Post by davidhr on May 3, 2022 7:15:19 GMT -5
The first week post-Star Academie, and Lara is likely using it to decompress – there have been no public interactions on her FB or Instagram pages for the first time in months. In particular, Lara had no Star Academie outfits to display .
However, there is an interesting reflection on the past Star Academie season, that helps analyze some of its flaws and provides some suggested improvements (with the assumption that it will return in 2024) (https://theconversation.com/nos-biais-de-genre-dans-le-vote-populaire-de-star-academie-181670). Here’s the translation:
---------------------------
Our gender bias in the Star Académie popular vote
Claudia Raby
For the second time since 2003, the Star Académie audience has chosen a female winner over a male contestant in 2022. Since the first edition in Quebec, the voting trends suggest that the popular instinct easily attaches itself to male artists and hardly recognizes the competence of their female colleagues, even though they are well identified by the judges.
The result of this propensity, which was more evident this year, was that only one woman was protected by popular vote in six mixed eliminations before the final. Otherwise, the public will have protected the female singer only when the choice was exclusively female.
This preference can be read as the legacy of a traditionally gendered view of competence, which discredits women. The persistence of a sexist blind spot in our collective unconscious perpetuates the association between credibility and masculinity, and between frivolity and femininity.
The double standards that arise from these gender stereotypes were observed in 2019 in the literary milieu by a study of the Union des écrivaines et des écrivains québécois (UNEQ). Ditto in the sphere of education, research conducted between 2014 and 2016 in France and the United States on the evaluation of teaching by male and female students confirms to us. What emerges is a marked difference in expectations, demands, and assessments of men's and women's work, to the disadvantage of the latter.
The same observation emerges from my doctoral research at Laval University. In writing the biography of a Quebec intellectual (Jeanne Lapointe, 1915-2006), I am analyzing the systemic resistance that has hindered the recognition of women's accomplishments. This historical reluctance can be detected in the popular reactions that punctuated the 2022 season of Star Académie. I propose to examine some of the gender biases through the lenses of women's history and the sociology of culture.
Increased demands to legitimize her place
Let us first recall the astonishment expressed in the media at the fact that Krystel Mongeau "strangely reached the finals without ever having been voted for by the public”. It should be noted that in the absence of gender quotas and despite the fact that the faculty noted the competence of the women, the public gave so little of their vote to the female candidates that it was up to the jury to ensure their place in the semi-final and final.
Why did complete artists such as Audrey-Louise Beauséjour, Sarah-Maude Desgagné and Krystel Mongeau never win the popular vote before the final, even though they stood out from the start? Why does it seem to be more difficult for women to gain sympathy?
It is worth noting that the traditional world on which our society was built was based on a balance between men's work in the public sphere and women's assignment to the private space. The first women to pursue public careers faced many objections because their involvement threatened this established order. In 1940, the novelist Claude-Henri Grignon challenged the relevance of the journalist Anne-Marie Gleason: "This good woman [...] only knew how to wander about boudoir impressions [...] instead of darning socks and scouring pots.
A career woman who acquired expertise outside the domestic sphere had to legitimize her contribution to public life by demonstrating that it would not prevent her from fulfilling her obligations as a wife and mother. In 2022, because the majority of parental responsibility still falls to mothers, Krystel Mongeau felt compelled to justify her persistence in the contest by repeating that this accomplishment would make her a fulfilled woman and therefore a better mother, an example for her two-year-old daughter. The day after her victory, the front page of the Journal de Québec, "Une jeune maman couronnée", glorified her maternal identity more than her merit and name.
At the same time, women's professional activity had to be performed with a greater degree of efficiency and excellence. As recently as 2014, an American study based on the career paths of 500 female professionals in administration revealed that, for equivalent performance, women receive less recognition than their male counterparts. They must therefore be more productive to gain similar consideration.
Pejorative perceptions of female expertise as a cognitive reflex remain palpable across all fields. The mismatch between public support and the quality of female performances at Star Academy 2022 tends to show that, in popular esteem, female contestants' work remains undervalued.
Fighting against historical discredit
Always' 2014 #LikeAGirl awareness campaign illustrated the tenacity of a prejudice that girls' social being remains associated with ridicule in our collective imagination. The effects of this historical discrediting of the feminine were revealed in the most important Star Académie controversy in Quebec, around the eviction of Audrey-Louise Beauséjour.
