the new colosseum

i should have known better, but i tried to watch a bit of "the x-factor" a couple of weeks ago. i think i lasted about half an hour, though i can't say i was paying full attention even during that time. i know that these kinds of shows are really popular & there are lot of people who really enjoy them. if you are one of those, then i'd ask you to go and find something else to read just now.

i can't help it, i just felt so sickened and appalled at what i saw. to me, it seemed like one of the worst kinds of exploitation. here were people, some of whom are in pretty difficult situations as regards poverty. some of whom desperately want to find something missing in their lives, and think they can find it through fame and fortune. people with dreams, perhaps unrealistic dreams, but heartfelt and genuine dreams nonetheless.

all of these things were used by the producers of this show to put these people in a situation where they would be laughed at and humiliated. it's not spontaneous. the show is highly managed; all of the performers had gone through some kind of screening process before they were allowed to perform in front of the judges and audience. during that screening process, it would have been blatantly obvious which performers didn't have a chance, and would therefore receive that special brand of nastiness that is simon cowell. with the added icing of boos and jeers from the audience.

those performers could easily have been weeded out. there is absolutely no need to put them through a situation that was clearly traumatic - at least for the ones that i saw. it's bad enough to be told that you aren't going to make it through to the next round, but that's part of any normal competition & i don't have a problem with it. but to be told in a way that is insulting and mocking, and which encourages others to do the same? it's awful.

i don't care that these people consented to go on the show. i don't care that they would have signed some kind of contract allowing their performance and the judges & audiences reactions to be broadcast to millions of people around the world. i've said it in a different context, that of using surrogates from developing countries, but it holds true just as much in this instance: just because people consent to their own exploitation or humiliation doesn't mean that we should go ahead and exploit or humiliate them. people will do anything when they're desperate - and desperation takes many forms and may have many causes. it's not ok to use that desperation to make sh*tloads of money off their public humiliation.

i know that evolution is a thing, and i know it takes millions of years to work. but it really saddens me that humanity has not changed much at all over thousands of years. that we're still happy to make public entertaiment for many out of the pain of a few says nothing good about our species. nothing good at all.

bodies are NEVER embarassing

i don't bother watching much tv during weekdays, because there isn't too much i can be bothered to watch. i don't like the extreme violence in a lot of the crime dramas and i don't like the agressive nastiness in some of the reality tv shows. i still enjoy masterchef, sometimes i'll watch supernanny and i like good legal dramas & i'll watch movies.

but there is some stuff on tv these days which really appals me. i haven't watched these shows, all i've seen is advertisements or listings. it's enough to me make me feel queasy. the first one that i really hate is "the big fat family challenge". every ad i see about this programme is so awfully buying into the stereotype of linking fatness with laziness. and yes, i'm sure there are people who are fat and lazy, but then there are also people who are thin and lazy. there aren't any shows about them, or at least not any i've seen advertised.

but even worse than this is a new show that's to be screened called "embarassing teen bodies". i can't help it, i did literally feel sick when i read the title & description of this programme. really, we have to label bodies embarassing now, when they don't conform? and guess the gender of the bodies that are going to be featured in this first programme - go on, have a guess.

yup, here you go:

The doctors meet a young mother whose weight is out of control, a girl with too much body, and a girl who cannot stop pulling it out. [emphasis added]

yeah, i'm not even going to speculate on what "it" might be. just what we need, more messaging that anything out of the ordinary is to be put on show for our viewing pleasure. so that we can judge and shake our heads. and double points for targetting young people who are often already feeling vulnerable and insecure as they forge a path into adulthood.

there are plenty more programmes of this nature - the ones featuring morbidly obese people or people with other body issues. as i say, i don't watch them, so i'm ready to concede that the purpose of some of these programmes might be to help us to identify with and appreciate the courage of people dealing with challenging circumstances. they may also provide some education about various health or medical issues. if they're done with a respect for the individual and without nasty judgemental language, then i'd have no problem with these shows..

but i suspect many of these programmes seek to appeal to that part of human nature that allowed the old circus "freak shows" to exist. it's that part of us that wants to look at others who we think are unfortunate, just so we can feel better about our selves. that part of ego that needs to feel superior to others, because the thought of us being inferior ourselves is unbearable. can it be that we really have not evolved as much as we think we have?

not only that, but these shows feed into that general anxiety we have about our bodies & about not being good enough, which fuels the cosmetics and weight loss industries. the message that imperfection is inferiority becomes engraved in the collective consciousness. when attention continuously focussed on how we look, we are less likely to attend to more serious issues. when that message is constantly hitting us from the various mediums, it becomes so much harder to fight.

