It’s All About Image

This week in the entertainment world in the UK there were two interesting stories. The first being that presenter of popular BBC 1 evening programme “The One Show” Adrian Chiles has been asked to shave off his beard by BBC executives. When Adrian started on the show he was clean-shaven but since the show’s return after its Christmas break he has been sporting a well-developed beard. Now this could just be one big publicity stunt for the show but if it isn’t it raise an interesting point.

As a nation or a culture do we need or expect our TV hosts to be clean-shaven? Is it right that people should be asked to remove their beards in order to present on a TV show? As a viewer do we react differently to people with beards or without beards? What this has underlined is how image conscious the media world is, that is just incase you weren’t already aware.

The second story was about Susan Boyle being snubbed by the Brit Awards when they announced the nominees for this years awards this week. In my opinion any awarding body has the right to put forward any nominee they like as at the end of the day the awards are their awards. There is all this news about Susan Boyle but there have been other big acts this year that have done well this year like Chipmunk, Kelly Clarkson, Cascada etc. and nobody is asking why didn’t they get nominated for awards? The press are putting the story out that it is because of her image that she hasn’t got nominated and she is getting the headlines but if it wasn’t Susan Boyle no other artist would get as much press attention for not being nominated.

Susan Boyle not getting nominated could totally be an image thing and the press may very well have hit the nail on the head but it could also be a case of the media just again using image as a news story as like I say before it is what the media world revolves around.

I think image will continue to play a part in media and entertainment for many years to come and although this is very hard to change I think it is important that it is documented as much as possible and discussed as it is the only way we will ever change the situation. If we can’t change it in the short term we need to make sure there is a constant high awareness of it.


Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Being Equipped to deal with your Talent

Susan Boyle’s involvement in Britain’s Got Talent has brought this question in to sharp focus this week. Susan proved that there are people out there with amazing talents that the world doesn’t know about but her involvement in the show has provoked much debate over how we handle these people. To go from long term obscurity to worldwide fame in seven week is a daunting task for anyone so why should we expect people to be able to cope with it.

People looking at someone who has a talent and say they are lucky but to some people with talent it is a burden and a problem. Many talented people spend so much time working on their talent that they have missed out on social development and personal development as well as building on their maturity and emotional capabilities. I think it is important we spend more time with people who have talent equipping them to deal with their talent and to pursue their talent to the highest level.

Should TV shows and producers on programmes like Britain’s Got Talent be forced to do more to protect the people who perform on the show and do more psychiatric testing on them to see if they should be on TV? This show has made headlines with the people who have appeared on the show but has this series gone too far and are people now worried for the people on the show? Instead of being entertained the audience is now starting to feel uneasy with young acts breaking down in tears and a negative press campaign against a woman who has won the hearts of many.

People who have years of build up before they get famous for their talent still can have issues and problems with what fame brings so we shouldn’t be expecting people who haven’t had that to be able to deal with it. As the general public I think we need to be careful about the way we treat and react to people like this and shows like this as I don’t think TV shows and the press will ever change. Fame can be taken as quickly as it’s given but all the TV companies seem to be worried about are viewing ratings and advertising revenue.

Do you spend time perparing your self for the life you will lead when you become successful in your area of talent? How important do you think this is? Britain's Got Talent has brought this question in to focus this week and I would love to know your thoughts and you can share them by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=731


Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

One Horse Race

For many weeks people have been predicting that Susan Boyle is going to win Britain’s Got Talent. She has had millions of people watching her performances on Youtube and has been featured in and discussed by media outlets across the world. Now my question I pose today is: Is it worth taking part in a competition which is seen as a one horse race?

With each semi final with only two going through from eight I think most acts are already thinking before they perform that they will be going out. This year more than ever I think they have put through novelty acts or strange acts just to make interesting TV and create media attention and unlike with previous seasons I think the audience at home has known as well as the acts themselves that they aren’t going to go through which I feel spoils it a little.

The way the semi finals are devised are unfair I think as so far all we have had go through our singing and dance acts when the show is suppose to be about variety. I think they should do a night for dance acts, a night for singers and so on so that in the final you get a good mix of talents. Also there should be less semi-finals as semi-finals in competitions usually means the final four or two matches when it comes to sport not five rounds of eight people.

As previous acts who haven’t won Britain’s Got Talent have proved you don’t have to win the competition to be a success like Faryl Williams and Escala for instance who have both released albums. So just because you know you aren’t going to win doesn’t make it a worthless exercise as with the right help and support you can turn your five minutes of fame in to a career or at the very least use the publicity to help get you gigs and to help promote yourself. I am sure lots of entertainers will be putting “As seen on Britain’s Got Talent” on their tour posters soon.

The thing with one horse races is that the voting public like their vote to make a difference and count so sometimes if a voter thinks that someone is going to win the competition with or without their vote they may vote for another act or some will vote against the favourite just to go against the grain. For an example of favourites not winning just look at last week’s American Idol where clear favourite Adam Lambert was beaten by the underdog Kris Allen.

I think Simon needs to be careful with Britain’s Got Talent as when it started it seemed to be about showcasing variety and a competition where anyone could win but now with every year the show to me just seems more and more like just a launchpad for Simon Cowell to showcase his latest star.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover

Britain’s Got Talent came bursting back on to our screens last weekend with a bang attracting over 11 million viewers. Last season the country sat in amazement as a whole host of young talented people stole the show. Last years winner George Sampson told the story of the underdog coming from a disadvantaged background doing everything it took to win so that he could pay for his mum to have a house.

If the first episode was anything to go by this year is going to be the year of “Not Judging a Book by its Cover.” 48 year old Church worker Susan Boyle took to the stage to the audition and proclaimed that she was going to sing for the judges. All three judges on the panel sniggered and smiled when she said that, as based on her appearance they thought they were about to hear the most terrible audition ever and that she was kidding herself if she thought she could be a singer. Then to the amazement of the judges she belted out an outstanding rendition of a song from Les Miserables.

Susan is now already one of the favourites to win and her performance has been viewed millions of times over on YouTube. After the performance she got an apology from all three judges for the way they treated her before she sang which is very rare indeed and I hope it has taught them a lesson. With shows like this and X-Factor in the audition stages its like we as a country want to laugh at people more than we want to see some talented performers which I think is part of what is wrong with today’s society.

So many times in life we are quick to make judgements and assumptions about people based on what’s on the outside but I think it’s time we started taking more of an interest on what’s on the inside. I think Susan is just one of many people out there who haven’t been given the chance to live their dream or been taken seriously because of their appearance, the way they speak or the way they act. I hope Susan inspires more people to go for their dreams no matter what their situation or no matter how much they think people will laugh at them. Its society today and peoples attitudes which is stopping talent like this being discovered and I think it’s about time that we the people gave these people the chance to shine.

We here at Talented Young People want to know if you find yourself falling in to this trap or if you have ever been judged unfairly and you can share your views by clicking on the link below:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=700


Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com