Thursday, April 30, 2009

A Modern Day Cinderella

On a recent episode of Britain’s Got Talent, 47-year-old Susan Boyle shocked us all with her extraordinary rendition of “I Dreamed a Dream.” Her angelic voice reverberated through the concert hall and into homes across the world. In many ways, Boyle has become a sensation, with just one version of her infamous performance receiving nearly 50 million views on YouTube. Search “Susan Boyle” on Google and peruse the over 21.1 million related articles and fan sites available. The real question is: why has Boyle received so much attention and admiration? Is it simply due to the purity and beauty of her voice, or are more factors involved?


A variety of sources have described Boyle as the unemployed, “spinster cat lady,” from a poor village in Scotland. When she emerged on stage that fateful day, with her fizzy hair, dowdy appearance, and frumpy clothing, the audience was prepared and ready to criticize and judge. The video clip features various members of the studio audience rolling their eyes and laughing at Boyle, both for her appearance and awkward responses to the judges. The minute she opened her mouth to sing, however, the crowd and judges alike were in awe, gazing at Boyle with tears in their eyes and chins dragging on the floor. Why did she receive this reaction? Stereotypes. The second Boyle walked across the stage, people were expecting a comic relief, a good laugh. No one believed she would succeed, would emerge as the front-runner in the competition. How could a middle-aged woman with little savings, a drab appearance, and an awkward attitude possess a talent abounding with beauty and star-like qualities? As a CNN article reveals, “she was painfully ordinary, and everyone was prepared, looking forward even, to see her fail.”


Elizabeth C. Collins, Christian S. Crandall, and Monica Biernat, performed various studies that focused on stereotypes and implicit social comparisons. The data collected caused them to conclude that “people interpret ambiguous information such that their stereotypes hold true, but may fail to appreciate that it is the interpretation that allows them to be true.” In many ways, stereotypes serve as a tool to “fill-in-the-blanks” and formulate a belief about a person or object. The researchers also expressed that we may form stereotypes in an effort to “maintain an existing worldview” or they may simply be a “product of expectations that arise from knowledge of the pervasive cultural stereotypes.” Either way, stereotypes cause us to socially categorize people based on characteristics like race, age, religion, and in Susan Boyle’s case, appearance.


Susan Boyle’s story has touched so many because she challenged and conquered her “old maid” stereotype and realized and achieved her ultimate life-dream. Carole Somerville, in her article, “Susan Boyle, Social Psychology and Discrimination,” reveals that the audience’s emotional reaction to Boyle’s performance may have also been due embarrassment that their quick judgments were significantly flawed. She challenged our world-views and made us remember to always reach for the stars, no matter what others may think or say. Susan Boyle provided us with a wake-up call and reaffirmed the famous adage, “never judge a book by its cover.”


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY


http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/04/22/bregman.boyle/


http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2009-04-19-susan-boyle_N.htm


http://psychology.suite101.com/article.cfm/susan_boyle_social_psychology_discrimination


http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WJB-4H27CFG-1&_user=521319&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000026018&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=521319&md5=4dad0483052afb500b48b8bc51db5e8d

No comments:

Post a Comment