Firstly, it's how much we need sensationalism to draw out the tiniest response from our being nowadays.
Recently, a lot of news has been sensationalised on some contestants of Britain's Got Talent year 3 (2009). The most famous name is Susan Boyle.
An elderly lady with a great voice, but did not look polished in appearance. Whether the numerous Youtube clips of the judges frowning and giving cynical smiles actually happened or was edited into the video for sensationalising purposes, the effect was good. It made it look like the odds were against Susan and when a good singing voice was produced from her cheeky grinnng face, the contrast made for good entertainment value. See it here
Society nowadays can be so de-sensitised that something that was considered remarkable not so long ago, is considered common place and mundane today. Is it any wonder that we need something that is presented at such extreme ends of the spectrum to trigger some emotion from us? A lamentable situation in my opinion.
The second thing that really caught me is how much expectation we put on those in the limelight nowadays... It can be really unbelievable sometimes.
I am a fan of reality talent shows. A shameless fan I am. American Idol, Malaysian Idol, Britain's Got Talent, America's Got Talent etc etc. Being a huge music fan, I always love hearing new voices and singers trying to make their mark on what must be an incredibly arduous process of star making.
No disrespect to established and yet to be established artists going the conventional route i.e. doing gigs at clubs, sending audition tapes, going through performing arts courses... But the amount of stress, scrutiny and work that is crammed into that short space of time to make the filming of a show is truly frightening at times. One such casualty is ten year old Hollie Steel, also from the same show as Susan Boyle.
Also doing singing, Hollie did wonderfully in her auditions, just like Susan. Weeks go by, the machinery of reality TV chomps on ahead... and Hollie had a breakdown during the next show. She made some mistakes in her voice control, and after a couple, she couldn't take it anymore and cried. She didn't finish her performance, and requested a second chance. See it here. Susan is also reported to have had a breakdown and required medical care.
Truth be told, the public would have forgiven her mistakes the first time round, but she herself felt she was a disaster. When we see those in the media always performing flawlessly, we lull ourselves into thinking THAT is reality sometimes.
We forget that when movies are captured onto film by cameramen, there's that little black and white board that marks down how many takes it needs to get the scene perfect. We forget musicians practice as many hours as a programmer spends writing code. We forget that masters of their craft still spend just as many hours maintaining their skill level as a beginner tries to hone theirs. We just forget...
Reality TV show, judging scene, Take 70!
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