Susan Boyle Article - 14th March

Susan Boyle Article

Key words
objective- has both sides to it
subjective- all about the  writters opinion.

First Paragraph...

Is Susan Boyle ugly? Or are we? On Saturday night she stood on the stage in Britain's Got Talent; small and rather chubby, with a squashed face, unruly teeth and unkempt hair. She wore a gold lace dress, which made her look like a piece of pork sitting on a doily. Interviewed by Ant and Dec beforehand, she told them that she is unemployed, single, lives with a cat called Pebbles and has never been kissed. Susan then walked out to chatter, giggling, and a long and unpleasant wolf whistle.



What Effect do rhetorical question have on the reader? what tone do they set?

A good way of immediatley directing the reader and getting them to think.
Immediatly suggests that this piece with have an opinion.
Personal pronoun makes us involved.
Critical Tone - cynical
'From the outset...' biost


Adding rhetorical questions straight away at the begining of the passage makes the reader feel more involved and immediatley gets them to think about thier reaction. The writter also again gets us more involved by using personal pronouns within those rhetorical questions. These questions set quite a critical tone towards us and they immediatley show that it is going to be a subjective type of writting.

How would you describe the author's attitude to susan boyle? Support this with embeded quotes 

She has a rude attitude towards, exemplified in her description of her as "small and rather chubby.."
She has a very mean attitude towards her dress sense as shown in "look like a piece of pork."

What do the details about Susan Boyle's private life add to our picture of her? Why has the journalist included them?

They dipict her as stereotypical candidate which is going to fail. The journalist has added these in to add the stereotypical view we already have of her from the description the reader is given. It is pointing out to us that we are very judging people and that as soon as she tells us these personal opinions we can link them to the description and we all have a very obvious view of where this is going to go to.




Paragraph 2..


Why are we so shocked when "ugly" women can do things, rather than sitting at home weeping and wishing they were somebody else? Men are allowed to be ugly and talented. Alan Sugar looks like a burst bag of flour. Gordon Ramsay has a dried-up riverbed for a face. Justin Lee Collins looks like Cousin It from The Addams Family. Graham Norton is a baboon in mascara. I could go on. But a woman has to have the bright, empty beauty of a toy - or get off the screen. We don't want to look at you. Except on the news, where you can weep because some awful personal tragedy has befallen you.

Questions on the second paragraph:

1. The author uses a rhetorical question to begin the second paragraph: explain the effect that this has on the reader.

The repition of rhetorical questions emphasises how important it is for the journalist to have the reader thinking about what is going on and getting the reader involved in thier ideas. She also continues to add in personal pronouns so she is addresing the audeince personally. She is bringing forward to us the fact that we all stereotype and she makes it seem like its not just her with this idea and its like we all do it.

2.She mentions several British celebrities (you do not need to know who they are): what is the purpose of contrasting these men with the statement she makes about women?

I think that it is important you know the celebrities so that you ccan put this into context. The Journalist clearly thinks that the public are very harsh on women as a possed to men and that women have to be 'pretty' in order to be able to make it onto television. The journalist is making the point that women have it so much harder then men.

3. Do you agree with what she says? Think of the purpose of the final two sentences:what effect do they have on the reader?

I think that although she is exagerating the point almost and she is taking her point to the extreme i do believe that we as a body are very stereotypical people. Although there are a few exceptions with comedians it is harder for 'ugly' women to make it on tv without having a lot of people judging and critising thier actions and i do agree with the journalists point. The final lines make you really aware of how angry the jounralist is about the topic.