Althouse: "I dream of a world where we don't have to talk about unnecessary things like sexuality, who you love..."

May 11, 2014

"I dream of a world where we don't have to talk about unnecessary things like sexuality, who you love..."

"... I felt like tonight Europe showed that we are a community of respect and tolerance."

Said Conchita Wurst, the bearded man who, dressed like a woman, won the annual Eurovision Song Contest.

30 comments:

The Crack Emcee said...: I give the light show higher points than the song. Or the beard.

Gimmicks in music.

Yawn.; 5/11/14, 9:42 AM
Jason said...: Thousands of residents of Srebrenica could not be reached for comment.; 5/11/14, 10:08 AM
FullMoon said...: "I dream of a world where we don't have to talk about unnecessary things like sexuality, who you love.

Why do we need to talk about it now?; 5/11/14, 10:20 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "unnecessary things like sexuality"

There's a phrase.

Not talk about sexuality?!

It's the most interesting topic in the world.; 5/11/14, 10:35 AM
Ann Althouse said...: But try saying anything interesting about it….

It's hard.; 5/11/14, 10:36 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Here's the message of the beard:

I am competing in the game of looking female while being a male, and I am so damned good at it, that I can do it with my beard on.

It's a little similar to the way some men will sometimes wear a dress with the intention of still looking masculine (like the South Park guys at the Golden Globes that time or like Tony Curtis in "Some Like It Hot" and maybe Nirvana in that video where they wear dresses).; 5/11/14, 10:39 AM
madAsHell said...: Gimmicks in music.

I think it also explains the demographic of the viewers.; 5/11/14, 10:39 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Here's the Nirvana video.

And here are Matt Stone and Trey Parker at the Oscars (it was the Oscars, not the Golden Globes, which makes it all the more transgressive).

And here's Tony Curtis.; 5/11/14, 10:44 AM
Chuck said...: I understand that the EU will soon be granting member status to Sodom and Gomorrah.; 5/11/14, 10:45 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: Ann,

It's a song contest,...; 5/11/14, 10:49 AM
Illuninati said...: The beard looked painted on. Is this a man in woman's clothing who has to paint on a beard or is it a woman with a painted on beard?; 5/11/14, 10:55 AM
n.n said...: Democrats have learned nothing from their history. Selective exclusion creates a moral hazard.; 5/11/14, 11:22 AM
FullMoon said...: But try saying anything interesting about it….

It's hard.

Sometimes it is a slippery topic.; 5/11/14, 11:31 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "It's a song contest,…"

That depends on the meaning of the word "it."

This man is also "competing" in the long-running, world-wide competition amongst transvestites, trying to define the standards and making their claims to be good at whatever it is they think they are doing.

I realize there is also Eurovision, within which he was a contestant, and I understand the basis for calling it a "song contest." I don't watch Eurovision. I watch "American Idol," which is supposedly a contest to determine who will be America's next idol.

Anyway, Europeans voting for something for some reason. Good luck to them in their puzzling Euro folkways. It makes minimal sense to me. I'm watching from across the ocean.; 5/11/14, 11:42 AM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: Extravagant public displays of "tolerance" always have a phony patronizing reek emanating from them. I doubt many of the proles and Euro-schlubs, slumped in front of their TV's, have much tolerance for trannies in reality. You know, real reality.; 5/11/14, 11:45 AM
gerry said...: Postmodern nonsense.

Oh, well.

Sharia waits in the wings.; 5/11/14, 11:56 AM
MayBee said...: I love the camp-schlock fest that is Eurovision, and I'm sorry I missed it this year.

It's ine of the last places to see overproduced, underwhelming, terrible but earnest (for the most part) talent.; 5/11/14, 12:32 PM
richard mcenroe said...: Aristophanes was mocking Conchita Wurst three millenia ago. He/she/they have become no more credible since then. It's only our credulity that has grown.; 5/11/14, 12:38 PM
NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: Peter Garbriel. Big deal.; 5/11/14, 1:20 PM
Titus said...: Europe is so cool.

I love it there.

