Analysis
Boyle's sudden fame has drawn much commentary on why this story was so widely reported and what it implies, while others drew moral lessons from people's reactions to her performance.
[40] For instance, writing in Scotland's
The Herald, Collette Douglas-Home described Boyle's story as a modern parable and a rebuke to people's tendency to judge others based on their physical appearance.
[41] Similarly, Lisa Schwarzbaum, in an article in
Entertainment Weekly, stated that Boyle's performance was particularly moving as it was a victory for talent and artistry in a culture obsessed with physical attractiveness and presentation.
[42]
Commenting on the audience's reactions before she started singing, Boyle stated:
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.
After Boyle's performance, Holden stated:
I am so thrilled because I know that everybody was against you. I honestly think that we were all being very cynical and I think that's the biggest wakeup call ever. And I just want to say that it was a complete privilege listening to that.
Echoing these comments by Holden, Jeanne McManus wrote in
The Washington Post that, in
talent shows such as
Britain's Got Talent, one of the main sources of drama is the collision between performers' sometimes exaggerated sense of self-worth and the opinions and reactions of their audience. In Boyle's case, McManus believed that her initial demeanour and homely appearance caused the judges and audience to be "waiting for her to squawk like a duck".
[43] Indeed, New York's
Daily News stated that it was this stark contrast between the audience's low expectations and the quality of her singing that made Boyle's performance such an engaging piece of television. This article also noted that the idea of an underdog being ridiculed or humiliated but then enjoying an unexpected triumph is a common
trope in literature and that this is why, when this theme made its unscripted appearance in reality television, it created an enduring and powerful effect.
[44]
On the other hand, although this audience reaction was unscripted, it may have been anticipated. Writing in
The Huffington Post, Mark Blankenship noted that the producers of the show would have been aware of the potential of this
story arc, stating that the programme seemed to deliberately present Boyle in a manner that would enhance this initial reaction. He does note, however, that "as fabricated as it is, her on-camera arc is undeniably moving."
[45] The fact that Boyle is in her forties has also been cited as contributing to this strong emotional impact. In another
Huffington Post article, Letty Cottin Pogrebin wrote that people may have been "weeping for the years of wasted talent", since most of Boyle's life has been spent in obscurity and those wasted years can never be recovered. All the same, Pogrebin still classed Boyle's performance as a triumph for what she called "women of a certain age", as she saw it as representing a victory over a youth culture that often dismisses middle-aged women.
[46]
In a
feminist analysis, a columnist in
The Guardian pointed out what she perceived as a fundamental difference between Boyle's hostile reception and the more neutral response to
Paul Potts in his first audition, which she saw as reflecting a societal expectation that women be both good-looking and talented, with no such expectations being made about men.
[47] In a similar vein, a columnist on
Salon.com wrote that Boyle's performance reminded people that "not all fortysomething women are sleek, Botoxed beauties", going on to say that Boyle's sudden fame came from her ability to remind her audience that, like them, she is a normal, flawed and vulnerable person, familiar with disappointment and mockery, but who nevertheless has the determination to fight for her dream.
[48]
Several British newspapers commented that Boyle's success seemed to have particular resonance in the
United States. Writing in
The Scotsman Craig Brown quoted a U.S. entertainment correspondent who compared Boyle's story to the
American Dream, in that it represented talent overcoming adversity and poverty.
[49] The
Associated Press described this as Boyle's "hardscrabble story", dwelling on her modest lifestyle and what they saw as urban deprivation in her home town.
[2] Similarly,
The Independent New York correspondent David Usborne wrote that America is a country that will always respond to "the fairy tale where the apparently unprepossessing suddenly becomes pretty, from
Shrek to
My Fair Lady."
[50] Piers Morgan, one of the show's judges, also commented on the unusual power this story seemed to have in the U.S., stating that "Americans can be very moved by this sort of thing." He likened Boyle's rise to fame from poverty and obscurity to that of the fictional boxer
Rocky Balboa, who was the subject of a series of Hollywood films.
[36]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Boyle
.
) She did have trouble in the high and especially the low range of that song. I think the audience got swept away because the voice itself is lovely and they expected her to make a fool out of herself and she didn't. It's just nice witnessing someone "past the prime of life" achieve a dream.
because it was the most awesome tenor voice we had ever heard.
that's wayy better than her audition tape. Damn that woman has some voice.
