Big bother over Big Brother
I’m sure that everyone is at least aware of the current furore taking place in Britain over Celebrity Big Brother being the new wave of One Nation.
I’ve been reading about the crisis for the last few weeks, so finally tuned into the show last night. Very basically, if you have been spared the water cooler/cubicle farm conversations about the matter I’ll provide a synopsis.
Celebrity Big Brother (CBB), comprises d-list has-beens and never-weres entering the house for weeks of humiliation in the name of either reviving or starting their careers. The house mates range from various former pop stars (who I’ve never heard of); to a glamour model from Liverpool whose celebrity comes from her dating a footballer; Michael Jackson’s brother Jermaine (celebrity by association); Leo Sayer (singer of I feel like Dancing – second only to the Car Song as the song that can wake you from a hangover from hell with a smile); a journalist I’ve never heard of; and Ken Russell who is not the author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (who is in fact Ken Kesey and dead) but for a few weeks, until I figured that out, was easily the oddest entrant in the revive my career game and Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty.
As per most Big Brother shows, from what I can understand the first few weeks were slow and ratings were lower than the number of registered voters in Florida who had their vote counted. Indeed, it seems that last week ratings for the BBC2 show Grow your own veg were higher than CBB. Another show I’ve not watched, but I hope it is simply vision of a patch of carrots growing, which given the option of watching so called celebrities 24 hours a day or a carrot grow 24 hours a day – the beta carotene gets my vote!
However, something has happened this week. Strangely just as ratings dipped to an all new low, the dynamic of the house has changed. Racial slurs are being bandied about faster than a KKK meet and greet, effigies are being burned; world leaders are wading in to provide comment about the clear case of racial harassment at the hands of Britain’s most vocal chav and former joe average Big Brother contestant from several years ago, Jade Goody and Indian’s equivalent to Nicole Kidman, Shilpa Shetty.
Goody, in her world class defence of her bigotry, explained that calling Ms Petty "Shilpa Pappodum" was not “racial” (sic) but simply a by-product of the fact that she didn’t know her last name.
If only Jade was honest and actually said “look, I’m clearly not bright. Most of the time I have no idea what’s coming out of my mouth, so if it’s being interpreted as racist, it’s not… it’s just that I’m an idiot” I think the public would have more sympathy for her.
While I have no tolerance for racism or bigotry, the real crime in this situation is not the blatant bullying of Ms Shetty, but the blatant airing of this on mainstream media (giving rise to others to believe it is acceptable) and more than that, the blatant airing of the woeful vernacular that pours forth from these illiterate fools’ mouths.
Case in point: when Ms Goody told Big Brother it was not in her to be “racial” Big Brother should have asked “but what’s your position on being a racist bully?”
Very simply, racial is an adjective. It describes a noun. Ergo an object/noun is required in Ms Goody’s sentence for it to obey basic principles of the English language.
I appreciate this line of argument is distinctly old school and lacking in post modernism. However, even Noam Chomsky and Michael Foucault would have issues with this show, I’m sure of it.
When her boyfriend complained that Ms Shetty had suggested that Jade needed “ecolution” lessons, as opposed to elocution lessons, Big Brother should have laughed derisively and handed him the award for embodying irony.
When one of the former pop starlets was asked about her involvement in an argument between Ms Goody and Ms Shetty, and she responded “I done nuffin…” Big Brother should have given her a paint brush and paint and made her conjugate the verb “to do” on the side of the house, Life of Brian style.
It’s not just the racism that offends me, it’s all of it. It’s the celebration of idiocy, the revering of bogans and the belief that people on reality television matter.
Children watch this show and are being trained that not only is it ok to speak without consideration, bully and manipulate people to get your own way, but they are also being taught language skills that are woeful.
Sadly, they are also being taught, by Ms Goody’s example, that you can become a millionaire simply by doing nothing and being filmed doing it.
I’ve been reading about the crisis for the last few weeks, so finally tuned into the show last night. Very basically, if you have been spared the water cooler/cubicle farm conversations about the matter I’ll provide a synopsis.
