tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9031852996869768738.post7073417208216057656..comments2024-03-29T08:14:29.603+01:00Comments on The Ugley Vicar: TV Soaps: Garbage in - garbage out?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03590979027426082714noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9031852996869768738.post-88833572704951019672012-01-23T13:56:40.988+01:002012-01-23T13:56:40.988+01:00For twelve years or so I didn’t own a TV – and eve...For twelve years or so I didn’t own a TV – and even now I don’t think I’d miss it terribly if we got rid of it. The only soap I’ve been hooked on is the Archers on Radio 4 (which I’ve listened to from the early 80s) – and it is curious that I stopped listening to it for over a year, after Kathy’s rape. I just don’t want to listen to such things. Similarly, it is not unknown for me to walk out of a cinema or the living room, if there is a violent or overtly sexual scene in a film. I find nudity on stage particularly difficult – and although hats off to Daniel Radcliffe for bearing all in Equus, I would have preferred if he and his stage lover had left some things to the imagination!<br /><br />Yet does what we see in the media have bearing on our behaviour? It is a difficult one. Japan is a nation that has a history of violent comic books, computer games and cinema that is avidly consumed by many – yet it has very low rates of violent crime. Fifty percent of Americans go to church every Sunday, hear the Gospel and the nation has a harsh penal system that incarcerates a far greater proportion of its citizens than China and Iran put together, yet has high rates of murder and violent crime (particularly in the Bible Belt – along with a raft of other appalling ‘social indicators’ which are all higher in religiously and politically conservative states). Hence it is difficult to tease out cause and effect – and like it or not we actually live in a far less violent and dysfunctional society than our forebears, when there was no TV to blame (see: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/postgraduate/ma_studies/taughtma/mamodules/hi971/topics/interpersonal/long-term-historical-trends-of-violent-crime.pdf for an interesting discussion on this!). (Ecclesiastes 7:10 and all that!) <br /><br />The subject matter of soaps tawdry – but I think great care is needed not to set in place a weak syllogism: ‘dysfunctional families on TV results in dysfunctional behaviour in wider society’. At the end of the day, drama is rooted in exaggeration and hyperbole. I went to see ‘The Iron Lady’ on Friday (brilliant film, by the way!) which showed Mrs Thatcher cheerfully waving Airey Neave goodbye as he dove out of the Houses Parliament underground car park – boom – his car was blown up by a bomb planted by the INLA and we see Mrs T running up with exit ramp to the blown up car... In reality Mrs T was elsewhere on the campaigning trail... But for dramatic effect the film took liberties with history... Soaps likewise take liberties with reality to make everyday life more spicy and interesting – after all, if ‘real’ life was as interesting and spicy, why would we need TVs in the first place?<br /><br />P.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9031852996869768738.post-28334482535507785532012-01-23T08:43:51.992+01:002012-01-23T08:43:51.992+01:00As you say, David, every once in a while we see so...As you say, David, every once in a while we see some decent behaviour - then it's back to 'normal'. It might be worth comparing the soap 'intention' with that of the Eagle when established by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Morris_%28publisher%29" rel="nofollow">Marcus Morris</a>.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03590979027426082714noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9031852996869768738.post-14785016262158472872012-01-22T18:17:04.798+01:002012-01-22T18:17:04.798+01:00John,
The qualities you admire were seen on the ni...John,<br />The qualities you admire were seen on the night of the Coronation Street tram crash. Recently Eastenders has had someone rushing into a burning building. This week coronation Street has had a sensitive story about disciplining children. Eastenders has raised our awareness of the impact of a mothers breast cancer on her teenage daughters. The dangers of alcohol are often apparent. Not all bad. Is it any worse than the hospital dramas the BBC specialise in or the crime drama which is ITV's staple. It is a bid like LOTR, there was not much to say about the time in RivendellDavidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05411510481652613673noreply@blogger.com