Posted by Vic O'Callaghan The current top rating show on Channel Ten is a down in the TV guide as entertainment. I wonder who created this description. I believe this is the most innovative piece of work that can be attributed to the program. What viewers who tune into this program are watching is a group of young people who are desperately trying to write a sit com as they go. Self absorbed, they are galloping for their lives into the sunset of some Hollywood extravaganza to win some mythic prize that will assure them that they are unbelievably OK. Everyone on board this narcissistic raft seem bedeviled with the same scourge; they want to be the most popular kid in the class. While comic descriptions can easily be attributed to the phenomenon, there is a serious side to what can be seen in many spheres as a tragedy. There will be some who will see what is broadcast as a real picture of the youth of today. They will swallow the hype and be demoralized by the aimless state of these young humans. While I see the house guests in Big Brother to represent a certain sector of our youth culture, I do believe there are a substantial number of young people who are out there making an impact in their own unique way. I am referring to the trainee nurse, the cadet journalist, the apprentice roof tiler, the jackaroo, the florist who can small a Tangerine Germanic Potusmurni at ten paces. I also note the back packer who sits gazing at the sunset from an outcrop above Lithgow as she heads to the Hostel for her final night in Australia before she flies out to Germany to begin studies in pediatrics. I look also to the missionary who sets sail on the wings of hope as she aims to land in East Timor to help the kids on the streets to learn a little English and taste some hope again. It seems that the creators of nothing have corralled all the kids who once used to do laps around the war memorial in the country towns and outlying suburbs on a Saturday night, because there was an epidemic of boredom strafing the town. How else could they capture so many to do so little for so long under the gaze of so many? It is a masterful stroke of illusion. How on earth could a television executive be convinced that simply by putting a bunch of nomadic youth together in a common room for a few weeks could you boost ratings through the roof? I know a number of script writers who slave for months to place witty conversation on the page to make producers believe there really is a magic mix of Australian comedy that will work. I have seen these lean and hungry creators cringe as they listen to the inanities that come slopping over the edge of sensibility and into a bowl of incredibility each night the edited version of BB goes to air. There must be a backlash out there in the ether. How else can the silence of genuine applause be so sustained? There are other worlds that hold all the excitement and joy of the crowd and more. All it takes is a little faith and hope. True some evidence is helpful. Maybe we can inspire some to tell their stories and offer a balm of healing for those who are suffering the blights of sophistication and cynicism. Hey, it is good fun being with good people.
on April 29, 2002, 10:46 pm
Big Brother - Little Bother
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