The public was then confronted with its internal contradictions, denouncing the elimination of a candidate judged exceptional without granting her the first immunization, preferring Éloi Cummings. A petition calling for the resignation of the director then circulated on social networks, alleging that "she does not have good judgment and [that] she has her protégés".
Lara Fabian's suspicion of favoritism towards Krystel Mongeau, with whom she collaborated on The Voice, appears as much as a discrediting of the director's professionalism as it does a disregard for the candidate's talent. Lara Fabian's credibility, like that of the future winner, had been exposed to the general public, both through her impartial critical standards and her pedagogical acuity.
This event is a reminder that even when proof of professional excellence is established, women's place in power or on the podium remains more threatened. "If you want to preserve your reputation, to be taken seriously, be quiet," former PQ MP Elsie Lefebvre was advised when she started out in 2004. These words echo those of the rector of Laval University a hundred years earlier: "women [...] must be like flowers that only exhale their perfume in the shade.
Although Lara Fabian's presence is admired by a large part of her audience, her mentoree's posture stirs up the remains of a traditional vision of the feminine that was once intended to be discrete and modest. The determination of the Star Académie director and contestants puts the taboo of female ambition under the spotlight. Does the pride of the star candidates seem pretentious, even if they proclaimed their gratitude to their fans?
One thing is certain: humility appears to be a key to popular success in French-speaking Quebec. Identifying with the modest being whose efforts are glorified reinforces the American dream and soothes complexes. However, when imperfection is popular, women struggle to negotiate their success in a world where the requirement of professional irreproachability creates a dead end for them.
Like Hugo Dumas, we can ask ourselves if “the consecration of Krystel [signals] the end of this habit that we have of favoring the left behind”. From this exceptional female victory also emerges the hope of a fairer valuation of the skills of men and women in the public sphere.
Change the world
How to overcome the double standards at the heart of a television event whose concept is linked to the affect of the public? It would be advantageous to form popular judgment by stating objective evaluation criteria: vocal accuracy, stage presence, ability to communicate emotion, aptitude for artistic collaboration, etc.
Star Académie could also ask the public to vote on endangerments, but not on eliminations. The production could also offer a voting method shared between the popular verdict and that of the judges, while limiting the number of votes per device to one. In short, the competition would benefit from a review of its structural operations during its announced break for 2023.
Beyond these mechanisms, the showcase that Star Académie provides promotes awareness by increasingly promoting the diversity of skill models among its cohorts, its house band and its dance troupes. Written for the first time by women, the 2022 theme song called this evolution: “together, we can change the world […] so that tomorrow looks like us”.
---------------------------
None of this is overly surprising, but to underline how it applied to the Star Academie season helps expose why there was so much deviation from quality in the continued choice of winners. It also suggests that the problem will remain systemic for this show (and other reality TV programs) until society becomes more cognizant of the problem. And while the public is the recipient of this assessment, the judges are also part of the same society, and can’t be given a free pass either.
For those interested in Krystel Mongeau’s feelings after winning the Star Academie, there is an interview with her at (https://www.journaldequebec.com/2022/04/25/star-academie-krystel-mongeau-une-gagnante-tenace). Basically she says she feels her natural genre is to sing country music, in French; since there is really no such thing in Quebec, she hopes to be the one to populate that niche.
Finally, an article considered the ratings of the final Star Academy program, in (https://www.lesoleil.com/2022/04/25/la-finale-de-star-academie-attire-14-million-de-telespectateurs-bd89c37c8fbc4734599c84e21b47c1ed):
----------------------------------
An average of 1,440,000 viewers attended Krystel Mongeau's surprise victory at Star Académie on Sunday evening on TVA, according to Numeris.
This is slightly less than last year, when 1,520,000 viewers watched the final, which crowned William Cloutier. Almost a million less than the 2,425,000 in the 2012 final….
------------------------------------
It was far and away the winner of the night from a viewership standpoint. It was some 200,000 viewers less than watched the program in mid-March before the continuing controversies over the competitive results.
In other news, as noted by the Lara Fabian Lockdown Sessions FB site, Lara’s book ‘Je passe a table’ is available for pre-order at FNAC (https://livre.fnac.com/a16962494/Lara-Fabian-Lara-Fabian?fbclid=IwAR1ghmgn3NeJv98DYFLtH_DkwlC7vWzC4xv1beuelba1og2AUAZKVaYan3c#omnsearchpos=1), and thus will be available for European fans who don’t want to order it from Quebec. The chief drawback is that it will not be delivered until Sept. 15 (2022), four months from now. Originally Lara had suggested it would be available there early this year. Not clear what the hold-up is; it would seem more expeditious to just buy it from Canada (e.g., Amazon.ca) and pay any extra shipping charge. Alternatively, it looks like one can instantly download the ebook version from FNAC (or the Kindle edition from Amazon).
