(no subject)

[yiskah]

Both of the tentative social plans that I made for today have fallen through, which is probably for the best, given my limited finances and the fact that I’ve been out the past two nights and am out the next two, AND of course it also means that I will get to go home and do some productive things like tidy my room and sort out clothes to go on eBay and yes all right maybe watch the Celebrity Big Brother eviction thing. I have been having a lot of thoughts about the racism scandal and the phenomenon of Big Brother and reality TV in general (partly inspired by whizzerandchips’s recent post on the matter, particularly the exchange between him and ultraruby halfway or so down the comments) and also ART in the wider sense, and the differences between high art and populist art (which is stuff I’ve sneakily been thinking about for a while, but kind of crystallised while reading fortuneandglory’s latest post [f’locked, sorry] and commenting on it) and it’s all amalgamated into a giant thought casserole, which is a slightly uncomfortable metaphor but I think I’ll stick with it.

The racism question is a tricky one, really, and I’ve barely been watching enough of the CBB footage to form an opinion, but when’s that held me back before? I think the thing is that racism means different things to different people, both the word itself and what constitutes it; there’s a difference in my head between racially motivated abuse and racism, and I think what’s happening in the Big Brother house is the latter and not the former. If Shilpa were a burping, farting, loud-mouthed British-Indian woman from a similar social background to Jade, Danielle, Jo and Jack, I genuinely don’t believe they’d see her ethnic background as an issue; therefore, the bullying she’s experiencing isn’t racially motivated. However, the fact that the issues that they have with her are more about class/social background than ethnicity (and yeah, of course the two are linked) doesn’t mean that racism isn’t going on; now that she’s been identified as their victim of choice, they’re going to use every difference as ammunition, and that includes race. Of course, it really doesn’t make any difference, because terms of racist abuse are being used, and 30,000 people (last I saw) have identified it as racism, and that’s what the legal definition of racism is. But I think that the racism/racial motivation division is what’s behind the flurry of breathless denials. No doubt they don’t feel themselves to be racist, but nonetheless that’s what they’re being.

Also, if people would stop saying stuff like “oh, but that’s just what happens when groups of women get together", then I would stop wanting to punch them in the face. Thanks!

So then there’s the wider question of whether Big Brother and its ilk is essentially exploitative. Obv I am tempted to go into a breathless flurry of denial because while I am not a huge fan of Big Brother in itself (mostly because it’s the sort of show that you have to keep watching and I am crap at telly in that I come home and switch it on and go “oh hey, it’s that same programme that was on last week!” and then chiller looks at me like I’m crazy because that’s how telly works) I do love reality TV in general; anything like Wife Swap or Gillian McKeith shouting about poo is the sort of thing that’ll have me glued to the couch, slack-jawed and saucer-eyed. I have flippantly claimed that my fondness for reality TV is related to my anthropology/fiction-writing background, and I do actually think that’s true – NOT that my appreciation for reality TV is any more intellectual because I have an anthropology degree, of course not, but that the things that appeal to me about reality TV are the same things that appeal to me about anthropology and writing (the sort of ) fiction (that I write) – it’s just that people are bloody fascinating, and I love watching them do their thing. I do think that we learn things from these sorts of programmes; we get a wider appreciation for difference (or at least I do) and similarly I do think this Big Brother row has been instructive in the same way – at least people are thinking and talking about bullying and racism in a way that they weren’t before. And as for exploitation: people go into these situations willingly; the celebs at least are handsomely remunerated for it; and actually I find the suggestion of exploitation to be fairly patronising; the idea that either the viewers or the participants need to be protected from themselves and don’t fully understand the consequences of their actions strikes me as fairly classist and othering and I dislike it.

(The issue of Shilpa is slightly different I suppose, given that she allegedly had never seen the show before going into the house. But still, it was her choice; she is being paid, and given that three of the celebs have walked so far, she is aware that she doesn’t have to be there.)