yes, i know i don't have to watch it, and that i can turn off the tv. i can't, however, turn off the culture reinforced by these programmes, where people are ridiculed and shamed because of their bodies. and i know that people have consented to share their stories and know what they are in for. but i've never been one to agree with the notion that because people have consented to their own exploitation and humiliation, that we should therefore feel free to exploit and humiliate them.

i'm not, however, advocating censorship. i'd much prefer if people would just please stop watching this nonsense, so that it doesn't get produced any more.

not yours to tell

how would it feel to have someone write all about your life, especially if you didn't want them to? and talk to your friends, family members, work colleagues and other people you have interacted with, some of whom will be loyal to you and refuse to get involved, others who won't. for the ones who talk, knowing you don't want them to, it must be an awful feeling of betrayal.

we live in an age and a society where price of being a celebrity means that every little bit of your life and your appearance get picked to pieces. there is very, very little that is allowed to be private. the more successful you are, the more there are people out there anxious to dig a little dirt. because it will sell, and some people love to see other successful people brought down.

as you may guess, i'm not a fan of celebrity culture. i don't buy gossip mags, i refuse to watch shows like entertainment tonight, i tend to avoid conversations that focus on which celebrity split up with who, or did what silly thing. it's not my business, it's generally not important (unless there's some actual level of criminality involved, in which case there may be a genuine public interest), and i basically don't want to know.

given all of that, i really am not a fan of unauthorised biographies. at least not for entertainment celebrities. it's not so bad if it's a historical figure or political leader, particularly one who has caused significant harm. in that case, there is some importance in learning about the person's motivations, the influences on their lives, their childhood experiences. and an unflattering portrait is not likely to cause harm to such a person, when they aren't well thought of anyway.

and i could accept unauthorised biographies of political leaders where they bring to light important information that is of a whistleblowing nature - making us aware of unacceptable connections or behaviour.

but even then, i think even the worst people have some right to privacy, some areas which they should not have to share with the rest of the world. and where the revelations are for entertainment purposes only, ie they have no public interest value, then i think they shouldn't be made public without the express consent of the person involved.

the problem of course is how to police such a thing. i don't think it would be useful to have any laws to regulate such a thing. and with the viral nature of electronic communications and the internet, it's almost impossible to keep things from becoming public. there's the whole free speech argument, and i'd agree that any kind of suppression in this area has the potential for significant harm.

of course i want none of that. for me, it's a matter of self-policing. i'm not going to spend my money on unauthorised biographies, i'm not going to be involved in activities that pry unfairly into another person's life. because i would hate for such a thing to happen to me. i would hate for my personal stories to be broadcast to all the world, and especially by someone who was unsympathetic to me.

so why would i want to participate in something that, even in the smallest way, does that very thing to someone else?

wonderful wonderland ending

i saw my first ever 3-D movie this weekend, the full imax experience (whatever that last actually means). as you can guess from the post title, i saw alice in wonderland, and though i can't say that i totally loved the film, i did totally love the ending.

the rest of the post has spoilers, so i've hidden it below just in case you don't want to know what happens.


so, what i loved most about the ending was that alice didn't run off with a "prince charming" type character. in fact, she had no romantic involvement at all, and went off to a future where she determined the course of her life. YAY!!!!

it actually reminded of the ending of yentl, which was another great movie. and the film itself reminded me a little of the golden compass. in any case, it's nice to see a film with heroine doing all the cool stuff, finding herself and finding her courage. all in a blockbuster hollywood film. double YAY!!!!

i'd have drooled about johnny depp's performance too, but i've gone off him ever since he made statements supporting roman polanski. still, i totally enjoyed the 3-D thing, and i'm thinking that i'll have to try that again.

well done, kathryn bigelow

it's a little late, but i thought we shouldn't let kathryn bigelow's win at the oscars for best director and best picture go unmentioned. not that i have anything particularly profound to say about that (other than i think it's great), so i'll just copy and paste bits of what other people have said.

from here:

Her win will not be devoid of controversy. Kathryn Bigelow has charted an atypical career for a female director. She doesn’t direct “chick flicks,” never has, and most probably never will. She works outside the gender box that so many women get stuck in.

In spite of the deep and abiding desire to see a woman break through this particular glass ceiling, the real possibility that the first Oscar award winning woman director will win for making a war film is almost a kick in the gut to many who make the types of films that most interest female ticket buyers. Bigelow works in a male paradigm and is being rewarded for that. Sasha Stone of Awards Daily said: “…the Academy and the industry are the ones to fault here for paying attention to a film directed by a woman because it is about men. The only thing that’s new about it is that a woman was able to make a film every bit as good as a man would have.” The honest truth is that women’s experiences and lives don’t rate at the same level with men’s, and Bigelow is just another reminder of that fact.

