Jan 13, 2011 16:18
{written a month ago and just rediscovered on my hard drive, thus untimely}
I know I have bigger things to be thinking about (especially given my last post {panic on the streets of London - untimely}) but I'd like to say a few words about the X factor. This may signify that the system has beaten me, that my radical urges have been unwound by the application of shitty television as a mental sedative or whatever. All I can say in my defence is that those who would subjugate the masses under a shroud of comfort and light entertainment are highly proficient at what they do.
The X factor takes its name from something that not many people seem to understand. You may have heard excitable fictitious promoters exclaim "You've got 'it'! And I don't even know what 'it' is but I'll damn sure get rich pimping 'it'!". This is that same thing, here called the X factor, which is usually charisma but occasionally some other compelling characteristic. The way it works with performers is that they make the audience feel. They could feel happy, sad, angry or just an unsuppressable urge to dance, but feel they do.
I've noticed a trend recently wherein people will defend an X factor contestant (usually because I've begun the converstaion by attacking them) by stating that they are talented, nice, good or that they deserve success (or to have the number one single at christmas) because they've worked hard. These statements seem to be mostly judgements of character based on the documentary parts of the show and presentation of the contestant in the press, and nothing to do with what happens on the stage. Nothing to do with an unexpected emotional response to an artistic performance. Nothing to do with the X factor.
If this show were actually uncovering exceptional performers, every sunday I would hear things like this:
"Did you see the X factor last night?"
"I cried like a child"
"I know, it was amazing, right?"
"I spontaneously phoned a childhood friend, they were crying too"
"Dude, stop it, I'm welling up again"
The sad truth is that they're just not that great. As a good example of an X factor performance, Alexandra Burke's Hallelujah had the massive production values of a west end musical and very little emotional weight. Leonard Cohen's version, on the other hand was geniunely unsettling and Jeff Buckley's remains one of the most startling and powerful things I've ever heard. And that is real X factor.