The article about Lara in 'Chatelaine' is currently available in their April 27th edition, on-line at (https://fr.chatelaine.com/art-de-vivre/lara-fabian-une-star-et-une-mentor-comblee/?fbclid=IwAR38JtfFNwBuRt5Lzo-fh2ZfJZu1gSmlN6fSZ3cnYP0mmCn3oU7J72bAjgU). A translation of the text was provided in the News Update of
3-8 (2022). Once again, it has 5 beautiful pictures of Lara.
Lara’s next public activities are her concerts in Quebec in mid-June. With regard to the COVID situation in the country, cases still remain relatively high, but a decision on in-door mask mandates is due this week (https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/covid-19-quebec-may-2-1.6437929). It’s expected that it will be lifted for indoor public spaces on May 14, although remain in effect for public transportation. At this point, unless there is some drastic change, Lara’s concerts should go on as scheduled. 91 per cent of the eligible population in the province (aged five and up) has received at least one dose of the vaccine.
Interesting pictures/videos of the week: each weekend, the Lara Fabian America site provides notice of various concerts that Lara has given that are available on youtube; the latest they pointed out is a concert from Paris in 2016, available at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMqcm7k1yLY&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR0olcPUSrYylXwu30HHdu0yQ_gbxGmhfAxHgqjnBegP3QgaUj-yihwSAb0
It features songs from 'Ma vie dans la tienne', among others.
[The previous concert linked to was the full (17 song) version of ‘From Lara with Love’, available at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qPV84jZcQg]
They also post many photos from Lara on Star Academie, the last one being at
www.facebook.com/larafabianamerica/photos/pcb.1351228668708382/1351226922041890/
See the continuing thread for more…
And ending with the Star Academie theme, Lara The Ring Fabian added subtitles to the Instagram video of Lara chatting with the various Star Academie contestants, at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5poa3Na4bqI
What the next weeks will portend for Lara’s public interactions is anybody’s guess. At some point she will have to start publicizing the June concerts, especially the ones in Quebec City for which we were told on the last Star Academie that there were still some 1,000 tickets available. Stay safe everybody,
David
However, there is an interesting reflection on the past Star Academie season, that helps analyze some of its flaws and provides some suggested improvements (with the assumption that it will return in 2024) (https://theconversation.com/nos-biais-de-genre-dans-le-vote-populaire-de-star-academie-181670). Here’s the translation:
---------------------------
Our gender bias in the Star Académie popular vote
Claudia Raby
For the second time since 2003, the Star Académie audience has chosen a female winner over a male contestant in 2022. Since the first edition in Quebec, the voting trends suggest that the popular instinct easily attaches itself to male artists and hardly recognizes the competence of their female colleagues, even though they are well identified by the judges.
The result of this propensity, which was more evident this year, was that only one woman was protected by popular vote in six mixed eliminations before the final. Otherwise, the public will have protected the female singer only when the choice was exclusively female.
This preference can be read as the legacy of a traditionally gendered view of competence, which discredits women. The persistence of a sexist blind spot in our collective unconscious perpetuates the association between credibility and masculinity, and between frivolity and femininity.
The double standards that arise from these gender stereotypes were observed in 2019 in the literary milieu by a study of the Union des écrivaines et des écrivains québécois (UNEQ). Ditto in the sphere of education, research conducted between 2014 and 2016 in France and the United States on the evaluation of teaching by male and female students confirms to us. What emerges is a marked difference in expectations, demands, and assessments of men's and women's work, to the disadvantage of the latter.
The same observation emerges from my doctoral research at Laval University. In writing the biography of a Quebec intellectual (Jeanne Lapointe, 1915-2006), I am analyzing the systemic resistance that has hindered the recognition of women's accomplishments. This historical reluctance can be detected in the popular reactions that punctuated the 2022 season of Star Académie. I propose to examine some of the gender biases through the lenses of women's history and the sociology of culture.
Increased demands to legitimize her place
Let us first recall the astonishment expressed in the media at the fact that Krystel Mongeau "strangely reached the finals without ever having been voted for by the public”. It should be noted that in the absence of gender quotas and despite the fact that the faculty noted the competence of the women, the public gave so little of their vote to the female candidates that it was up to the jury to ensure their place in the semi-final and final.
