You'd Better Be Sexy...

A CNN report a few days ago was headlined, "If You're A Female Singer, You'd Better Be Sexy" (read it at http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Music/05/18/music.sexysingers.ap/index.html)

Where I come from, this is known as a keen grasp of the obvious.

I've written several times in this blog about our society's obsession with youth and beauty, and I'm certainly neither the only nor the smartest commentator to have made this observation. But the CNN article hits on a significant problem for female singers and actresses - if you aren't beautiful, all the talent in the world won't necessarily help you.

There was a time, not all that long ago, when a talented female singer could get away without being conventionally beautiful - think about Janis Joplin and Mama Cass Elliot. Naturally, good looks are an asset, but when they begin to overshadow talent, something's gone wrong.

The problem is worse today, now that high-definition TV is the coming standard and you can see every acne blemish and count every hair. HDTV magnifies the flaws that older technology helped hide, and so talent tends to be pushed even further to the background by the need to seek out the truly telegenic stars.

When beauty and talent come together in one package, it's great. But it's just a shame that if we have to pick one or the other, we go for the beauty first. This is, of course, why a witty and intelligent, yet plain fellow like myself labors in the relative obscurity of the blog world instead of being a highly-paid television commentator.

Sigh.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo