Last night I went to a Thanksgiving dinner held at the Flemings Hotel in Mayfair. My partner and I had been invited by one of his friend, who is married to a very successful lawyer. It took me a second to realize what kind uneventful dinner party I was going to participate to. Very reluctant, I put on a black shirt – with no collar – I guess as a sign of protest, or simply to prove that I don’t need to wear a black tie outfit to be able to formulate a phrase, which is syntactically correct. Or yet mostly because I had to make a statement that I differ from that kind of crowd.
When we approached the dining room I spotted my name neatly printed on an ivory card. And I was not particularly excited to notice that I had been placed next to a lady that looked like she could have easily been three times older than me. I told myself; ‘this is going to be a very long evening…’ Throughout dinner, probably in between the first and second course, I was pleasantly surprised to catch the word production among the noisy but still very polite buzz generated by Ivy League educated mouths. I immediately engaged with the elder lady beside me, who turned out to be a brilliant artist, animatedly sharing opinions on work, products and of course Simon Cowell.
Whilst discussing products, it is almost impossible not hit the X-Factor topic. Its executive producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco TV are possibly the biggest producers of pop phenomenon of the 21st century.
Most of the guests sitting at my table agreed with the fact that the music produced by the show has no intrinsic quality to it and that the contestants aren’t in fact artists, but products mirroring the ideals of the contemporary pop industry. It is quite interesting to notice how they also agreed on the fact that the show is indisputably entertaining admitting that they look forward to the next episode every Saturday night. It is evident how most of us are addicted to something that we all know being non-educational as well as painful for most of the times not because of the fact that it might be entertaining but because of the simplicity of participation. You might not agree with the ideals of something but if you don’t know this something inside out you’ll never be able to argue it.
Sometimes it is irrelevant whether you like the X-Factor, or football or Paris Hilton, looking closely to these events and therefore questioning, is the only way to raise awareness and hopefully create a better social environment.
I firmly stand against people that say: “if you do not like the X-factor just change the channel.” Unlike animals we were born with the ability to talk so how can this be a better world without any sort of communication?
At the end of the night I felt like there are in fact people that, despite their jobs environment and the mask that they put on everyday don’t stop question reality seeking for that famous golden age of cultural theory. Some people proved me of being searching for the truth. Showing the importance of looking under the skin of what seems to be reality. I left the building smiling.
