Congratulations to the very young Jody Williams for winning over the hearts of thousands of South Africans and becoming the South African Idol for 2007. It’s not hard to see why she won: she’s cute, she can sing, she’s got spunk (though it took some time to emerge) and, most importantly, she’s the perfect pick for the target audience. Idols is a kids’ show; the entire pop scene is a kids’ show — not in that it only holds appeal to the very young, but in that they run the show. People tipping Jody’s competitor, Andriette Norman — with her more bronzed and professional sound — have not been paying very close attention to the pop scene.
While I was resident in Cape Town in 1999, one of the local radio stations made a noble attempt to pay homage to the millennium past by having a vote-in competition for the top 100 songs of the millennium. Not surprisingly, nothing of classic composers Franz Liszt, Frederic Chopin or the more modern Sergei Rachmaninov featured. Also not surprising was the absence of jazz greats Miles Davis, John Coltrane or Louis Armstrong. The Beatles made the cut; Elvis Presley also featured a few times. When the hour came, however, (I thought I detected a modicum of shame in the presenter’s voice) the number-one song of the past 1 000 years was revealed to be Jennifer Lopez’s If You Had My Love — a single released just six months prior.
Which should tell you something about the voting block that concerns itself with such things. This is an adolescent’s game. The queen of the popular scene is undoubtedly Britney Spears, wife and mother. She was just 17 when she first crawled out of the woodwork, with Mickey Mouse Club colleague Christina Aguilera hot on her heels. She’s widely considered an “idol” to young girls everywhere. I recently had a conversation with a young relative of mine, who is aged just 12, asking her what her interests were. She read it as the old “What do you want to be when you grow up” and answered that she didn’t have any; she just knew that she wanted to be famous, expressing that fame was the only route to relevance in this life. I laughed it off until it occurred to me that Britney Spears joined the Mouse brigade at aged 12.
And I have to wonder just how much you know when you’re 12; if your only ambition is attention. Some of my colleagues believe, as I do now, that Poor Britney is a victim of circumstance. We seem to enjoy a culture of celebrity, where the biggest-selling publications are those which concern themselves with gossip “news”. We create celebrated persons out of just about anybody; the absolutely talentless — at least to those of us who haven’t seen her boudoir video — Paris Hilton is proof of that.
I have no idea what’s behind that; a study conducted at Duke University a few years ago suggests that this might be a primal trait we share with monkeys. But whatever the reason, I believe it’s a corrupting part of our nature. Poor Britney probably relished the attention. She must have felt loved, admired even. But being devoured like that by millions every day must be taxing. As much as you have your supporters, you will have detractors to boot.
I can’t imagine that it’s easy to believe you’re part of the world when you’re constantly being leered at, when you’re every move is either praised or mocked and, ultimately, your “self” is treated as public property. And there’s that phenomenon of Schadenfreude — don’t we just love it when they fall? Poor Britney was dumped by Justin Timberlake and laughed at. She had a flash-in-the-pan marriage that was also maliciously derided. When she picked up weight as a result of pregnancy (as women do), it became a public spectacle.
A friend of mine once commented on how she couldn’t understand why she was constantly aware of what Poor Britney was up to; also noting how tragic it is that we seem to know more about the pop princess than we do about current affairs. Do we blame the tabloids or the consumers of the tabloids? The cause of the phenomenon is a chicken-and-egg story, but there’s no doubt that it’s a mutually reinforcing relationship keeping the gossip pages in circulation.
Lucky for Jody Williams, South Africans are not as dedicated to their own celebrities as they are to American ones. Past Idols have faded into relative obscurity less than one annum after their crowning victory. For the next few months we can look forward to being bombarded by her new single, Love Is All Around, and be happy for her that she will join her own idol, Celine Dion, on stage next year. After that, I’m hoping young Jody keeps working on refining her vocal ability, continues with her schooling and that our local media keep their attention where it should, on the public interest.
Jody’s top almost fell off during her closing performance this evening. It will be interesting to see where the headlines will focus tomorrow — on “praise” for her victory or “shame” for her near-embarrassment.
gurgle. that was interesting. remind me to marry you and become very very fat, forget to put my underwear on and refuse to wake my kids up every morning because their presence disturbs my ‘wah’.
Perhaps there is a reason that the cult of celebrity has pervaded the media machine – it marginalises issues that are real and immediate and allows for us to live in the bubble of delusion, shifting the paradigm of interests, from our world to their world, and so negate the responsibility that we have deliberately sidestepped in our everyday living..
