Last week, two seemingly unconnected dramas unfolded before our eyes. Ashton Kutcher brought CNN to its knees before beating the network to one million Twitter followers and Susan Boyle unexpectedly wowed us with her Edith Piaf voice and humble, small-town sensibility.
This unlikely pair not only shared the public stage. They demonstrated a truth about our time: The arrival of the "little guy."
Boyle alternated between calm composure and wide-eyed, earnest grins as Larry King interviewed her alongside Britain's Got Talent's Piers Morgan. Her fellow guest even apologized for disrespecting her (she nearly lost her ear piece). With blown-out bangs, lipstick, a brown cardigan and a fashionably striped shirt, Boyle watched as King played her "I Dreamed a Dream" appearance in two clips. She giggled. She smiled. She was elated.
Minutes earlier, during the same prime-time hour, Kutcher was elated, too. Dressed in a striped top like Boyle, he giggled and smiled. When King showed the video of Kutcher, from behind the wheel of a car, calling CNN to battle, the actor-producer watched himself, like Boyle had watched herself, with glee.
The parallels don't end there. Both Boyle and Kutcher displayed casual confidence as they reflected on their victories. When King asked Boyle if she was upset about being mocked, she said, "It didn't bother me because I knew I'd have to get on to my act." Kutcher told King he "had a good feeling" he would prevail. The two had something else in common. Following the win, Kutcher held up his arm and clenched his fist in triumph. So did Boyle. It was the gesture of the "little guy" gone wild.
Who would have imagined a 47-year-old, matronly, "never-been-kissed," rural-Scotland native sharing broadcast time with Ashton Kutcher? Similarly, who would have imagined an actor -- admittedly with the backing of A-list celebrities, an active fan base and a wife named Demi -- would beat a news media conglomerate with an $800 million-plus budget at the game of Twitter?
While it may be hard to think of the actor-producer as an underdog, he is only one person, albeit with "That '70s Show" residuals, a lively film career, other business projects and enough web savvy to make any television producer drool. Kutcher himself said that he hadn't done any advertising or promotional work involving his Twitter page before the race with the cable news network.
Kutcher explained his win this way: "I thought it to be quite significant that we now live in an age for media that a single voice can have as much power and relevance on the web, that is, as an entire media network. To me that was shocking."
Of course, Boyle's story is even more so. Thanks to Simon Cowell's platform for showcasing would-be artists and the wonderful immediacy of YouTube, Boyle was catapulted to stardom overnight. As Morgan told Larry King, "Susan Boyle has gone from total obscurity in the space of five days to global superstar and that's just extraordinary."
Unlike Kutcher, Boyle had no handlers, no in, no way to rally for her singing voice-hence the cruel, mocking audience. And yet, the two crisscrossed the airwaves together and racked up page views (One YouTube video of Boyle is pushing 43 million). In the process, they showed how "little guys" -- individuals or entities with fewer resources and less power -- can leverage their talents and be heard, sometimes louder than their larger, more well-known counterparts.
Follow Jill Priluck on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jillpriluck
