Oh Brother!

As Shilpa Shetty might say perhaps I shouldn’t dignify it with a comment. But something strange happened last week –something with consequences far outweighing its trivial origins -a bit like the ripples caused by the proverbial pebble in a pond or rather 3 Oxo cubes in the pasta. I speak, of course, of the Big news that is Celebrity Big Brother.

Some years ago I heard lots of shrieking and shouting coming from my teenage son's bedroom. It was something he was watching on the telly. From the intonation and vernacular nature of the language I could hear that it was real people, not acting. As I went about my business up and down the stairs putting away the laundry etc the shrieking and shouting kept pressing itself into my consciousness. WTF?? I thought to myself. I could hear him laughing. Part of me didn’t want to intrude. Give a teenager some cultural space ‘n’ all that.

The shrieking and the shouting and the cacophony got louder and more pressing.

"Its big brother, you should watch it, its well funny."

From the brief snatches I had heard and seen during my inquisitorial exchanges with teenage son on the matter of what on earth he was watching on the telly, I had decided I would rather not.

Being a fair-minded person though, I wondered whether in dismissing something that a different generation finds amusing and interesting I was being snobbish and perhaps frankly an old fart. I am a firm believer that one cannot condemn something
one knows nothing about simply on account of it being different to things one had been brought up with and in so dismissing the life and times of a different generation that this wasn’t necessarily good practice. If this were the case then slavery would never have been abolished and women would still not have the vote.

In a spirit of ‘educating’ myself I have over the years intermittently tuned in to BB and CBB just to see what is so compelling to sections of the telly-watching population. To understand, not to condemn.

I have also frequently tuned out again on account of it being totally crass TV. Why watch ordinary people (or celebrities) sitting around talking about themselves and their trivial interactions with each other. Of course the show producers try to spice things up somewhat in the mix of people they throw together and the conditions they impose on them such as rationed food and beds and space and tasks and garish decor and love-shacks all designed to meddle with the mind and rig group dynamics.

Whenever there is an inevitable reaction to this manipulation and controversy ensues the viewing figures go up and so send the signal that this is the kind of thing people want to watch on the telly. Yet, do we not all gog when we pass the scene of an accident on the road -what is the state of the wreckage, someone must surely have died? Perhaps aptly such reality TV shows have sometimes been referred to as 'car crash TV'

But should we indulge this impulse, put it on the telly and call it entertainment? While we think ‘we are all civilised now’ perhaps the trajectory from barbarism to civilisation isn’t a linear one. Maybe barbarism and civilisation can co-exist within us at one and the same time –either can be appealed to at any time.

When calculating viewing figures do we know whether the extra people watched in horror and disgust or whether they would like to be entertained on a regular basis in this way. Viewing figures are just viewing figures without context.

This time, however, the rise in viewing figures does have context –it is accompanied by a record number of complaints.

The fans and some commentators have been somewhat confused as to whether the behaviour of three white housemates towards one other 'person of colour' is racism, bullying or ignorance. It seems that many people don't understand the fullness of racism. Racism is ignorance. In its more overt and grisly forms it manifests itself as bullying and worse; in its more 'innocent' form it is expressed in ignorance, stupidity and insensitivity. More thoughtful commentators have analysed well what has been going on. The best discussion I have seen was on Newsnight. Hari Kunzru, a writer, observed that one of the purposes of Big Brother is to hold a mirror up to society albeit using a ‘sadistic format’, that this was not racism on a grand scale but the kind of petty ignorance and prejudice that is everywhere in society. He also thought that it was useful to have seen it unsanitised on TV and to witness the rather healthy bit of self-disgust we’re having at the behaviour of members of our society.

Part of the debate was about whether the racist elements of the behaviour and conversations of the housemates should have been shown or would showing it legitimate it in some people’s eyes as that kind of behaviour being acceptable.

But as Kunzru pointed out what matters now is the response we have to it.

That, thankfully, has been one of overwhelming revulsion, which has ultimately seen the expulsion in accordance with the shows format of one of the perpetrators.
It will be interesting to see what will happen to the other two collaborator housemates who were also equally culpable in creating an environment of petty racism in their little group discussions, at times openly expressed in their behaviour towards Shilpa. Indeed, Danielle Lloyd who has arguably been worse than Jade, having been challenged by BB about comments she had made and realising her part in it all was seen grovelling by Shilpa's bedside 'apologising' and like a rat on a sinking ship, blaming Jade for leading her astray. It will also be interesting to see if they play the clips of all those nasty little conversations to Shilpa when she emerges from the House, as part of her 'your time in the House' montage. She would likely retract her retraction that it wasn’t racism.

Some commentators on the broadcasting phenomenon that is the Big Brother franchise described it as a kind of 'social experiment'.