Britney Spears used to call the paparazzi to take a picture of her every time she sneezed or put undies on..now that she herself is unable to contain the collective hysteria that was cultivated as the base or foundation of her ‘career’ as an entertainer – now that Frankenstein has become a shadow image that threatens to overwhelm her reality, she realises the fatal error. But that doesn’t stop her from harnessing the same energy to act as the driving thrust of her career..propel her into the limelight again…and people are always looking for a vehicle re: oblivion.
Britney is nice enough, just a girl…and we always forget that Frankenstein was the name of the Dr and not the monster.
Oh, K.
Thats very friendly but nicely concealed in political drama. Good job:}
What is meant by the first three lines tho?
Okay, so whoever you–Warren Foster–you are amazing.
I have never understood why it is so hard for the media, the paparazzi, journalists, and the general public to sympathize with Britney. What you wrote here–you took the words out of my mouth. Those are the exact things I always write about when I’m one against fifty people trying to defend Britney. I don’t think I would have started liking Britney so much after the six year gap since her prime, but all the negative attention she has been getting makes me feel extremely sorry for her. Nothing Britney does is truly horrible. Just…human. So she ran a red light. I ran a red light the other day. Oh my god she almost dropped her kid. Well when I was younger I left my 6 month old sister on a tabletop and she fell off. Brit stole a dollar lighter—I don’t know how many pencils and various other things I have “stolen” from my school’s art studio. And I’m not a horrible person; neither is Britney.
It is ridiculous. She is even hated for the most mundane things, like getting gas. Can you believe there were hundreds of comments on a website criticizing Britney for sitting in her car as paparazzi fought to get her gas for her? People are so unforgiving of Britney. It is not a matter of what she does anymore, but just a matter of, this is Britney Spears—feel free to criticize, hate, and make up lies to defame her. What, she has feelings too? No way!! I think there are three main ways to explain all the vicious attacks on Britney: a) she a celebrity, and many are unable to see celebrities as “human”—they expect absolute perfection, because that very well is how they are marketed. When a mistake is made, it isn’t a mistake—it’s a crime. It is unacceptable. B) Britney is so successful, and *used to be* so pristine and perfect, they at the sign of any tiny blunder, people jump on her and tear her apart, as a way of venting their jealousy and boosting their egos, think “ha. She messed up, just like me! she’s not so great after all!”. And c) the media needs to make money off people. Unfortunately, people are stupid. so the media oversimplifies, over categorizes. Oftentimes, a journalist will take a stance—black or white. Black or white—good or bad. It requires no thought, no use of brain power in people’s leisure time. And then, to use a math metaphor, it was almost lke an exponential function. Somewhere along the way, Britney just got one black too many—hit the anchor point—and after that, the negative media just skyrocketed, exponentially.
I always say “she’s just human—just a girl”. It is evident from all the news reports that despite her fame and fortune, no one around Britney genuinely cares about her—they just want to make money off of her. She’s poorly advised (if at all), she’s stalked by a hundred people 24/7, her ex-husband used her, took her kids, mooches her money, and ruined her life, the whole world basically hates her…no one deserves that, especially not Britney. I completely agree with you that she is a victim of circumstances. I could write about all her circumstances, but this is way too long. If you even read this far, thank you, and your article definitely stands out as one of the best I’ve read online in the past couple weeks—not only because it is NOT immature and filled with cheap, weak sarcasm as most articles bashing Britney are, but because you see the positive side of things, as well as the rational side. Many journalists rip Britney apart so viciously I wonder if they just don’t realize how much it would hurt her, or they’re just heartless. I’m glad there are writers like you who not only write intelligent articles, but know how to sympathize, too. And I love the title, too—“if you see Britney, give her a hug”. That’s exactly what I wish I could do.
-Lena
Oh and in the last part of my very long comment, I totally did not mean to sound like I’m better than you, or anything of that sort, I was just saying that other reporters are retarded, and you are amazing. I sound a little conceited, sorry abotu that!
-Lena
Wow Warren! you really are becoming the feminist voice of a young generation… and to think they said boys couldn’t be feminists!
I can’t agree with Lena that all reporters are retarded (and I’m not sure people who write for mags that are 98% pix and 2% words are really journalists are they?)
Warren: indeed thou art the thinking woman’s crumpet!