As I set up for my media lecture this afternoon, I asked the class what they thought of all the Susan Boyle hoopla. About half the class said that they couldn't believe everyone was talking about it. I agreed. In the past week, I've read countless blog posts on her, blogged on it myself, read a dozen facebook statuses on her, gotten a dozen e-mails about her, and watched her on the morning news shows at least three times. Some students said that wouldn't be nice if 35 million people received some information about the war in Iraq rather than watched her video.
She was good, but the fact that she's plain makes the video news. How many middle aged women feel that there average looks and grey hairs make them invisible and their many talents forgotten? 35 million.
The reaction of the judges to the shock of her talent was another factor in explaining the success of the video. Well, the judges that were able to register expression. Sarah Lydall describes one judge's reaction. "… Amanda Holden — who is lovely,
38, artfully put together and seemingly unable to move her face to
register surprise …" Botox, baby.
I'm fascinated by Simon Cowell's impact on popular culture. He has a weakness for the diamonds in the rough and get annoyed by privilege, entitlement, predictable. Not that he's any big revolutionary. He's tapped into a popular sentiment and had made a mint by creating shows that are designed to find hidden charmers. Still, it's nice to have a moment in pop culture when we're not talking about Angelina Jolie's gorgeous lips.
Actually I was most surprised today by the fact that half the class had no idea who Susan Boyle was. They had seen no news on the topic. Either they are reading and viewing more lofty sources of media than I am or they are consuming no news whatsoever.
Apt. 11d 
The word “plain” does not come to mind when describing Susan Boyle.
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I mentioned it in one of my classes, too, and similarly befuddled expressions. Maybe I’ll mention it to this afternoon’s class and see what they know.
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I know who she is, from where? the online links at the NY times or Washington Post? (I have source amnesia, but those are my most likely sources). It doesn’t seem that they’re tastes are too highbrow — just different. But the youtube success of the video would have made me think that the kiddies were in the loop. So, I guess I don’t get what they’re watching, if not you tube, and not WP or NYT?
No media sources at all? Only facebook and social networking sites?
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Amen.
I keep waiting for (not-young) women’s invisibility to wane, given the power and prestige women have amassed over the past few years. I love the fact that you can’t ignore Nancy Pelosi, or Dianne Feinstein, or Hillary Clinton because you don’t like their looks.
And I do think we’ve made some strides. These days it’s OK to be older and female as long as you’re not overweight. (I wish I was kidding!)
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Polled my two classes today. In class 1, 7 of 21 had heard of her. In the other class, 2 of 10 had heard of her.
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Wow, Wendy. That’s really interesting. We think that everybody is talking about the same thing, but they’re not.
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Imagine my students’ surprise to learn about Twitter. Just about blew their mind when they realized how big it is. The first celeb I pulled up for them was @the-real_shaq.
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Of course, it’s not news. It’s a classic case of two things:
1. The Snowball Effect, and
2. A publicity stunt.
The two of those, when combined, are surprisingly powerful.
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