Early in the year, they had the series Underbelly which in my humble opinion, glorifies the underworld and all that comes with it. To those not from Australia, this is equivalent to the underworld in Mumbai or the mafia if you like. It was supposedly a big hit and apparently everyone was watching it. Not me. While I enjoy a thriller and a crime show (e.g. Law and Order SVU), I am not so sure about shows representing reality and then, in some way, glorifying the criminals --- and that's what I got from 9's promos on Underbelly.
If the show was not bad enough, Channel 9 decided to glorify the wives of these criminals. The show, 'A Current Affair', which by the way, is journalism at it's very worst (just like 'Today tonight') glorified Roberta Williams by interviewing her at the start, then having her pose semi-nude for men's mags, and more recently, having her cry at the death of her mother-in-law. If I remember right, ACA also had some other episodes with someone else from the underworld --- I vaguely remember the 'reporter' having a kind of boxing spat with this guy while flipping through channels. How fucked up is all of that???
What finally pushed me over the edge to have a rant was when, on Monday, following an incident where ex-con 'Chopper' Read was allegedly attacked, 9 news when interviewing him, had the caption 'Crime figure' underneath!! Crime figure!!! This is a guy who was part of the underworld and jailed for 23 years. My problem here is that either he has paid his dues or he hasn't. If he has, don't call him a 'crime figure'; if he hasn't he doesn't deserve a term like 'crime figure'! Do the news channels call Osama bin Laden a 'terror figure'???
I guess though, in the end, it's not Channel 9 alone.
There are others to blame.
The trashy magazines that hype things up even more.
The people that subscribe to these magazines and shows.
And finally, the common man, who has apparently become so desensitized that he watches these shows without blinking an eye.
The 'human' part of a human being appears to be lost.
Sadly enough.
Until next time,
well news isn't news anymore .. thats the sad part .. and you yourself said it .. everyones watching it .. meaning its good business.. high TRPs and stuff .. what ever makes them the money .. if its glorifying'criminal figures' .. then so it is .. if you have every heard about a game called Grand Theft Auto GTA for short . its kinda the same thing applied to games as with ur tv program. the game has had 5 versions till now and is so insanely popular that it even won game of the year this year.All you do in the game is play a 'gangsta' and do everything that is associated with being a 'gangsta', so you walk around the city doing criminal activities delivering packages, killing rivals etc etc ... Wikipedia says 'The series focuses around many different protagonists who attempt to rise through the criminal underworld, although their motives for doing so vary in each game.' I have seen kids play it and its absolutely sick ! and what makes it sicker is because it uses what in video games is called as nonlinear game play so unlike a lot of games that have a linear plot to it .. you go here .. u do this .. and this happens .. kinda like watching a movie with a set story line .. in GTA the player are free to do what they like and how they like it so u dont have to really play the game as the game tells u to instead u can just go about walking in the city .. kicking people on the street .. stealing cars .. and just doing a lot of .. well criminal stuff .. !! oh and u cant do a lot coz u get caught by the police .. oh wait .. u can evade the police and stuff .. anyway u get my point .. hehe .. its weird that im saying this .. but maybe i am getting too old !!
ReplyDeletei posted a video comment to ur comment on my blog .. so check it out :) .. still dont know if disqus (the commenting system on my blog) sends out emails to people if i reply to their comments .. so do tell me if u get like a track back email saying someone replied to ur comment .. :)
ReplyDeleteTell me about it! I do know of the game bcoz kids I see play it. And what's scary is recently I had a kid tell me that "police can't catch criminals" purely on the basis of the game. And this kid is 9!!! If it were in my hands, I'd ban all the games such as GTA, Assassins, WOW etc....too much violence and an extremely bad influence on kids. Sigh...we probably are getting old! :S
ReplyDeleteGreat, great post. I watched Underbelly to start with then got bored. On one hand its frightening it happened in the way it did and that we have such corruption in our police forces. On the other hand, we glorify evil and the media doesnt help. Channel 9 is a joke as is ACA. Then of course this show also picked up all the awards recently too. As for Chopper he is a comedian isnt he? He seems to think he is. I cannot tolerate watching him because he is quite frankly a bit scary. Crime figure - I never saw that but it is so wrong on so many levels.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the encouragement on my book - it will be about evil too and a criminal. Sadly a true story. Not sure I can keep the humor out of it but there werent many funny moments during that period.
Love your snowflakes - wouldnt it be great if we had a white Christmas? How did you do that - its clever.
@ Lilly: I cannot believe ACA won awards!!!! That show, and Today Tonight, are a total joke!!! I will look forward to reading your book --- I have nothing against reading/watching crimes or thriller but I guess my problem is when we lose our ability to cringe or feel bad or even empathise with the victims in these cases.
ReplyDeleteAs for the snowflakes, if you check out www.bloggerbuster.com there is a widget available for the same.
I kinda, sorta disagree. While the ACA and Today Tonight reports are pure junk my thoughts regarding the TV show Underbelly and films like Chopper are somewhate different to your own. But I'm glad you have the proper authority to construct a valid argument and present it in such a way that most could understand, namely those who live abroad :)
ReplyDelete@ Orhan: I don't mind if you disagree :) I haven't seen Chopper but I wasn't commenting on the movie; rather I was just wondering why the news referred to him as a 'crime FIGURE'. As for Underbelly, I have only seen bits and pieces and was put off personally by what I thought was glorifying the underworld and when ACA did the other stuffwith Roberta Williams, I guess it confirmed my initial thoughts.
ReplyDelete