All lefties do.; 5/11/14, 1:24 PM
Anonymous said...: Wow, Kim Kardashian really lost a lot of weight!; 5/11/14, 2:02 PM
ALP said...: I look at this individual and can't get the image of a 14th-15th (?) century swashbuckler pirate out of my mind. Or at least the fancied-up Hollywood type: the look is not far from a time when men had long hair, beards, and wore clothing as elaborate and shiny as women. So he looks rather masculine to me in a weird historical way.; 5/11/14, 2:09 PM
ALP said...: SOJO: Fucking hilarious!; 5/11/14, 2:09 PM
RazorSharpSundries said...: "One of us, one of us!"; 5/11/14, 2:33 PM
Mary Beth said...: I liked the ones by The Netherlands, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Malta, Denmark, and Hungary more than the one that got first.

The article said that the Russian women got booed during the scoring. I wonder if some of the votes Austria got were also meant to be a poke at Russia's pro-cis policies.; 5/11/14, 3:56 PM
newton said...: I'm so glad someone is talking about this here! I watched the whole thing, all three-and-a-half hours, beginning to end, on streaming video yesterday afternoon. (Totally understanding that I'm one of the very few Americans who dare to watch it, even though the Euros make it clear we are not invited.)

All right. Conchita won. The song was something reminiscent of a James Bond film, and s/he showed to have some nice pipes. Fine with me. But I saw lots of talent apart from her last night.

There was also LOTS of politics.

Looking forward to yesterday, I predicted that Russia would have a miserable, rotten evening in Copenhagen. Twin seventeen-year-old girls represented Russia last night. They were pummeled by the audience. Didn't matter if the girls had talent - which they do, and I'm sure the girls are nice. Also, Ukraine didn't send their very best over there this year. (I've seen better, really. Watch the contestant from last year.) But Vladimir Putin ruined the twins' chances more than anything or anyone else. Ukraine got over 130 votes, but Russia got 75. Even Graham Norton of the BBC felt sorry for the girls.

Also, whoever did the choreography for those girls didn't see the humiliation coming - but should have. The twins were standing on a huge see-saw, holding two big, clear sticks, one for each girl. The Twitter thread for Eurovision was merciless on them. (Think about it: singing "show the world some love" while carrying big sticks... didn't sit very well with the audience.)

As for Conchita, I know a lot of people here are shocked to see that win happen. I'm not. Europeans seem to have taken a liking for drag acts for a long time. As far as I can remember, there have been two previous ones in the last twenty-five years, and one of them won. But I thought for a bit about Conchita/Tom. I wondered what face there is underneath the beard, and I thought it'd be an absolutely beautiful one, and if it was ever shaved, no one would (I guess) really care about the difference. But I came to understand that, for Conchita, without the beard, there is no gig. Think of Nicole Kidman and the prosthetic nose she wore for "The Hours", for which she won an Oscar. I don't think she thinks of it much, because that nose alone gave her the statuette.

Oh, one more thing: I have bought the downloaded CD of the contest before. The people at the headquarters in The Netherlands have been very nice with me, even though they know I'm ordering from TX. They might find it strange, but they do appreciate when anyone from North America watches and listens.; 5/11/14, 5:31 PM
mtrobertsattorney said...: What is the shelf life of a culture that creates and celebrates a Conchita Wurst?; 5/11/14, 5:45 PM
Scott M said...: Lagging about a decade behind Izzard, isn't he?; 5/11/14, 7:28 PM
Static Ping said...: I listened to the song without watching the video, just to give it a fair shake. It is not bad though way overproduced. I agree with newton that it could pass as a James Bond theme. That would be one very strange James Bond opening credits though. I’m not sure how silhouettes of naked bearded ladies would look performing aerial gymnastics. The beard would have to be included somehow. Grabbing it with both hands for chin flips or some such. Perhaps the whiplash move with the long facial hair going over the face. And of course the beard over the naughty bits would be a must.

Now having watched parts of the video, he comes across as a cross between Boy George and Groucho Marx except not remotely as entertaining.; 5/11/14, 9:34 PM
Anonymous said...: "I am competing in the game of looking female while being a male, and I am so damned good at it, that I can do it with my beard on."

Check your pitch, Conchita. Conchita needs an auto-tuner.; 5/12/14, 12:31 AM