Which all kind of relates to the question of art vs (populist) entertainment; people keep talking about reality TV and saying things like ‘that isn’t what telly should be about’ but really, what should telly be about? Surely the point of television is to put on things that people want to watch? I mean, I wouldn’t want ‘quality’ drama or comedy or documentaries to die out completely in favour of 24/7 celebrities in the jungle or whatever, but that’s just me prejudicing what I like, and I don’t think that has any intrinsic value over what anyone else likes, you know? Which reminds me of the sort of things that people keep saying to me about my book, which is being published by a very small publishing house and will presumably have extremely limited sales, and people tend to pat me comfortingly on the shoulder and imply that well, at least I have integrity and it’s not crap literature like The Da Vinci Code. (It’s almost always The Da Vinci Code that gets mentioned; not sure why, as I’ve never read it.) But I don’t actually believe there’s any intrinsic worth in creative endeavour; writing or painting or making music – they’re no less selfish pursuits than any others, I think, and any worth that they have is in the enjoyment that other people get from them. And so I can’t turn my nose up at popular music or literature or whatever; it’s seemingly impossible to agree on what makes something ‘good’, and popular appeal is one fairly objective marker, isn’t it?

Oh rambly. And now I will get no comments because everyone has been sensible and GONE TO THE PUB, which I shall do post-haste.

My entire left leg hurts, presumably because I am walking on it weirdly due to my ankle. Being naturally robust of health, I am already VERY ANNOYED by my apparent weediness. HURRY UP AND HEAL, STUPID RECALCITRANT BODY-PART.

Comments

[biascut.livejournal.com]

Eh, I don't agree much with that whizzerandchips bloke.

I'm really ambivalent about the fact that Jade is presumably going to come out and find she's lost everything she's worked for the past five years, because whilst I obviously don't condone bullying, racist or not, the parade of people self-righteously declaring that she deserves to be back at the bottom of the heap where she came from is going to be pretty fucking sickening.

[yiskah.livejournal.com]

Yes, the flipside of the racism row is almost equally unpleasant - people who are like "eh, what do you expect from that stupid chav cow?" and saying that she deserves to lose everything. I admit that I am kind of looking forward to her realisation of the public reaction to her behaviour, though.

[class-worrier.livejournal.com]

If she does realise.
Sometimes we are sorry for being caught more than sorry for what we did.

[yiskah.livejournal.com]

Possibly. But given that she's done BB before, she's presumably more aware of the cameras in the house than some of the others, and I do believe that she doesn't really think that there;s anything wrong with her behaviour. And given that she's (apparently) mixed race, I imagine the accusations of racism will especially shock her.

[biascut.livejournal.com]

I'd find it hard to imagine that she wouldn't - she's got to be pretty public- savvy or she wouldn't have her own perfume and a weekly column in Now magazine five years after she was first in Big Brother.

(Which is also why I roll my eyes at the people who call her a talentless loser or whatever: we're up to, what, a hundred and twenty former Big Brother inmates at this point? More? Of whom most of us can probably still name about four. She's got something.)

[biascut.livejournal.com]

Heh, hence me soapboxing about how racism and class privilege and misogyny are all inseparable.

Actually, the whole thing's really made me really skeptical about racial hatred legislation. The idea that you can single out and prosecute explicitly racist speech but everything else is fair game is looking more and more like a distraction from a more serious and sophisticated analysis.

[yiskah.livejournal.com]

YES, absolutely.

[leedy.livejournal.com]

because whilst I obviously don't condone bullying, racist or not, the parade of people self-righteously declaring that she deserves to be back at the bottom of the heap where she came from is going to be pretty fucking sickening.

Good point, that is.

(why have I turned into Yoda?)

[class-worrier.livejournal.com]

I haven't gone to the pub. I've just eaten some bagel pizzas, though. Mmm.
I don't know if I can get involved in the BB debate.
It's too complicated. A bit like reality
(See what I did there?)
Although I can remember seeing some people being bullied to the point of almost full, mental breakdown on previous BBs without it causing, well any, fuss.
I wonder if future (Star Trek: The Next) generations will look back on us and be very puzzled as to why we (liked to be seen to) champion some causes over others.

Sorry about (all) the brackets.

[yiskah.livejournal.com]

I haven't watched any BBs since the first one, and I only watched bits of that, but yes, you have a good point - bullying is still seen as somehow acceptable, whereas most people (like to be seen to) come down very hard on any accusations of racism.

Bagel pizzas. Mmm.

[fox1013.livejournal.com]

God.

I love you so much right now.

I DO love Big Brother, but the US version, which is basically nothing like the UK version except that it's also coming from Endemol at some level and it involves locking a bunch of people in a house. (BBUS, incidentally, has never had anyone DOR, but we have had two people thrown out of the house, once in season two and once in four.)

I'm fascinated by CBBUK right now, but largely because... dude, people CARE. No one really cares about BBUS, except to dismiss it as trash and everything wrong with society. Which, you know, sure. But what fucking isn't?

