Brass Eye paedophiles
Case study: 'Brass Eye' paedophiles, representations and audience response.1) Having watched the program outline all the possible ways in which it could have offended viewers. The makers of Brass Eye say they set out to portray the way the media sensationalises issues surrounding paedophilia. Having attempted to examine the program in an objective way I can understand why some people were offended by the content. Audience members who had been directly affected by paedophilia may have had more reason than most to be offended. There was perhaps gratuitous use of graphic images, which were unnecessary as the point of the sketch was already apparent. The scenes that I think may have caused the most controversy are those involving real children in graphic or unpleasant situations. For example when a "paedophile" is imprisoned in stocks while a young boy is paraded in front of him. He says he does not fancy the boy. Later on in the program two girls say they are not worried that a pop star they like, JLB8, is a paedophile. "Like we care," one says. The program also made light of real life paedophile by having a sketch whereby a rocket is fired into space supposedly with paedophile Sidney Cooke on board. It is then announced a
This article has a clear position on the programme and does not hold back in condemning it. I would argue that the author thought about their audience and then wrote a comment that would coincide with their views, not wanting to question the readers. The writer of this article appears to be in favour of censorship. It is apparently very much in favour of the BBC and has a serious grudge against channel four and questioning whether or not our society is civilised. This is an extreme and somewhat over reaction to the programme. Michael Jackson would no doubt condemn this exhortation as paternalistic, along with any attempt on behalf of the rest of us to suggest the boundaries of what might be permissible on television. It could be said that the satire was not effective as so many people criticised the program and were deeply offended. Admittedly I did not think I would laugh at a program about paedophilia but this was just a issue was used as a way of making a larger point about the way the public and the media handle 'taboo' subjects. While I do understand how it may have caused offence I do not think that the program warranted such criticism and I would suggest that perhaps the critics simply missed the deeper social comments. 'Brass Eye' presented paedophiles in a humorous and extremely stereotyped way. Paedophiles were shown to be evil monsters, who were ugly men in anoraks. Obviously in real life this is not always the case. By presenting them in this way perhaps the program was saying something about how their audience perceive all paedophiles, despite all evidence to the contrary. Britain as a whole is portrayed as a nation of paedophiles, as if there were a national epidemic.
Some common words found in the essay are:
Brass Eye, Eye' Researchers, Michael Jackson, Chris Morris, Ted Maul, Sidney Cooke, , brass eye, Anthony O'Hear, Essentially Morris, 'brass eye', Daily Telegraph, channel 4, satire effective, child abuse, 'brass eye' paedophiles, eye' paedophiles, tabloid hysteria, michael jackson, offence program, media messages,
Approximate Word count = 2055
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)
|