Why did complete artists such as Audrey-Louise Beauséjour, Sarah-Maude Desgagné and Krystel Mongeau never win the popular vote before the final, even though they stood out from the start? Why does it seem to be more difficult for women to gain sympathy?
It is worth noting that the traditional world on which our society was built was based on a balance between men's work in the public sphere and women's assignment to the private space. The first women to pursue public careers faced many objections because their involvement threatened this established order. In 1940, the novelist Claude-Henri Grignon challenged the relevance of the journalist Anne-Marie Gleason: "This good woman [...] only knew how to wander about boudoir impressions [...] instead of darning socks and scouring pots.
A career woman who acquired expertise outside the domestic sphere had to legitimize her contribution to public life by demonstrating that it would not prevent her from fulfilling her obligations as a wife and mother. In 2022, because the majority of parental responsibility still falls to mothers, Krystel Mongeau felt compelled to justify her persistence in the contest by repeating that this accomplishment would make her a fulfilled woman and therefore a better mother, an example for her two-year-old daughter. The day after her victory, the front page of the Journal de Québec, "Une jeune maman couronnée", glorified her maternal identity more than her merit and name.
At the same time, women's professional activity had to be performed with a greater degree of efficiency and excellence. As recently as 2014, an American study based on the career paths of 500 female professionals in administration revealed that, for equivalent performance, women receive less recognition than their male counterparts. They must therefore be more productive to gain similar consideration.
Pejorative perceptions of female expertise as a cognitive reflex remain palpable across all fields. The mismatch between public support and the quality of female performances at Star Academy 2022 tends to show that, in popular esteem, female contestants' work remains undervalued.
Fighting against historical discredit
Always' 2014 #LikeAGirl awareness campaign illustrated the tenacity of a prejudice that girls' social being remains associated with ridicule in our collective imagination. The effects of this historical discrediting of the feminine were revealed in the most important Star Académie controversy in Quebec, around the eviction of Audrey-Louise Beauséjour.
The public was then confronted with its internal contradictions, denouncing the elimination of a candidate judged exceptional without granting her the first immunization, preferring Éloi Cummings. A petition calling for the resignation of the director then circulated on social networks, alleging that "she does not have good judgment and [that] she has her protégés".
Lara Fabian's suspicion of favoritism towards Krystel Mongeau, with whom she collaborated on The Voice, appears as much as a discrediting of the director's professionalism as it does a disregard for the candidate's talent. Lara Fabian's credibility, like that of the future winner, had been exposed to the general public, both through her impartial critical standards and her pedagogical acuity.
This event is a reminder that even when proof of professional excellence is established, women's place in power or on the podium remains more threatened. "If you want to preserve your reputation, to be taken seriously, be quiet," former PQ MP Elsie Lefebvre was advised when she started out in 2004. These words echo those of the rector of Laval University a hundred years earlier: "women [...] must be like flowers that only exhale their perfume in the shade.
Although Lara Fabian's presence is admired by a large part of her audience, her mentoree's posture stirs up the remains of a traditional vision of the feminine that was once intended to be discrete and modest. The determination of the Star Académie director and contestants puts the taboo of female ambition under the spotlight. Does the pride of the star candidates seem pretentious, even if they proclaimed their gratitude to their fans?
One thing is certain: humility appears to be a key to popular success in French-speaking Quebec. Identifying with the modest being whose efforts are glorified reinforces the American dream and soothes complexes. However, when imperfection is popular, women struggle to negotiate their success in a world where the requirement of professional irreproachability creates a dead end for them.
Like Hugo Dumas, we can ask ourselves if “the consecration of Krystel [signals] the end of this habit that we have of favoring the left behind”. From this exceptional female victory also emerges the hope of a fairer valuation of the skills of men and women in the public sphere.
Change the world
How to overcome the double standards at the heart of a television event whose concept is linked to the affect of the public? It would be advantageous to form popular judgment by stating objective evaluation criteria: vocal accuracy, stage presence, ability to communicate emotion, aptitude for artistic collaboration, etc.
Star Académie could also ask the public to vote on endangerments, but not on eliminations. The production could also offer a voting method shared between the popular verdict and that of the judges, while limiting the number of votes per device to one. In short, the competition would benefit from a review of its structural operations during its announced break for 2023.
Beyond these mechanisms, the showcase that Star Académie provides promotes awareness by increasingly promoting the diversity of skill models among its cohorts, its house band and its dance troupes. Written for the first time by women, the 2022 theme song called this evolution: “together, we can change the world […] so that tomorrow looks like us”.
