Consensus is that Maisie is clearly the best dancer. Already she's had very high marks, barely below eight in the first three weeks. But she won't win; no journey (I rely on the Guardian Strictly liveblog for this sort of insight; maybe better than actually watching). Ranvir Singh, on the other hand, has no background in dance but she works hard, has previously unrecognised talent, improves from week to week, with the odd setback now and again. She's on a journey, growing and discovering a new side of herself. We love the journey - but why?
Do we watch those celebrities with barely concealed envy? We'd like to be on that journey ourselves, becoming something new; blossoming; adding a further string to our bow. So often it seems that we're supposed to be finished articles after school or university. The educational factory has done its job, we've had twelve or sixteen or whatever years to benefit and that's it: completed, abilities and attributes in place, now find your niche and stay there. We love to see somebody throwing off those constraints, becoming something new and unexpected.
In reality change is a core ingredient of our natures. " The self is a style of being, continually expanding in a vital process of definition, affirmation, revision, and growth..." If our lives, our societies were arranged to suit this style of being, would we be less enamoured of the journey? All of us would be more aware, more of the time, of each of our own, unique, individual journeys and we'd feel less need to get carried away in a little pantomime of change featuring a celebrity. Strictly's viewing figures might suffer but this would surely be a price worth paying for a society more in harmony with the basic nature of its constituent citizens.
