Why Susan Boyle Makes Us Cry

Half the women I sent the link to cried when they watched the YouTube clip of Susan Boyle on Britain's Got Talent and I think I know why.

Given its nearly eight million hits thus far, you've probably seen her, the matronly lady all decked out in that mother-of-the-bride cocktail dress and matching open-toed pumps, hair by some neighborhood beauty shop, eyebrows John L. Lewis. In the opening scene, while awaiting her turn on the British version of American Idol, she breezily confides that she is unemployed, lives alone with a cat named Pebbles, and has never been married or kissed.

Once on stage, her interrogator, Simon Cowell, asks about her dream. To be a professional singer, she says, and as successful as Elaine Page -- a statement that elicits great hilarity and hyperactive camera close-ups of the judges' bemused disbelief and the snickering, eye-rolling audience. Clearly, everyone is thinking, Elaine Paige!? Are you actually comparing yourself to the First Lady of the British Musical Theater, the singer whose recording of the Cats anthem, "Memory," topped the charts for months, and who starred as Eva Peron in the first production of Evita? You've got to be kidding.

Cheerful and unperturbed, the contestant blithely announces that she is going to sing, "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables.

"How old are you, Susan?" asks Simon, in a tone more appropriate to an interview with a toddler.

"Forty-seven," she says. The audience cracks up. Pixels of ridicule fill the screen, incredulity, patronizing sneers, smirks, whispers you can almost hear: Look at her, will you! Frumpy from the Fifties, got a double chin, a silly Scottish accent, hails from some tiny hamlet, can't remember the word "villages," and to top it off, Omigod, she's old! Either she's a ringer and we're in for some weird parody of Dame Edna or we're about to see this dowdy dame make a fool of herself on the hottest show on British telly.

Finally, Susan Boyle steps into the spotlight and opens her mouth, and before she's sung three glorious, crystal clear notes, the audience is cheering, the judges' jaws have dropped, and I'm choking back tears.

After she got her unanimous Yes votes from Simon, Amanda, and Piers, I typed "Ageism Be Damned" in the subject line of an email and sent the YouTube link to everyone on my Women's Issues list and within an hour, more than a dozen had written to tell me that it made them weep. Since then I've talked to other friends who've confessed to the same reaction. What are we all crying about? What is it about this woman that touches us so deeply?

Partly, I think it's the age thing, the fact that a woman closing in on 50 had the courage to compete with the kids -- and blew them out of the water. "Women of a certain age" should be forgiven for finding vicarious satisfaction in Susan's victory. In plain words, it's an up-yours to the cocky youth culture that often writes us off.

Then, too, we were weeping for the years of wasted talent, the career that wasn't, the time lost -- both for Susan Boyle and two generations of her putative fans. If someone with a voice like Julie Andrews' spent decades in a sea of frustration and obscurity, how many other women (and men) must be out there becalmed in the same boat? I believe we were crying for them and for whatever unrealized, yet-to-be-expressed talent may lie within ourselves.

But I'd wager that most of our joyful tears were fueled by the moral implicit in Susan's fairy-tale performance: "You can't tell a book by its cover." For such extraordinary artistry to emerge from a woman that plain-spoken, unglamorous, and unyoung was an intoxicating reminder of the wisdom in that corny old cliché. The three judges and virtually all those who watched Susan Boyle in the theater (and probably on YouTube as well) were initially blinded by entrenched stereotypes of age, class, gender, and Western beauty standards, until her book was opened and everyone saw what was inside.

I think we cried because her story appears to be en route to a happy ending, but also, perhaps, for all the books whose covers have never been cracked.

Letty Cottin Pogrebin is a founding editor of Ms. magazine and the author of nine books.

Comments

[killmenow]

I think it's all a lot simpler. Despite the naysayers, the voice IS gorgeous. We all need to hear her sing more, and I would really, really like to hear Sondheim, but it's not just the contrast of her persona and her talent, and it's not the "moral" lesson she teaches. It's the voice. People who don't have an emotional reaction to the video clip say that she's got a "nice" or even "passable" voice, but I have listened to that song continuously from all kinds of singers and from Susan Boyle, and there's no doubt about it in my opinion. At least singing that song, that is one absolutely hypnotically beautiful voice like no other. The voice is amazing.

[shayeman]

Simpler? Oh, come on! You need to read up more!

[vicar7]

Yes Susan was a sermon in a song and we all got the message or millions did. She rebuked us in three seconds and delivered the message with a lot of confidence. Way to go Susan, cannot wait for more rebuking if necessary along with encouragement. Oh heck! Susan just sing and let the chip fall where they may.

[shayeman]

Regardless of who you are, when one watches this video, it is clear that with the pitiful hand Susan Boyle has been dealt and her meager resources, she accomplished more her FIRST time out than most professional singers. That moves us indeed, but the overwhelming TENS OF MILLIONS of tears shed over this ONE PERFORMANCE requires a much different explanation. They are, of a truth, tears for ourselves; shed over the realization that we live in a false, glittering and heartless world. We desperately long for a time when substance is valued over appearance; a world where the poor, the wretched, and the ugly are lifted and loved because what's in the heart is what matters most.

Ironically, this is very theme of Les Miserables, and it did not escape the attention of the public. The fit was uncanny. Boyle's performance gives us a brief glimpse into this beautiful world, and when we see it, we feel it, and we are moved to tears by the TRIUMPH OF THESE TRUTHS over the fiction we presently live. We cannot wait to share it - that one single victory, which spreads much needed hope that someday we might live ALL live in such a world.

