisely stepped up to play her role. TV like any industry tries to reproduce and build on past successes. There was even an individual on America’s Got Talent that nearly mirrored Paul Potts story.
Comment by Brian G — April 24, 2009 @ 12:09 pm
You’re not going to convince me that Cowell didn’t know everything that was going on before it happened. Most of these reality shows are highly “scripted” and manipulatived.
Comment by Clark — April 24, 2009 @ 12:37 pm
Thanks Brian, I couldn’t remember Paul Potts’ name.
Comment by Supergenius — April 24, 2009 @ 12:47 pm
Said English villager is a Scot. That explains the eyebrows.
Being a descendant of Scots explains my eyebrows and generally surly disposition as well if anyone was wondering…
Comment by Geoff J — April 24, 2009 @ 12:54 pm
She’s probably not everything we’ve been led to believe, but I’m assuming that has more to do with the show and Cowell manipulating things then her having some BIG Plan to conquer the world with her music.
Comment by jjohnsen — April 24, 2009 @ 2:26 pm
Susan Boyle is having the time of her life. I doubt she is manipulating anyone, but I hope she is having fun.She has had a hard life, deserves a break,and her singing voice is beautiful.
The media backlash has begun- the obnoxious Daily Mail has been on her case all week. Nothing like the British tabloids to set a person up, and knock them down.
And, yes, please, there is a huge difference between English and Scottish.Thanks.
Comment by Anne (UK) — April 24, 2009 @ 2:30 pm
Plus, I have to assume that if she were out to conquer the world with music, she would have chosen a genre that wasn’t musical theater. FWIW
Comment by Sam B. — April 24, 2009 @ 2:51 pm
Is there anyone in recent memory that has a more unfortunate name than Paul Potts? How could anyone forget that name?
Comment by a random John — April 24, 2009 @ 3:21 pm
She’d be perfect for voice work in an animated musical.
Comment by BTD Greg — April 24, 2009 @ 3:53 pm
Well, there’s poor little Hugh G. Rection.
Comment by MCQ — April 24, 2009 @ 3:59 pm
Bah. Cynics – all a yeh.
I think she is what she is and that’s all that she is. Did no one catch the horrible Diane Sawyer interview with her? (Sawyer was horrible, not Susan Boyle). Susan seemed pretty genuine.
Comment by meems — April 25, 2009 @ 3:21 pm