---------------------------
None of this is overly surprising, but to underline how it applied to the Star Academie season helps expose why there was so much deviation from quality in the continued choice of winners. It also suggests that the problem will remain systemic for this show (and other reality TV programs) until society becomes more cognizant of the problem. And while the public is the recipient of this assessment, the judges are also part of the same society, and can’t be given a free pass either.
For those interested in Krystel Mongeau’s feelings after winning the Star Academie, there is an interview with her at (https://www.journaldequebec.com/2022/04/25/star-academie-krystel-mongeau-une-gagnante-tenace). Basically she says she feels her natural genre is to sing country music, in French; since there is really no such thing in Quebec, she hopes to be the one to populate that niche.
Finally, an article considered the ratings of the final Star Academy program, in (https://www.lesoleil.com/2022/04/25/la-finale-de-star-academie-attire-14-million-de-telespectateurs-bd89c37c8fbc4734599c84e21b47c1ed):
----------------------------------
An average of 1,440,000 viewers attended Krystel Mongeau's surprise victory at Star Académie on Sunday evening on TVA, according to Numeris.
This is slightly less than last year, when 1,520,000 viewers watched the final, which crowned William Cloutier. Almost a million less than the 2,425,000 in the 2012 final….
------------------------------------
It was far and away the winner of the night from a viewership standpoint. It was some 200,000 viewers less than watched the program in mid-March before the continuing controversies over the competitive results.
In other news, as noted by the Lara Fabian Lockdown Sessions FB site, Lara’s book ‘Je passe a table’ is available for pre-order at FNAC (https://livre.fnac.com/a16962494/Lara-Fabian-Lara-Fabian?fbclid=IwAR1ghmgn3NeJv98DYFLtH_DkwlC7vWzC4xv1beuelba1og2AUAZKVaYan3c#omnsearchpos=1), and thus will be available for European fans who don’t want to order it from Quebec. The chief drawback is that it will not be delivered until Sept. 15 (2022), four months from now. Originally Lara had suggested it would be available there early this year. Not clear what the hold-up is; it would seem more expeditious to just buy it from Canada (e.g., Amazon.ca) and pay any extra shipping charge. Alternatively, it looks like one can instantly download the ebook version from FNAC (or the Kindle edition from Amazon).
The article about Lara in 'Chatelaine' is currently available in their April 27th edition, on-line at (https://fr.chatelaine.com/art-de-vivre/lara-fabian-une-star-et-une-mentor-comblee/?fbclid=IwAR38JtfFNwBuRt5Lzo-fh2ZfJZu1gSmlN6fSZ3cnYP0mmCn3oU7J72bAjgU). A translation of the text was provided in the News Update of
3-8 (2022). Once again, it has 5 beautiful pictures of Lara.
Lara’s next public activities are her concerts in Quebec in mid-June. With regard to the COVID situation in the country, cases still remain relatively high, but a decision on in-door mask mandates is due this week (https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/covid-19-quebec-may-2-1.6437929). It’s expected that it will be lifted for indoor public spaces on May 14, although remain in effect for public transportation. At this point, unless there is some drastic change, Lara’s concerts should go on as scheduled. 91 per cent of the eligible population in the province (aged five and up) has received at least one dose of the vaccine.
Interesting pictures/videos of the week: each weekend, the Lara Fabian America site provides notice of various concerts that Lara has given that are available on youtube; the latest they pointed out is a concert from Paris in 2016, available at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMqcm7k1yLY&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR0olcPUSrYylXwu30HHdu0yQ_gbxGmhfAxHgqjnBegP3QgaUj-yihwSAb0
It features songs from 'Ma vie dans la tienne', among others.
[The previous concert linked to was the full (17 song) version of ‘From Lara with Love’, available at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qPV84jZcQg]
They also post many photos from Lara on Star Academie, the last one being at
www.facebook.com/larafabianamerica/photos/pcb.1351228668708382/1351226922041890/
See the continuing thread for more…
And ending with the Star Academie theme, Lara The Ring Fabian added subtitles to the Instagram video of Lara chatting with the various Star Academie contestants, at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5poa3Na4bqI
What the next weeks will portend for Lara’s public interactions is anybody’s guess. At some point she will have to start publicizing the June concerts, especially the ones in Quebec City for which we were told on the last Star Academie that there were still some 1,000 tickets available. Stay safe everybody,
David