I have lots of things to discuss, intellectually, about reality TV, sociologically and linguisticly and anthropologically, but yeah, every time I do, I feel like I'm justifying something that I don't feel always needs justification besides "AND THEY'RE FUN TO WATCH." So, um, hearing (seeing) you say this?

Hi. You're AWESOME.

(I have literally started acquiring books from the library with information on reality TV so that I can discuss it more intelligently. Um. Yes.)

[yiskah.livejournal.com]

Yay! I've been reading about your love of BBUS, and so I thought that you might see where I was coming from on the reality TV issue. Honestly, I'd probably be a lot more interested in BB if it'd stuck with the original premise of just locking a whole load of people in the house - when it became more and more manipulative I lose interest, because the things I like about reality TV are seeing how people behave in semi-normal situations (um, not that being locked in a house with a group of randoms is normal, but I think you know what I mean), rather than making them jump through hoops.

Yes, people do care about BB here, and I'm not sure how much of that is about having more limited TV channels and a more homogeneous national culture and, well, it just being a much smaller country. The cult of celebrity here is just insane, too.

What are you reading on reality TV?

[fox1013.livejournal.com]

Actually, if you're bored and have the time to torrent, I might recommend BBUS; it seems that it follows the SPIRIT of the original BBs, if not the letter, a lot more. They have three major Events per week (one person is evicted and the Head Of Household is selected; the HOH nominates two people for eviction; the Veto competition determines if the HOH needs to replace one of the people on the chopping block) but the show is, by and large, about the down time in between. People can be, you know, vengeful and evil, but it's not bullying like it sounds like here; they still need each other's votes. It's far more manipulative, and it's far more like watching humanity in a vacuum.

Which, honestly, is fucking awesome.


Books I have acquired from the school library:
Media Matrix: Sexing the New Reality by Barbara Creed
Tabloid Culture: Trash Taste, Popular Power, and the Transformation of American Television by Kevin Glynn
Sex Sells!: The Media's Journey from Repression to Obsession by Rodger Streitmatter
The Soap Opera Paradigm: Television Programming and Corporate Priorities by James H. Wittebols
A Companion To Television by Janet Wasko
Featuring Females: Feminist Analyses Of Media by Ellen Cole and Jessica Henderson, Ph.D. Daniel

And I've been kind of absently poking around for more sources, but... it's hard to find things that aren't just blatantly dismissive. So.

(And, hee. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to use my Big Brother icons! IT BRINGS ME MUCH JOY.)

[cigogne.livejournal.com]

I don’t actually believe there’s any intrinsic worth in creative endeavour; writing or painting or making music – they’re no less selfish pursuits than any others, I think, and any worth that they have is in the enjoyment that other people get from them.

*nods*
I think this probably helps you as an artist because you don't have to try to limit yourself to things that are highbrow. Like I would know.

I also think this about holidays vs travelling... you know, about whether you took a package trip to the Costa Blanca and ate egg and chips and drank beer and watched Premiership football and sat on the beach or you travelled independantly, ate local food and took time to see the sights. Surely the main thing is whether you enjoy yourself, and then is there any effect on the place where you are? I bet most of the time it makes precious little difference to the locals. I guess in places where mass tourism arrives overnight it might make a difference.

My last thought was that I reckon a lot of popular stuff, like say erm Doctor Who or good crime fiction, probably takes more skill to write because you're expecting to appeal to a wider audience, some of whom are not going to want to or be able to follow you through the boring bits.

See? Not at pub. Should be at pub. Thinking is all fractured and weird.

Ooh, and I got your invitation!
*bounces in seat*

[yiskah.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes! I hadn't thought about the holiday/travel parallel, but yes, my thinking on this issue is exactly the same - I don't go on package holidays simply because I can't imagine that I'd enjoy them; I genuinely don't believe that backpacking is any 'better' a way to travel - it's just what I do because I love it. Simple as that.

And yes, I agree on popular stuff - like, say, JK Rowling - she has enormous amounts of talent, IMO, simply because she manages to appeal to such a broad audience.

AAAH IT ARRIVED! That is so exciting! AAAAH IT IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING!

[libellum.livejournal.com]

Me too! I got THREE! Cos I'm special! EEE! JESS! BOOK EEE!!!!!!

[yiskah.livejournal.com]

You are special! YOU ARE!

