English assignment on: Communication Act on the public interests
The 2003 Communication Act was made on the public interests and had launched a remit by taking many important points in mind that were related to the Broadcasting of the television shows. The shows are important because they carry a message according to the theme which they hold. Each channel has its own set of shows which are culturally varied and are different altogether. The shows which are under concern here are ‘Brass Eye’ and ‘The Ali G Show’ the shows focused on particular themes and thus had a different message for the country. The Channel 4 certainly possesses certain regulations which act as a rule book for the channel to follow. The same are basically some obligations which the channel poses for shows which are aired on it. The remit includes the commandments like the programmes should be innovative, should be experimenting and shall be creative in their form. The other obligation is that they should also be appealing to the varied tastes of the audience in a relevant way by keeping in mind the diversity in the culture widespread in the society. The shows on the channel should be able to maintain a balance with the society so that enough contribution could be made in the society (Channel 4 2012). In order to meet the needs of the society it is essential that the shows also are educational in nature so as to cater to the interests of the public and possess a distinguishing character. With respect to the commandments in the communication act it is seen that the shows which are at the centre of focus have a distinguishing theme which though are centred on the concerns in the society like the social issues, example crime, politics, gender spacing, drugs and the corruption in any form in the society (Jury, L 2001).
The base of these shows is that they are the political satires on the functioning of the media and they exaggerate the issues to such an extent which includes a play of language and the sarcastic comments. The language and the comments therefore are sometimes even gross which have been found in the show. The nature of the shows is such which thus doesn’t cater to the majority of the interests because of the prohibited content of the show. First, a light upon ‘Brass Eye’ has to be shed so as to reflect upon its intricate pattern. Chris Morris in the Brass Eye tends to take the viewer away from the real world and show him a different picture altogether. The portrayal of the world in the Brass Eye stories is not real and it takes the audience away to an altogether different side of the real things. This is very close to the Brechtian dramatic technique called ‘Alienation Effect’. It is a 19th Century European dramatic technique where the plays which famous playwright Bertolt Brecht created brought out the happenings in the society with a close view of the reality with an intention of sensitizing the audience and move them (University of Southern Queensland 2009). Brass Eye also is a show which sensitizes the audience, but being it modern in its approach the show included heavy satire on the society and especially how the media functions. The comic element remained intact in the representation of the six episodes which were a part of the whole show in the 1990s. The show though had the right intention but the composition had many dramatic flaws which were not fruitful enough, this can be elaborated by taking in account the scintillating episodes like the Drugs episode. The same accounts for the awareness to the public that how the business of the drugs is ubiquitous in UK (Burrell, I 2004).
The show in the first part had been comic and satirical which showed that even the drug sellers didn’t know that how many drugs even existed in the society. The second part of the same show targeted the society by the innocent playing of the children in a school which are under the test for the effects of drugging. The scenes in the show were gross and were instead of being funny which was desired by the production and the direction of the show. The intention was to sensitize the society but the content of such shows only influenced the society in an adverse manner. It was a show which failed to cater the majority of the interests in UK and also could not impress the humour of the people in general. The technique which is therefore employed by the show therefore doesn’t follow the commandments as desired by the communication act 2003. The obligations of the remit require the person to act according to it, but here in the show it is seen that the content makes the people move towards a much irrational domain and the outcomes do not pose a long-lasting affect on the audiences (The Guardian 31 July, 2001, p. 5). The show portrayed children in a manner that had commoditised implications and therefore became vulnerable to criticism. The nature of the show was more absurd and denied adherence to any overarching social order or meaning. This show on Channel 4 can be seen as something which failed to meet the demands of the public in a right manner. The characters and the elements in the show have always been mocking the working of the system in the country and also it indulged in the caricature of the target groups thus rendering the audience confused that whether should they be taking them seriously or not. The aesthetic sense of the show has been exaggerated thus making the audience to decipher the correctness of the situation (Jury 2001, p.1)
