The Wicked Popularity Contest

“It’s all about popular. It’s not about aptitude, it’s the way you’re viewed.”This line from “Popular,” a well-known song from the Broadway musical “Wicked,” demonstrates how life is a never-ending popularity contest.It starts when you’re a newborn, competing to be the prize baby in the newborn viewing room, vying for attention with incessant cries.The contest continues through the toddler years as first words are said and pearly white teeth become visible, and moms band together at the gym to delight in these achievements. In elementary school you are in good standing only if you are one of the first to be picked for a team in gym, even if you are not necessarily the athletic type.Fast-forward to middle school where the yearbook determines your popularity by how many pictures you’re in: the day it comes out, there are the frantic page turns to see if you made the cut or in this case, the paste.In high school, getting voted ASB president, winning senior polls and being accepted by certain groups becomes a bloodbath. Don’t expect it to get any better when you enter the workforce.According to the Economic Times, a survey was conducted at Columbia University that proved that jobs, raises and promotions are often given based on how well-liked a professional is in spite of their abilities to execute their jobs. “ Forbes” magazine supported this theory and mentioned that employees who were said to be more popular received better treatment and improved team efficiency.But could popularity be trumping ability and achievement? It is very possible.While being popular can mean a lot of things, it is very often based on physicality. In the movie “Legally Blonde,” Reese Witherspoon assumes the role of Elle Woods, a former sorority sister turned law student. At the beginning of the movie she applies to Harvard Law school with a video showcasing her “talents.” In this video she wears an outfit that is a little too revealing to appear professional. The video is viewed by a roomful of admissions officers all of which are men and she is accepted. While Woods proves that she belongs at Harvard later in the movie, it does not appear to be her academic past that the officers judged her on.Like it or not we are all victims of the popularity contest. But, in the words of playwright Oscar Wilde, “The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.”