Celebrity Big Brother (CBB), comprises d-list has-beens and never-weres entering the house for weeks of humiliation in the name of either reviving or starting their careers. The house mates range from various former pop stars (who I’ve never heard of); to a glamour model from Liverpool whose celebrity comes from her dating a footballer; Michael Jackson’s brother Jermaine (celebrity by association); Leo Sayer (singer of I feel like Dancing – second only to the Car Song as the song that can wake you from a hangover from hell with a smile); a journalist I’ve never heard of; and Ken Russell who is not the author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (who is in fact Ken Kesey and dead) but for a few weeks, until I figured that out, was easily the oddest entrant in the revive my career game and Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty.
As per most Big Brother shows, from what I can understand the first few weeks were slow and ratings were lower than the number of registered voters in Florida who had their vote counted. Indeed, it seems that last week ratings for the BBC2 show Grow your own veg were higher than CBB. Another show I’ve not watched, but I hope it is simply vision of a patch of carrots growing, which given the option of watching so called celebrities 24 hours a day or a carrot grow 24 hours a day – the beta carotene gets my vote!
However, something has happened this week. Strangely just as ratings dipped to an all new low, the dynamic of the house has changed. Racial slurs are being bandied about faster than a KKK meet and greet, effigies are being burned; world leaders are wading in to provide comment about the clear case of racial harassment at the hands of Britain’s most vocal chav and former joe average Big Brother contestant from several years ago, Jade Goody and Indian’s equivalent to Nicole Kidman, Shilpa Shetty.
Goody, in her world class defence of her bigotry, explained that calling Ms Petty "Shilpa Pappodum" was not “racial” (sic) but simply a by-product of the fact that she didn’t know her last name.
If only Jade was honest and actually said “look, I’m clearly not bright. Most of the time I have no idea what’s coming out of my mouth, so if it’s being interpreted as racist, it’s not… it’s just that I’m an idiot” I think the public would have more sympathy for her.
While I have no tolerance for racism or bigotry, the real crime in this situation is not the blatant bullying of Ms Shetty, but the blatant airing of this on mainstream media (giving rise to others to believe it is acceptable) and more than that, the blatant airing of the woeful vernacular that pours forth from these illiterate fools’ mouths.
Case in point: when Ms Goody told Big Brother it was not in her to be “racial” Big Brother should have asked “but what’s your position on being a racist bully?”
Very simply, racial is an adjective. It describes a noun. Ergo an object/noun is required in Ms Goody’s sentence for it to obey basic principles of the English language.
I appreciate this line of argument is distinctly old school and lacking in post modernism. However, even Noam Chomsky and Michael Foucault would have issues with this show, I’m sure of it.
When her boyfriend complained that Ms Shetty had suggested that Jade needed “ecolution” lessons, as opposed to elocution lessons, Big Brother should have laughed derisively and handed him the award for embodying irony.
When one of the former pop starlets was asked about her involvement in an argument between Ms Goody and Ms Shetty, and she responded “I done nuffin…” Big Brother should have given her a paint brush and paint and made her conjugate the verb “to do” on the side of the house, Life of Brian style.
It’s not just the racism that offends me, it’s all of it. It’s the celebration of idiocy, the revering of bogans and the belief that people on reality television matter.
Children watch this show and are being trained that not only is it ok to speak without consideration, bully and manipulate people to get your own way, but they are also being taught language skills that are woeful.
Sadly, they are also being taught, by Ms Goody’s example, that you can become a millionaire simply by doing nothing and being filmed doing it.
Film & TV on DVD
Most of the stuff said is not worth repeating and it is definitely not acceptable to be racist and heap insults on your roommates even if it is just a TV show.
However, I am surprised by the media hype surrounding this incident. Come on, do we really need Tony Blair involved in this? It's a private TV show - I'm sure the governments of two of the world's biggest democracies have better things to do
Manjula
Yellow Brick Road
I don't suppose it matters now as Ms Goody was voted out on the weekend, with 82% of the vote. However, in the same way that I am sceptical that the racial disharmony happened to be timed to revive the lowest ratings ever, I'm also dubious that the voting public were so polarised in their views on racism. Indeed Monday morning, after the eviction Friday night and the news (and Ms Goody) has already been dumped back to obscurity.