Now I have to admit I don’t watch Eurovision, its never been something that has interested me, specially with all its political voting that goes on during the show.
But while out playing pool last night the show was on the TV and I couldn’t help watch it between shots on the pool table and one thing that stood out was Conchita Wurst!
I was intrigued on where the voting would go, but deep down I knew that, what was happening in the world, Conchita would actually win.
Her selection had already proved slightly controversial with petitions filed in Russia, Belarus and Armenia to attempt to either have her removed, or edited out of the broadcast in their countries.
Conchita Wurst Win Eurovision 2014
"This night is dedicated to everyone who believes in a future of peace and freedom." @ConchitaWurst #Eurovision pic.twitter.com/7N12w0DUFy
— BBC Eurovision (@bbceurovision) May 10, 2014
Looking on Twitter and Facebook you could see the way people were divided over the performance and some of the contents were shocking to say the least, with many describing Conchita as an “it“! Which I personally think is a terrible thing to call a fellow human being.
So I decided to look into the character of Conchita Wurst and see where she came from!
Conchita Wurst aka Thomas “Tom” Neuwirth (born 6 November 1988) is the creator of his drag persona Conchita Wurst.
Neuwirth states that he was born in Gmunden, Austria, in 1988. Conchita stated in an interview in 2013 that she was frequently scared of being bullied in school for being gay, even to the point of ‘avoid[ing] going to the school’s toilets during breaks’.
Before taking up a drag persona Neuwirth worked as a shop window decorator, but first appeared in public media in an advertisement in 2006.
In 2007, Neuwirth reached the final of the 2007 Austrian casting show Starmania. In 2011, Neuwirth returned to television in drag as “Conchita Wurst”, a persona created in response to the experiences from his earlier life: “This is about an important message, it’s call for tolerance for everything that seems different” Conchita commented in an interview.
While Wurst means ‘sausage’ in German, Conchita refers her choice of last name to the common German expression ‘Das ist mir doch alles Wurst,’ which translates as both ‘it’s all the same to me,’ as well as ‘I don’t care.’ She states that her name comes from the first meaning of the expression and adds “It doesn’t really matter where one comes from, and what one looks like.” In the same interview she says that her first name was given to her by a Cuban friend.
As Conchita Wurst, she participated in the ORF production The Hardest Jobs of Austria, where she worked in a fish factory, and in Wild Girls, in which a group of candidates had to survive in the deserts of Namibia together with native tribes.
Neuwirth graduated from the Graz School of Fashion in 2011, and has lived in various locations in Vienna. Source – Wikipedia
It’s a sucked that we still live a world where there is still so much animosity towards people who other people don’t understand or break the boundaries of what some may think is “normality“. We all live on one planet, we should all get along.
So hopefully you now know a little more anchor the 2014 Eurovision winner and I congratulate Conchita on a worthy win , with 290 points, with what reminded me somewhat of a Bond theme.
Still not going to watch Eurovision though, I still think it has a political voting system!!
So, I’m opening the flood gates now, what are your thoughts on this years Eurovision Song Contest?
Karen Woodham is the founder and owner of the Blazing Minds. She is also a Cinema reviewer and works with RealD 3D reviewing the latest 3D releases and IMAX, she has also had several articles published in various publications including the first edition of SFW Magazine. In 2015 she became an Award Winning Blogger and also has her website listed as one of the UK’s Top 10 Film Blogs.
