Scratch

Here you will find older scratches, musings and other detritus that once were located on the front pages, but have now faded.

Filed away here to collect dust and cobwwwebs in perpetuity, links may break, facts may change and data may corrupt.

On occasion I may come down here to tidy, but for the most, I prefer to leave the past where it lies.

 

Jerry Springer The Opera

Over the last few days there has been an increasing amount of debate concerning the BBC's controversial decision to screen Jerry Springer the Opera at 10 pm this evening.

Needless to say the event has come and passed and, afaik, civilisation has not crumbled, nor has the world has ended prematurely due to irate celestial beings.

The key arguments for centre around 1) freedom of speech; 2) no one is forcing you to watch it, therefore excercise freewill and turn off the TV if its not to your taste; and 3) it is on after the watershed. Those against cite 1) profanity - 8000 odd swearwords (actually 350 occasions multiplied by the 27 chorus members); 2) blasmphemy - gay Jesus in a nappy; 3) various violent, racial and sexual issues which some consider "offensive" - KKK, multiple partners of both sexes etc; and 4) given the subject matter of the real show, its dumbing down of TV (Go figure. Its based on the Jerry Springer show, see 1-3 against above)

Having just spent the last 2 hours casually watching it so that I could make an informed decision rather than one based on hearsay, I can state the following:
I am no more depraved or corrupted than I was before, and still have my prior attitudes in regards to race, religion and sex. Whilst, some of the things probably boarded on the boundaries of taste, IMHO, but probably no more than is already covered in the spectrum of daily viewing. There is always the off switch afterall. That we don't know and all that... If people found it that offensive, they would've been campaigning to have the show itself shut down, rather like the Behzti a couple of months ago. In a way I am glad they showed it as I saved £20 odd on tickets to see it. However that being said, I can never recover those two hours of my life. Whatever people say, swearing is not cool and never will be, to swear for shock effect is pointless in this age. If you ask me now what I can remember from the duration I could probably describe the characters, the vague "plot". Could I describe the music, no. I can remember audience members standing, arms in the air, shouting "Jerry, Jerry", but that much I could've gleaned from the TV version.

As you can probably tell, I wasn't overly endeared to the show, not for any major reason, it just wasn't my thing. Had people not kicked up a fuss, I probably wouldn't have watched it. Not being a fan of sensationalising television shows of this ilk, I probably should've turned it off, not for the offense at the profanity etc, merely for the fact it was (and was always going to be IMHO) like having a root canal done, but without the fun discussion that goes with it.

In my final thought (hmmm), I suspect it might be rather late to accuse the complainers of infringing my civil rights by generating more interest than was due and tweaking my curiosity. Should the BBC have shown it, probably. Is it a successful major publicity stunt for the production company, most definately. Should I have switched off after the intro...

9 Jan 2005 0:35 | (0) comments | Art/Theatre

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