Fame has a narrative arc.
In this case, it feels like the right story. A woman comes out of nowhere, is embraced by the world for her naive goodness, gets a bit of a swelled head and acts bitchy instead of sweet, and plummets back into the obscurity from which she emerged.
Or not obscurity, really. She will melt into an undreamy life of second-rate fame — with bad records, dull reality show stints, etc.
May 31, 2009
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18 comments:
Supreme Court Justice is out of the question now.
I thought the arc was that we build up expectations, pump her up, put her on a pedestal, then shoot her down.
Depends on the handler she finds. A first class manager could hook her up with top notch arrangers and make sure she sings a repertoire of songs that fit her particular sound and she could be launched onto a stellar career path...STELLA!
You gotta a mean streak, Althouse.
I read somwhere that, win or lose, she will come out of it with an estimated 5 million pounds.
Good for her.
I don't think she's an ounce over 4 million pounds.
Hah; she was not naively good at all, but had actual human qualities, like displeasure and irritability.
Obscurity? Why not stone her?
The "pound-for-pound" remark, comparing heavyset Boyle to a 12-year-old girl, was a despicable weight-based insult. The presenters of Britain's Got Talent had no business insulting their performers and condescending to them like that.
Swelled head, bitchy, second-rate.
I gotta to defer to you, Althouse. You are undoubtedly the expert here.
Isn't the point of all of these shows reality shows (from survivor to project runway to Idol to this one) rejection? And isn't the whole point of watching them seeing a whole parade of people being rejected so that the audience can relish in the spectacle?
Who wins is always less interesting than whose been cast out along the way.
This is probably the reason for the mini-trend of rejecting the more obvious winner. Rejecting the second best isn't as interesting as rejecting the best (to the point that shows like Idol or Britain's Got Talent can be said to have a 'best').
In terms of career Boyle has some kind of career ahead of her (if she really wants it which is not at all clear). A dancing group has what kind of career options now? (I dont know they might have a bright future I'm just not sure doing what).
Well, after some time, she will go back to being what she was, an ugly, fat, unemployed, life-long welfare recipient loser.
She should use whatever money she gets to get some training from an opera coach. Judging from one performance I was sufficiently unlucky to witness, there are opera companies who would think her ideal for "Carmen" if she put on a couple more pounds.
I would be a bit kinder to Ms. Boyle. She was put through a very stressful process. I still think she did remarkedly well given the circumstances.
The Professor's "swelled head" remark certainly appears unjustified. If some accounts are true, she was subjected to baiting by reporters and other petty people who were evidently committed to protecting the domain of the "beautiful people."
Shades of Melinda Doolittle.
Congratulations to Susan Boyle for her great achievement. The same to all of the finalists in fact. I watched quite a few of them on YouTube, and with perhaps one exception I was extremely impressed. And I busted a gut watching Stavros Flatley.
"A woman comes out of nowhere... gets a bit of a swelled head and acts bitchy instead of sweet, and plummets back into the obscurity from which she emerged."
Sounds like Althouse to me.
Bottom line: she is better than the average singer, and that's all.
"Or not obscurity, really. She will melt into an undreamy life of second-rate fame — with bad records, dull reality show stints, etc."
And how does this differ from what would have happened had she actually won the contest?
Millard Fillmore has won lasting fame for his obscurity and mediocrity. Ask anyone to name a second rate 19th century American President, and his name comes instantly to mind. Susan Boyle will occupy this same niche among American idol contestants. There will be whatever happened to stories about her for the rest of her life. She will make a living out of this, and it will be a better living than the one she had before.
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