One of the big reasons why The Hurt Locker has vaulted to the top is precisely because men love this film. In an email, awards watcher Pete Hammond wrote: “No matter how crass this sounds, (the film) actually looks like it was directed by a man. We don’t often see gritty war movies with female directors.” There is almost a sense of awe mixed with condescension that a woman could have directed such a movie.

and a bit of gushing from here:

I remember when Sandra Day O’Connor became the first female Supreme Court justice; I remember when Madeleine Albright became the first Secretary of State; I remember when Shannon Faulkner became the first female to go to the Citadel; I remember when Eileen Collins became the first woman to command a space shuttle mission; I remember when Nancy Pelosi became the first female Speaker of the House.

And I will remember last night.

I will remember it because it came on the dawn of International Women’s Day, when many of us pause and think about the struggles that many women and girls in the world go through each and every day just to survive.

We all know that last night was symbolic, that one woman winning an award won’t help all the other women working each and every day to get their films made. But I am betting that this morning women directors around the world will walk a little taller, smile a little brighter, and feel a bit stronger and more confident as they sweep up the glass that Bigelow shattered last night.

and finally, i really liked this comment at shakesville:

About The Hurt Locker: First, what a surprise: the first time a woman wins best director and picture, it's for a movie about dudes. Shock.

Fortunately, it's rather brilliant about dudes. IMExperience--and I've got a bit--what Bigelow did was really unique for movies about men: she showed men, not as they want to be portrayed--and no matter how "honest" they try to be, I think just about every movie made by men ultimately does this--but as how they actually are, oftentimes, especially the kind of men portrayed in her film: desperate for bonding and love, but doing so--and becoming only able to do so--over shared pain.

The other thing about The Hurt Locker is the Chris Hedges quote at the beginning, which is from his terrible and beautiful book War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning. It's not there for decoration. The Hurt Locker is almost the novelization of the book, or at least its main theme: that war, and the adrenaline rush it gives, and the sense of engaging in an activity that unlike so many others in industrialized society actually has meaning make it a desperately addictive drug, one that become harder and harder to give up. (Hedges talks movingly and at length about his own struggle to stop going back out into battle zones again and again.) That's the journey of Jeremy Renner's character, and it's why he acts the way he does--which I agree is not particularly military at times--and why he makes the choice he does at the end.

It's a desperately poignant story about men and the pressures they impose on themselves and thus transcends in a way relatively few movies have the constraints of the "war movie" genre.

so there you go. and if you didn't manage to catch the oscars (like most of us in nz, i would think), here's a rather elongated you tube clip of the best director bit:

yeah, idiots all right

i've just done a write up on the bollywood film "my name is khan" on my own blog. as i wrote there, i've pretty much gone off bollywood films, but have managed to catch 2 in the last month. the other one is "3 idiots", which was recommended to me by several people who thought it was hilariously funny.

well, yes, it was laugh-out-loud funny in parts, and yes, it did deal with a very serious issues for young people in india: the pressure to study (and excel) a degree course chosen by your parents with very little input from yourself. it pushed boundaries for a bollywood film, particularly in terms of the child birth scenes, with detailed diagrams and all.

but the one thing that soured it for me was the inclusion of rape jokes, reasonably liberally throughout the film. not just because i don't like them & particularly not in the way that these jokes were presented, but also because this is not a part of indian culture. at least not what i've seen of it.

i haven't heard rape jokes in bollywood films, unless by the evil villain to show just how wicked he really is. it's not something that normally happens in conversation amongst the indians i know. this seems to me to be a definite import from western culture, and that's what annoys me the most. there are so many wonderful aspects of western culture that could happily be adopted by bollywood, but somehow they always seem to take the worst of MTV and appatow movies and present it as if it's all so edgy and modern. spew.

and just as an aside, i really am not interested in watching people sitting with their pants down on the toilet, in hollywood or bollywood films. what is it with that? nowadays, we even have to get shots of them wiping their bums (bollywood hasn't got quite that far yet, but this movie has started moving in that direction), and really, i'd put it under the category of "too much information". but i suppose that's just me.

not so complicated

one of the films i've seen recently is "it's complicated", and i loved it. not just because it's genuinely funny in a way that isn't demeaning, but because the characters are so real. there's meryl streep with all her wrinkles & alec baldwin in all his fat hairiness. a decent storyline about people in their 50s (with hot sex lives too), rather than one featuring the young and the physically perfect.

i sat there really enjoying all of this, and hoping this signals a change in hollywood. maybe a broadening of what's being offered to us, and a movement away from the traditional stereotypes of what makes a commercially successful film. we can only hope!