| Eurovision Song Contest News - 2010 Oslo, Norway 

Maria Ivanova

EUROVISION: MAY THE BEST WIN?
Maria Ivanova
Two weeks before the final Eurovision fever is approaching its peak. Everyone’s making their predictions, the audience is being heated, and even local non-specialized media start reporting Eurovision news.
The discussion about paradoxical Eurovision voting results is ongoing. Georgia won Junior Eurovision last year with the song in an imaginary language of bees. Dima Bilan brought onstage a skater. Lordi made a daring monstrous attempt and actually won…
This morning I was reading Freud’s Jokes and their Relation to the Unconscious , and suddenly it occurred to me that Freud’s theory on the pleasure delivered by the comical is actually explaining the ‘Eurovision paradox’.
Some say the most emotional entries get highest placing, some say the most talented; some say the song is important, others claim that the show is all. I say the picture audience observes is the most important factor, and the pleasure it can give to the audience.
The pleasure is delivered by the acts that allow psychological relief. Performers on stage behave differently from the normative social standards – their deviant behaviour is legitimized by the circumstances of stage performance. Performers become temporarily ‘free’ from their restriction and behave beyond social norms. The audience identifies themselves with the performer, and, in turn, enjoys the imaginary experience of freeing oneself from their own inner restriction. Restriction impels a person to act within their image of socially accepted behaviour.
Therefore, the viewers get the most pleasure from the most deviating act.
It is commonly accepted that the most sexually unrestricted entries get more votes but this tendency proved to be not as universal as it could be expected. The truth is that sexually unrestricted entries do get more votes as they bring certain psychological relief – the viewers enjoy the sexually explicit action which is legitimated by the framework of the song contest but is disallowed in other circumstances.
Let’s take a closer look at recent Eurovision results. 2008. Dima Bilan. Initially it felt ridiculous to bring onstage a skater, a violinist, and a singer with increasingly odd mimics and gestures all performing on a small bit of artificial ice. Not that we laughed out too hard at that one but actually the whole performance was a huge bit of deviation, apparently huge enough to impress the majority of some 100 million. The runner-up Ani Lorak had a closet and a hint of a skeleton in it, some preposterous choreography, and a bit of messy make-up. And don’t forget the sexual constituent. Explicit sexual appeal of both runner-ups of 2008 was not the last thing to get them voted. Moving on to Kalomira – a girl had a huge book opening right onstage, some messy choreography, and her image had just the right amount of naivety to impress the picky audience. Naivety is another source of immanent joy according to Freud’s theory.
2007. Here I must mention that exaggerated by still sincere emotionality plays a significant role. It’s nothing new – artists must be expressive and articulate in their effort to entertain the audience. Acting skills could become handy here. Not that I consider Marija Šerifović to be a big drama actress but she played her part quite well matching deep emotion with incongruity of her clumsy unattractive (but not repulsive) image. The runner-up Verka Serduchka is big. Do I have to give extra explanations on the way that farce won so many votes? The second runner-up was an explicit sexually libertine Serebro, and it’s not men but women with high level of restriction who enjoyed the act most.
2006 is classic. Lordi is my number one. I don’t see how anyone could be surprised by their victory at all – they had a great song that induced a mood and their image on stage was pure mockery. And don’t try to convince me that 2006’s second Dima Bilan with his convulsive body language, ballerinas, and a ballet dancer in the piano had nothing in stock to amuse the audience.
2005: Paparizou vs. Chiara. A skipjack sexual object with a string instrument constructed of her dancers vs. grotesque singing Queen-snail.
2004 and earlier years might not be as absurd but they still were dominated by those performers who managed to deliver a stir in the emotional department.
In fact since Ruslana’s wild big break we see history repeating itself. Second time as farce © Karl Marx.
So what about this year’s favourites? Here I have to cite Americans: “He looks about 14, grins like he’s been nipping from Grandma’s plum brandy and sings implausibly about a failed love affair from ‘years ago, when I was younger’.” Do I have to specify it’s Alexander Rybak the quote features? Then we’ve got another skipjack from Greece with a body of Apollo and sexual appeal of David Beckham; Swedish warbling ice queen with mimics of Mr. Bean; hardly articulate big-lipped acrobat act from Ukraine getting heavy on our ears and inner beasts; serious emotional acts from Britain and France that don’t seem to be able to climb high up the charts unless Jade and Patricia deliver overwhelmingly emotional performances.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that the most nonsensical act wins, it’s the act that combines intense emotion, pleasurable picture, enjoyable sound, and allows the audience to experience a considerable even if temporary relief from their inner restriction. May the wildest deviation win!