[whatifoundthere.livejournal.com]

The Da Vinci Code is constantly on my mind because it's often the only book about religion that my students have ever read before signing up for my classes. This means that I have to do quite a lot of un-teaching of its assumptions and approaches before I can actually talk about the course material.

So I can't say I entirely agree with "anything you like is all right so long as you enjoy it," because I do think that shitty books really do shut down certain kinds of important conversations.

I hasten to add that that's not the same thing as saying that all books (or even all history books) must be 'serious' and 'factual' and 'objective', which I know full well are bullshit categories. I use fiction, poetry, even comic books, to teach history all the time. I'm also not saying that people shouldn't revel in popular culture (I certainly do) and have lively conversations about it at the water cooler (or, in my case, LJ). Besides, 'serious' and 'objective' books can have ugly and hateful ideologies too -- I've argued with certain textbooks just as fiercely as I've argued with The Da Vinci Code.

What I am saying is that when forty million people are watching a show or reading a book that's presenting the world in a certain way, and when that vision is seductively framed as 'reality,' then sometimes those ugly and dangerous ideologies start to calcify, and it gets harder for intellectual discourse to take place. And I worry about that.

This comment is very hastily written because I have to get back to a boring lecture on Demeter, so forgive me if it does not make much sense.

[yiskah.livejournal.com]

It does make sense, yes, and is a very good point - as you say, 'serious' books can be just as damaging, but yes, popular culture has a far wider reach, and I forget that so many people tend to take fiction as fact.

[biascut.livejournal.com]

PS. Did I mention I'm writing A WHOLE PHD on how popular culture is simultaneously reactionary and liberating?

[yiskah.livejournal.com]

You did not mention that! But does this mean that soon you will be able to be a spokesperson on popular culture, filmed in front of bookcases nodding sagely? I hope so.

[singlefished.livejournal.com]

I love BB (and CBB), it reminds me of when I went to student halls. The nervousness leading to being friends with everyone at the beginning (at least to their faces), the competition between the girls, the posturing among the males, the rapid escalation of annoyance over something like stock cubes to all-out hatred and loathing, the need to find things in common with each other no matter how tenuous and use them as basis for busom buddiness, the racism, the bullying, the semen deposits on the legs...ok, maybe the last 3 weren't that apparent in Cairncross House.

If it gets people talking about these things I reckon it's a good thing, but having Edwina Currie call the 3 women slags and not bother to learn the pronunciation of Shilpa's name before going to discuss it on telly last night doesn't really help matters much.

[yiskah.livejournal.com]

Oh, was that on Question Time? I missed the bit of it that was talking about CBB, but I've never been particularly keen on Edwina Currie I'm afraid.

Ha, you are totally right about the student halls comparison. And especially that moment about two weeks into the term where you realise that you no longer want to be so bloody NICE to everyone.

[singlefished.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it was the first thing they talked about on QT before moving on to the less important topic of Iraq...

Student halls timeline - First week you're so happy to have been put together with such GREAT people. Second week you're all going to be friends for the rest of your lives. Third week you wonder why your roommate has to brush her teeth 4 times a day, but hey we're all different and she's such a lovely girl you don't really care about such things...by the 8th week you're burning her important first essay and blaming it on the guy she hooked up with who lives across the corridor.

[starfishchick]

Off-topic, but a book recommendation for you: In Praise of Slow by Carl Honore.

Hi!

[yiskah.livejournal.com]

Ooh, thank you!

[pelicanzed.livejournal.com]

These were the exact trains of thought I was on in the toilet yesterday, but I couldn't be bothered trying to put it into words, but I'm glad someone has: thank you. And I love Wife Swap and Super Nanny and their ilk - I may only be an amateur anthropologist, but it's so fascinating to learn about the sort of people and problems you don't often encounter in online journal world or academic texts. Recently, I've been totally addicted to "extramarital sex blogs" too, not for the erotic content, but for the view into the lives of people very different from me, but nonetheless content with and analytical about their lifestyles.

Erk, sorry for rambling! Am sleepless (refer to journal(s)).

[yiskah.livejournal.com]

I am glad that my LJ taps into your toilet thoughts!

[ultraruby.livejournal.com]

I did internet discussion, didn't I? Hee! I never usually do.

[yiskah.livejournal.com]

You were brilliant! I was reading through the thread and kept thinking "but! but!" and then I'd scroll down and see that you'd made the exact point I'd wanted to but with added eloquence and a lot less frothing at the mouth.