Life as a story

The star of reality TV and OK magazine, Jade Goody, died on mother's day 2009 in a blaze of publicity, both here and abroad - Le Monde for instance described her as the Princess Di of the poor. She became known because of her appearance on Big Brother. But then on Celebrity Big Brother, she made some very impolite remarks about Shilpa Shetty, a star of Bollywood. Jade was expelled from the house and became a hate figure for British society. She became despised not only for her racism but also for her loud mouth, general ignorance - she thought East Anglia was abroad somewhere - and lack of education: the very ‘qualities' which had made her famous in the first place. There then followed a period when, with the help of the publicist Max Clifford, she gradually rehabilitated herself in the minds of the celebrity-magazine buying public. This was not hindered by the fact that Max Clifford represented Shilpa Shetty as well. Public forgiveness was stage-managed to everyone's mutual profit and, indeed, Jade was appearing on the Indian version of Big Brother to show just how un-racist she was when the terrible news was given to her of something which was all too real. And so the public accepted her back into its arms on a wave of emotion. She had lived in the full glare of publicity and now was to die in the same way. The controversy over her making a few millions of pounds from this last phase of her life merely ensured that she made even more money, as did Max Clifford. But most people were perfectly happy for her to make as much money as she could in order to support her two sons after her death. As she said, she wanted to make sure they had the best education they could get: an education which she had not had - the factor which had both given her wealth and nearly taken that wealth away. And she married in church and made sure they would all meet in the hereafter by having herself and her children christened and so accepted into the Christian faith. Now we have been here before. Princess Di comes to mind - someone generally regarded as an attractive, if not very bright, woman who was wronged by the Prince whom she married in a fairy-tale wedding and who was then ‘murdered' when about to find happiness in the arms of another, according to her pantomime villain of a prospective father-in-law. Now, the two stories are certainly not the same, but they are both stories made up of elements that could be found in any melodrama. There is romance, pathos, infidelity, religion, a mother's love, redemption, forgiveness and tragic death. And it was all presented by their publicists and the media, those professional story tellers, in a way which tugged at our heart strings to the maximum extent. The regret and the soul-searching of the Montagues and Capulets when they discover the deaths of Romeo and Juliet are reflected in the public's reaction to the deaths of these two modern heroines. But both of these people are actually yesterday's news. The band-waggon has moved on. The story has changed to star a socially awkward, unemployed, rather unattractive, 47 year old Scottish woman, ‘who has never been kissed'. But she is a woman who had the courage to stand up in front of an initially hostile and highly sceptical audience and judges on ‘Britain's got talent' and sing so well that she brought the house down. Since then there have been 75 million* hits on her performance on YouTube and press coverage throughout the world. Demi Moore brought her to the attention of the American public through her Twitter site, saying that she was in tears after watching the performance. Again, a melodrama with a plot as implausible as you can imagine - a triumph of talent and innocence over the superficiality of looks. Since the show was broadcast, we have found that she has learning difficulties, was bullied at school, visits old folk on behalf of her church, was her elderly mother's carer until she died two years ago, that for many years she had singing lessons and took part in talent shows with her mother's encouragement. And now, finally, she has triumphed against all the odds. Could it get any better? Perhaps she will finally be kissed. But will she be able to build on her success or will she ultimately be broken by it like many of her predecessors? We cannot know, but we shall watch as the story continues to unfold - at least until the next character comes on the scene and displaces her in our living soap opera.   * as at 24 April 2009

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