The juxtapositions are there in the show which even make the boundary between the true and the false even more blurred. There is seen a strong overlapping of the realistic and the fictional content. The same is seen to be damaging the validity of the real resources which are to be believed. The presentation is such which cannot make the people easily conclude that this is what has been consistently used in the narrative of the show by Morris. The anchor-director himself has been making use of some unrealistic pie-charts, the baseless diagrams and also the statistics which have been fictionally and superficially created. This also can be seen as a spoof created on the media which is also responsible in bringing out the charts and the statistics of the people who are the social culprits and the victims. The show can be seen as something against the popular culture in UK because of the offensive nature it had. The offensiveness lied in the mockery which Morris made on the significant public figures and the activists and this also juxtaposed the reality because public believed that it was something correct and credible that was being presented to them. This can be said that this show would not adhere to the obligations as presented there in the remit by Channel 4 (Financial Times 9 July 2001, p.1)
The Ali G Show at channel show is also a form which is satirical in its content and is basically a talk show which was also upon the functioning of the media in the society. It composed of the shows which revolved around the celebrities and they were called and were asked all sorts of the questions as desired by the anchor. It was essentially a British character as played by Baron Cohen playing the role of the journalists (forming a trio) and the head character is led by Ali G himself. The people who are interviewed are asked ridiculous and offensive questions too but according to the script of the show they ignore the hidden vulgarity of the question and answer the questions as asked by the anchor. This way it misguides the character of the audience and leaves the audience astonished in many situations. The character has a much different style of a hip-hopper, the identity of the self which he poses in not even or unified it is a complete blend of nothing fixed the language is mixed with strange intones and the accent which is much evident by his way of talking (The Courier – Mail 1 January 2003, p.8)
The interviews which the person beheld were focusing upon the again the significant social matters like the race, the environment, the gender, sex and politics. The questions which are asked by him are sometimes exasperating to the interviewee and thus scandalise him/her. The questions which he asks like in case of a tree saving campaign, he asks a policeman whether “I is black?”, the same has a much sharp intention that is Ali G is trying to hint at the conditions of racism in the society and probably trying to voice up the ones who are yet subjugated. But, he being a non-black keeps his view as that of an outsider and the one who doesn’t feel the real pain of being a black person (WILLOW 2006 p. 8). So, the comedy which he trying to create actually turns into the mockery of a whole race and so is much vulnerable that the controversy can also be created by the same. It is evident by the fact the language and the representation caused offence to the black people. The same was even highlighted by the British National Press a sit declared that Cohen has been hurting the sentiments of the black community by exploding the emotional terrains. In fact it was brought that he failed to produce the desired laughter and in fact was himself caricatured by the black comedians. He was accused of the rap which he created and that was found as ‘racially offensive’. Many of the black officials commented that Baron Cohen was followed by many and was even appreciated to an extent because he is privileged to be a white. Similarly, in one more interview interviewing a Roman Catholic known personality he repeatedly asked for his preference of the girl in his life. After his repeated claims that bring a Roman Catholic he would like to keep his religion intact and therefore nothing would be able to intrude into that thought (Tucker 2003, p.145). The interviewer is again going unethical so as to repeat the same question again and again “Even if the girl is fit”??
The language and the sequence which is followed in the show portray the opinion which he holds of the women in his life. This way it can be said that the show did not follow the remit which has been created by Channel 4 under the Communication Act in UK. This show instead of catering to the culturally diverse nation has been in fact subjugating a whole culture/ race (intentionally or unintentionally) and that creates havoc in the nation and this cannot be seen as something which is meant for the interest and the betterment of the public. The defence which the T.V show holds at its end is that there is nothing which is offensive that all is being presented in the show but it is only the character which radical in his own way. There is a disassociation which he forms against the character of the host and thus protects himself against the public hostility. But then the critics and many social commentators have claimed that Ali G is just a twin soul of Baron Cohen as a persona and therefore they two cannot be separate in terms of their perspectives towards any of the social issues (Richmond, R 2003).
It can be said that both the shows eon channel 4 do go out of limit which should have been so as to portray what was intentional, but the chosen techniques and the methods are a little incredible. The response of the public has been both favourable and unfavourable for those who are popular people like the celebrities and the politicians. The role of the media has to the one which should be educational and qualify the interests of the masses but not in a misleading or the irrelevant (Lieberman, J 2007). Comedy is something which should be created at the stake of the sentiments of the social beings but it has been done in the shows again and again. The major violation which the shows would have done is that they did not contribute anything to the society and so were
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