Jeremy Paxman, in his introductory to the brief but intelligent discussion on Newsnight asked, with the following emphasis ‘has it staged or exposed something?’ He did though with the next sentence answer his own question as he explained what had been happening: ‘participants not chosen for their sophistication exactly, acted unsophisticatedly.’

The reaction to what has been both staged and exposed last week and the resulting serious debate it has provoked is I think accidental rather than the programme-makers deliberately seeking to render a socially responsible service to society. Indeed, chief exec of Channel 4, Andy Duncan, who offered a mealy-mouthed statement on the matter, ‘wasn’t sure’ if it was racism or not.

Think back to a previous series of ordinary Big Brother, Series 5 – 2004, openly advertised as 'Big Brother Gets Evil' where two housemates were evicted but were placed in a 'bedsit' where they could see and hear everything the other housemates were saying about them and then later having seen all that were re-introduced to the house. Predictably, violence ensued and the police were called. That stunt wasn’t experimental -the programme-makers knew and were apparently warned what would happen. I fail to see what gain in human understanding was achieved by engineering a fight. That, perhaps, should have been the end of the programme.

Some ironies emerging from this week’s spectacle, if so subtle a thing as irony can be attributed to BB is that in its chasing of ratings and profit it is behaving like a celebrity itself –when certain celebrities begin to bore their audience and the media and have to resort to more extreme lengths to get noticed again –like Britney & co going out (and being pap snapped) wearing no knickers. But mostly it is that the show that gave Jade her celebrity and that celebrated the particular aspect of her called ignorance has been, deliberately so, her downfall. As famous publicist Max Clifford said that she was more exploited than exploiter.

Paul Morley, very intelligent cultural commentator, though a big fan of Big Brother hopes that this moment is a turning point in the culture of celebrity and that somehow in future we cease to celebrate people merely for their appearance and that more thoughtful and intelligent people are lauded as celebrities.

It has, however incidentally, also been a moment to collectively ‘out’ racism and vulgarity in our midst. Everyone who has ever experienced such ignorance knows how hard it is to get them to recognise it in themselves – “I’m not a racist but ….” While individually confronting a racist or a bully might be dangerous, this presented an opportunity to safely confront racism and bad behaviour.

Howard Jacobson in The Independent, has an interesting dissection of the bedfellows ignorance and racism contained within the events of the last week. He rates the ‘stupidity’ and the celebration of it that is dumbing down at the root of the behaviour displayed as the larger crime. “There is a vindictiveness to dumbing down. It aims to dethrone not only intelligence but the means by which we rate one thing above another. Dumbing down is an assault upon the very concept of value” and “Racism” he explains “is slumberingly integral to all ignorance” (‘though not all racists are stupid –all ignorants are at some level racist’). The revulsion at what happened I think went way beyond whether it was racism or 'classism' –there was widespread horror about the badness of the behaviour in general, that it had not only been allowed to happen but engineered to happen, that these people are a product of our society and that watching such dysfunction is claimed as entertainment. It was repellant in the round and all were implicated and culpable –programme-makers/Channel bosses first and in joint second place, participants and audience.

If any good is to come out of this week’s display of shabbiness (and I reiterate my belief that this will be an incidental rather than an intentional good on the part of those responsible for the programme) Jade & co will team up with Shilpa and undertake some genuine cultural learning –both race and class. Jade, when confronted with her own behaviour on the screen was mortified and disgusted. “I’m the kind of person that I don’t like myself, anyway”. Some self-awareness is a good start. I think she will see the need for change. Learning some dignity and respect, learning, using and understanding new, even long words does not mean pretending to be something you’re not. Indeed, Learning in general –that would be something to celebrate.

In another Newsnight discussion (Newsnight Review) a guest likened Big Brother eviction nights with the baying crowds as something of a sporting event. Another chipped in “gladiatorial”. Indeed, the show does have that Roman arena element to it where the slaves are thrown to fight it out to the death for the entertainment of the audience.

Eviction, however, isn’t quite so barbaric. Its only a fight to the death of someone else’s popularity/personality –but it did leave its scars on Jade “I don’t want to go through all that crap again” she sobbed in the diary room as she realised what was likely to befall her. But let her not be the fall girl. The wider media and politicians too bear responsibility for the national environment where people like Jade & co are created. Tabloid headlines about foreigners and immigrants and politicians' long history of fear-mongering set the national tone.

Re-invention need not be inauthentic, it can be done in a spirit of ‘lifelong learning’. Jade’s embryonic self-awareness shows what a waste of human potential resides in some people. Jo O’ Meara, co-conspirator with Jade & Danielle, sulked in a moment of accidental profundity “This is a horrible game”. Gladiatorial even. Are the rest of us willing to make those changes too.

(Aside: There is no excuse for the celebrities who host the satellite BB shows- Dermot, Davina and Russell, who’s mainstay careers have revolved around the BB product and who have continued to be involved with the programme despite the contrived conflict & violence. Though Russell Brand is very, very funny (if a little OTT at times))

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