Every once in a while, critics get called-out for various things. It’s part of the job, and it happens to every journalist from time to time. But over the weekend, five British classical music critics have been finding themselves in serious hot water after reviewing opera singer Tara Erraught’ performance of Octavian in Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier in Glyndebourne England.
The Telegraph’s Rupert Christiansen writes, “she is dumpy of stature…” The Financial Times depicts her as “a chubby bundle of puppy-fat…” Richard Morrison in the Times quips “Unbelievable, unsightly and unappealing.” Michael Church at the Independent snorts “a dumpy girl.” The Guardian’s Andrew Clements designates Erraught as “stocky.”
It’s hard to decide what’s worse, the idea of the mention of her weight, or the fact that there was a near universal focus on her physical appearance by these five experienced critics who should know better.
What each of these critics said amounts to – she sang well, but too bad she’s fat.
The character known as Jack Donaghy, from the American television sitcom 30 Rock, said it best: “She needs to lose 30 pounds or gain 60. Anything in between has no place in television.” There is an incredible truth in that statement. For people who are obese, it would never be socially acceptable to publicly deride their appearance. But for performers who are anything less than ‘ideally thin,’ it is somehow fine to say what amounts to “you could be so pretty if only you lost a bit of weight.” These comments have nothing to do with a concern for someone’s weight, and everything do with a standard of socially acceptable beauty, which always lands disproportionately upon women.
After all this hullabaloo, I’ve been trying to understand how these five critics all echoed such similarly outrageous comments. Is this unvarying gaffe the result of lazy journalism, where commentary has been replicated across news agencies?
You can see this practice at play here:
Or is this more about five critics who have allowed their personal socially constructed attitudes of idealized female beauty cloud their objectivity as music critics? Either way, this is disappointing.
One of the primary purposes of a review is not only to provide a permanent cultural record of the event, but also to offer important and professional feedback to the performers. Body shaming has no place in music criticism, and its effects can be devastating. In fact, I’m reminded of the weight struggle of the great Deborah Voigt, who actually underwent gastric bypass surgery. Toronto’s soprano, Measha Brueggergosman soprano also had gastric bypass surgery.
My only hope is that Tara Erraught can put this incredibly demeaning experience behind her and move on. The same can’t be said for these five critics, who have some real explaining to do.
[UPDATE: May 21, 9 a.m. The Telegraph classical music critic Rupert Christiansen has since responded to the outrage: ‘I stand by every word‘.]
Michael Vincent
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