The recent commotion about Britain’s singing sensation Susan Boyle shows that the 24-hour internet and media age can make someone famous worldwide overnight.  However instant success in the media can also have an ugly side, especially for women.

The video of Susan Boyle performing on Britain’s Got Talent, the English version of American Idol, has received a staggering amount of hits.   At first, it felt like your typical feel good story: an everyday woman blasting from obscurity to international success and getting recognized for her incredible singing talents.  However as the story has grown, the obsession about her looks and sexual history reflects a sad reality of the scrutiny women must endure in the media.

Ironically a similar story happened in 2007 for Paul Potts who also performed on Britain’s Got Talent.  He was an overnight sensation, blowing the judges away with his incredible operatic voice.  He, like Susan Boyle, was not your typical looking singer: young, thin, beautiful, perfectly coiffed and well dressed.  In less than thirty seconds Paul went from a mobile phone salesman to an international sensation. The judges and audience members were prepared to make fun of his geeky look but his voice stunned them to silence.  While this similarly happened with Susan Boyle during her performance on the show, there has been a clear difference in the media’s reaction since the show aired.

Like Paul Potts, Susan Doyle’s appearance and demeanor insinuated, albeit superficially and wrongfully so, that she could not possibly possess any singing ability.  Because–heaven forbid–there be an “unattractive” talented singer.  While initially the show’s audience was surprised to see someone who did not fit the typical physical description of a singer, once Paul won, the scrutiny died down quickly.  The public more easily saw past the physical and focused on his incredible singing voice.

However Susan Doyle’s feel good story has turned into reshaping her appearance and how to give her the best makeover.  The press’ common description of her is “dowdy singing spinster.” Referring, of course, to the fact that she’s 47 and never married.  Since she catapulted onto the media scene, there has been more attention about changing her appearance than singing career.

While everyone knows that she would not have gotten this far without a talented singing voice, this seems to have been forgotten because of her unglamorous looks.  The public has yet again gotten caught up in how a woman dresses more than how she acts.  It’s the same old song and dance that happens with every public female figure, it just happens in different forms whether it’s someone in politics, media or entertainment. And as you can see from the before-and-after picture, the makeover has already begun.

Susan Boyle’s scrutiny has gotten nasty and personal. It reveals that as a society we cannot accept anyone outside of the accepted norm.  Unfortunately unlike Paul, Susan’s sexuality has gotten scrutinized.   In fact, recently a pornographic company offered her one million dollars to videotape her losing her virginity (that was hard to even type).  To say that was shocking and sad to read was an understatement.

Susan’s sudden fame has drawn much commentary on why this story was so widely reported and what it implies while others have reflected on the moral lessons from people’s reactions to her performance.

Commentators have described her story as a rebuke to people’s tendency to judge others based on their physical appearance, and that her performance was a victory for talent and artistry in a culture obsessed with physical attractiveness and presentation.

From a different angle, Susan’s triumph was reflective of another aspect of our society that women must face which is aging and a youth obsessed culture.  Women “of a certain age” become no longer relevant and get dismissed especially in entertainment and Susan proved them wrong with her talent and popularity.

Not surprisingly, Susan Boyle was well aware that the audience on Britain’s Got Talent was initially hostile to her because of her appearance, but she has refused to change her image.

In fact, Susan says it best: “Modern society is too quick to judge people on their appearances.  There is not much you can do about it; it is the way they think; it is the way they are. But maybe this could teach them a lesson, or set an example.”

Well said Susan, and may you continue proving us all wrong.

photo credit