Britain needs a reality check

There's no denying that when Susan Boyle stepped onto that stage on 'Britains got Talent', no one expected what would come out her mouth. A strange looking, wild mannered woman from a small town in Edinburgh, girating her hips and claiming she was a 47 year old virgin was never going to make it to the next round, or so it seemed.
But then she sang.
Allthough in my own opinion, her voice was not that spectacular, there wasn't obviously something special about her. She finished her performance on a high, the crowd and judges going crazy. Within days, her talent had become global, and Susan Boyle was in high demand. However, as more and more interest in her vocal ability developed, one of the main areas of interest with SuBo was her image...or lack of. The fact Susan wasn't a stick thin, glamorous woman seemed to make her more interesting. It was almost as if we questioned how someone so...well, ugly, could possibly be so talented. Pictures circulated the press as she ventured out with newly dyed hair, trimmed eyebrows and new clothes; the fact her hair was still frizzy, buttons strained across her stomach, and the flies on her trousers were down only made her seem more endearing to the great british public.

The press have always made a big deal of image with celebrities. Pictures of beautiful, slim stars plastered in every magazine, website and television programme; being "normal" just wasn't an option. But now it seems we've turned a corner. Perhaps Susan Boyle has shown the world that you don't need to be gorgeous to be successful...but arn't we STILL focused on image? No matter whether we are obsessed with how amazing the actress from that new film looks, or in SuBo's case, how bad she looks, we are still focusing more on how someone looks, not what talent they have. Should we not focus more on how well they can sing, act, dance, juggle, and less on how we look? It makes you wonder if Susan would have had half the success she has if she were a supermodel? Probably not, as she wouldn't have been as interesting.

In many ways Susan Boyle is a role model for every woman in Britain, scared by what people will think of their looks. But in other ways, she's shown us all that no matter what you look like, that's how you are going to be remembered, judged by and percieved. Whether she be world known now, Susan Boyle would never have gotton to where she is today if she wasn't that strange looking, wild mannered woman from a small town in Edinburgh.