The national broadcaster has apparently produced an allegedly comic mini-series, to be aired later this year, about the Prime Minister's private life.
Can you imagine anyone ever writing or saying that sentence about any one of the other (ie male) Prime Ministers in Australian history, while they were in office?
No, neither can I.
Speechless. I heard Alison Carabine, an ABC Canberra political reporter, on local radio Sydney this morning, and she was quite gobsmacked. She pointed out that the private life of politicians has always been considered beyond this kind of thing (although there was a fair amount of satirising of Jeanette Howard at one time). She said it was one program she won't be watching, and I agree with her. It's one thing to satirise a 'female Prime Minister', but to actually say it's J&T and to use actors who make a living out of impersonating them makes me feel quite icky.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet more spluttering. I saw an article quoting the actors in this little effort saying that they really, really hope that Julia remains PM for at least the next three months so that their show will have more impact (and relevance). Aaaaargh.
ReplyDeleteWell, what do you want?
ReplyDeleteMore of that current affairs/adult drama/wit/documentaries rubbish they used to put on? More Attenborough, more Sunday Culture?
When you can have your very own version of BB; Gretel Killeen as optional??
I think they are trying to sack their traditional audience through the alienating of it. They'd prefer to recruit a commercial audience, who will not notice when auntie is privatised or commercialised.
The idea that ratings are prior to content for public broadcasting is now as dominant as it is desolate and futile.
My answer is also "no". I find this especially grimace-making because I know the person who commissioned it, I've just finished a doco for her and I know she's a good, smart woman. I also know she's faced massive amounts of sexism within the ABC. My heart sinks.
ReplyDeleteword verification sums it up for me:
ReplyDeletefracker!
still life....has the most awesomest WV of any site I visit.
Well I suppose the nearest is the famous "Did the earth move for you too dear" cartoon of the Whitlams in China.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nichcart.jpg
Please, no update on that theme with audio or video.
Dave, yes, and most of us thought that was pretty damn tasteless as well. But it was one cartoon by an invididual cartoonist. It was not a four-part TV mini-series produced by the national broadcaster. And it was at least as much a swipe at Margaret Whitlam as it was at Whitlam. Sorry, Dave, this is sexist bullshit pure and simple.
ReplyDeleteAnd Fine's comment goes to show that it's NOT only men who perpetrate sexist bullshit, it's NOT an accusation that people are being sexist on purpose, and it's NOT a simple matter of who's got which bits. It's come to my attention lately that most of the people -- male and female -- who simply don't understand why something's being called sexist think (a) that it has something to do with the gender of the person who produced the sexist bullshit, and (b) that that person is being accused of having done it with malice aforethought. Nuh-uh. The only test is: does it demean women? (Or men.) Because if it does, then it is, and it doesn't matter who said it, wrote it, drew it, directed it or any other god-damned thing, and it doesn't matter whether they knew it was sexist or not.
/rant
Yes, there's always lots of satire and impersonation, but it's always kept to the public domain, or the working territory. Admittedly, you get the occasional 'John and Janine at home' sketch, but not a fricking series!
ReplyDeleteWell granted it ain't the Australian scene and thus much different, but over here while GWB was prexy we had a rather scathingly unsparing series called "That's My Bush!" from the South Park guys on Comedy Central, and also the animated show "Li'l George Bush: Resident of the United States", and no one batted an eye. Nope, not even us one-eyed troglodytic brainless non-leftie-pies.
ReplyDeleteHave a sit-down and do a nice crossword puzzle and then ask yourself if a nasty show about John "Satan!!11!!" Howard would have made you upset.
Be honest.
Of course it wouldna. Now take that pill, which is labelled Chill.
Signed,
The artist formerly known as japerz