14 DAY TRIAL // The moment Susan Boyle, an apparently common woman who lived her life singing in the church choir and doing chores around the house in the company of her cat Pebbles, walked on stage on “Britain’s Got Talent,” the audience was prepared to burst into laughter. What it got instead was the wonderful chance to hear a voice as skilled and polished as the exterior was rough and a bit odd. With the controversy that Boyle’s subtle makeover has ignited, women in the media are now saying she’s the epitome of the generation of “invisible women.”
Tina Brown, founder and editor at The Daily Beast, for one, believes that Boyle broke in the spotlight to show the entire world that our values are corrupted and we no longer know how to appreciate reality, guiding our life solely by the principle of beautifying youth. In this sense, this Scottish singer with a voice so beautiful that it has made many weep, is the ultimate symbol of the generation of invisible women, those 40something ladies who rarely get a second glance in the street, not to mention in the showbiz industry.
Society has taught us, Brown says, to show regard only to those women who look good and who, preferably, can joggle that with a successful career and a family life. Past a certain age, women who don’t go to extreme lengths to look at least ten years younger are slowly but surely swept aside, their only solution at this point being either a choice between anonymity or putting up a fight, the latter coming with great risks of being ridiculed and shamed into oblivion. Susan Boyle, with her overnight stardom, has come to point out to the entire world that, no matter the choice they make, these women do exist and should perhaps be appreciated and loved accordingly.
“Among the many underdog groups Boyle scored with was that universally dismissed demographic – Invisible Women: the unbeautiful 47 year-olds who don’t rate a second look and never get a chance to make their point in the meeting. There are so many aging women who feel dissed by popular culture and employers alike. Much of Hillary Clinton’s strength in the 2008 campaign was built on this overlooked demographic. Unwanted by TV shows, advertisers, movies, and corporate recruiters, Invisible Women feel that their experience – often holding families together while doing the work that puts bigger egos in the corner office – goes not just unrewarded but unrecognized. Can’t they at least see me? goes the voice in their heads. Especially after all those wasted hours trying to look younger, slimmer, and better dressed just to get their rightful desserts.” Brown says in a piece in the aforementioned publication.
This is where the topic of the recent makeover comes to cause waves. Given that she’s being held as a symbol of inner beauty and talent that should (at least, in theory) surpass any aesthetic standards we may have, should she or should she not “improve” her appearance? This, of course, leads to another, more important question: should Susan Boyle, the woman with more talent in her pinkie than most pop stars of today put together, listen to those who tell her that she needs to change?
“It should be possible for Susan Boyle to go her own way, to ignore the blandishments of stylists and the equally dubious entreaties of those who would turn her into a circus freak and decide that if she wants to buy a new dress and have a new haircut then she can. It doesn’t mean that she’s suddenly going to starve herself in the name of stardom or sign up for cosmetic surgery, teeth-whitening and waxing her nasal hair. So why are we conditioned to believe that there is only the stark choice between selling out and staying the same?” Sarah Hughes of the Daily Mail also asks.
Whatever Susan chooses though, we should perhaps remember those few minutes she sang on “Britain’s Got Talent” when, even for just a little while, we all forgot that, in order to be successful, one needs to look a certain way because otherwise they don’t sell. We could, it is being said, remember that, whichever way this goes, Susan Boyle is a talented woman who deserves a break in the industry – and judge her only by that, going past age and looks, be them “improved” or not.