A wake up call for HUMANITY and each of us to get back on track! I cried too.

[AuntLoonie]

I'd like to see her sing Sondheim. Then, I'd be convinced.

[594]

Without reading the video intro, I initially figured Susan to be like actor/singer, Jim Nabors; hokey sounding, yet a great singer...but her singing surpassed my great expectations! Susan's got a recording contract ahead(She'll sing for the Queen w/w.o. this contest). Maybe "Susan" will become a popular girl's name again. I wish Susan could learn/sing some of my songs(none are uploaded yet) to truly make them astounding! However, I have no way of contacting Susan...oh well...Other than that, I hope Susan wins and continues to inspire others to pursue their dreams. Thank you, Susan!

[rhubardpi]

What the hell are you talking about Letty ? Sure I cried, but only because this Ms Boyle is clearly a much tougher person than our famous chickenhawk, Dick Cheney.......the hoorrroooorrrrr

[Joshua Saltzman]

I hate to be the sourpuss here, but I think a lot of people are missing something in their rush to excise their aestheticist guilt -- Susan Boyle is not really an amazing vocal talent. She is good. She has a nice voice. A lot of people have nice voices. A lot of people who have great voices and are very attractive STILL never achieve fame (most of them, in fact). The idea that if only she were pretty, or if only she had been discovered earlier, she'd be a star is a fantasy. She's only a star today because of the condescending attitudes of millions of people who are "gobsmacked" that a person who is not exactly a looker can sing decently well. These people are not shedding their superficial biases, they're just inverting them.

[RoadCrossingChicken]

I think we cried because we all know a little secret...

The secret is that we ALL have something beautiful inside to offer and it just feels so darn good when we see someone actually getting to share their beautiful little secret and have it appreiciated.

Another part of the secret is... it doesn't matter what people look like on the outside. Sometimes people are ridiculed for trying to share because they are not as pretty as they should be others are ridiculed for trying to share because they are too pretty.

Let's give each other a chance.

[canadianhousedyke]

As a Woman with Disabilities and a Feminist, would it be too much to ask Ms. Pogrebin and Ms. Huffington if they could let all the American Journalists know that the term "Learning Difficulties," does NOT mean the same thing in Britian, does "Developmentally Disabled," or on the mean streets of everyday life "retarded." Don't take my word for it. Start at wikipedia and go from there. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_difficulties

Also, is it TOO much to ask for Feminists at the very least to pay attention to the fact that Susan Boyle is a Woman with Disabilities instead of overlooking or "erasing," this reality as if it's something "bad," "Ugly," or that needs to be "overlooked," and "not seen."

Trust me, Susan Boyle has never had the luxury of being able to overlook the fact that she is high functioning Developmentally Disabled. To the Feminists especially, please stop doing what you CONTINUOUSLY DO to all Women with Disabilities, erase our differences, look at us...and see only yourselves.

For those interested in how people with disabilities are responding to Susan Boyle, here's some links to get you started.

http://sexability.blogspot.com/2009/04/susan-boyle-three-cheers-to-this-hero.html

http://badcripple.blogspot.com/2009/04/on-being-ugly-and-disabled.html

http://badcripple.blogspot.com/2009/04/more-on-susan-boyle.html

[mmgbizgirl]

The day I realized and finally understood that there is beauty in everything was the moment I became an adult.

[Whatashame]

When I saw her for the fist time I cried. Since then everytime I look at it on Youtube I cry. She's like an iceberg. 90% of her is beneath water and you only get to see 10% of her. Never judge a book by its cover. She is a sensation and her singing is brilliant.

[PaulBradford]

We laughed at her, we applauded her, and soon enough we're going to forget her.

I get the idea that she's tough enough to handle all three responses. The family, the church choir, the job search, caring for the cat, life as a woman on her own -- these are the real things and she's proven she can handle the real things. Instant celebrity is just frosting.

Today she's the 'It Girl'. Tomorrow she'll be the answer to a trivia question no one gets right.

[greymom]

Letty, it is so nice to have you post. I have long admired your work.

[leopoldmozart]

Maybe I'm saying this because I'm middle aged, but I'm incredibly tired of the number of posts lauding Susan Boyle for her "confidence" and her "belief in herself." Those are qualities that only gained paramount importance over the last 20 years or so. The youth of this generation have learned that confidence, attitude, and self esteem are the most important traits of successful people, whereas people from Ms. Boyle's era know that confidence only comes AFTER competence, that self esteem is the CONSEQUENCE of hard work and success. Only narcissists and people who lie to themselves have the kind of confidence we see in young people on American reality TV shows.

Ms. Boyle was on that stage, and brought the house down, NOT because she had confidence and believed in herself. She was there because she had been singing (for church, for charity, for friends) for 30 years and, with a combination of hard work, talent, and a passionate love of music and musical theater, became the woman who DESERVED to be on that stage. Whether she was scared stiff, or whether she had the pathological narcissistic self-belief of a Sanjaya or a Sarah Palin, her hard work and love of music meant that she DESERVED to be on that stage.

Confidence, belief-in-self, and 'tude had nothing to do with it.

[Veleda]

I had a similar reaction, and sent out an email titled Don't Count Her Out.

Away with false values, and hurrah for the feisty Scotswoman. Time to resurrect the old Scottish word smeddam, which used to be used to described women with guts.