Following on from my blog on British identity last week, I couldn’t help but notice the increasing trend of ‘political correctness gone mad’ not only in general society but recently in comedy as well. Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past year or so, it will have been difficult to escape the mass-hysteria surrounding the Brand/Ross prank phone calls to ‘national treasure’ Andrew Sachs about his granddaughter, and more recently the Jimmy Carr backlash following his amputee joke.
Given that we, the British, have always seemed to pride ourselves on our readiness for laughter, it is more than a little concerning that so many seem to have had a sense of humour bypass somewhere along the way to 2010. Aside from electing Boris Johnson as Mayor of London and the continued presence of Jedward in X-Factor, the only intentional humour that seems to be socially acceptable now is the toe-curlingly embarrassing array of catch-phrases peppering Strictly Come Dancing from Bruce Forsyth’s ancient, puckered mouth.
Whilst, then, we drown in crippling mediocrity and resign ourselves to ‘comedy’ that is more Russell Bland than Brand, it is important to consider whether us Brits are really losing our sense of humour or if too many are just jumping onto the apparent socially acceptable bandwagon of complaining. The British excel at complaining about anything and anyone, and social persuasion is rife in our culture.
Looking objectively at the Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand row over the apparent degradation of Georgina Baillie, Andrew Sachs’ granddaughter, it wouldn’t be unfair to deem Brand and Ross’ voicemail discussing the former’s sexual relations with her as inappropriate, especially live on air.
However, given that this Georgina Baillie is part of a strip group called the Satanic Sluts and further to this she was initially proud of the mention, posting the clip on her MySpace page, their comments were hardly unfair. This is a girl who has made hardcore porn for public viewing and uses her sexuality as a way to pay the bills.
Whilst yes, Brand and Ross were a little out of order and pushed their prank too far, it was their bosses who decided to air it and deemed it socially acceptable with a warning. Comedy always holds the risk of offending people; that is half of its attraction. Risqué one-liners, taboo subjects and controversial topics are what drive humour, and the BBC’s recent decision to take no more creative risks is a saddening one. Given that only 2 people actually complained about the Radio show that it was broadcast on until the good old Daily Mail’s Sunday supplement stirred the shit, I had hoped that the further thousands of complainers were just angry that their tax money is funding these so-called comedians who, it was being reported, were offending the public.
However following the recent media frenzy surrounding THAT Jimmy Carr joke (the suggestion that we will have an amazing Paralympic team for 2012 due to the large number of amputees from Iraq and Afghanistan), I am not so sure. Carr is a comedian whose entire humour is centered around offending just about everything and everyone. Usual topics of jokes include rape, murder, obesity, paedophilia and beastiality to name but a few. (See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JHnMyiWNk4 for an example of sexism in his humour). One wonders about the moronic nature of people who pay to go and see such a man on tour knowing his sense of humour, then complain when they don’t like a particular joke.
Researching this further unearths a rather irritating statistic, though. Carr is currently in the middle of a 10-month tour. Each date plays to about 9,000 people. Only 2 people complained. Once again with this number that changes it from being a single anomaly to a multiple; enough for the media to pick up on it and create an unnecessary amount of fuss. Perhaps it is due to Poppy week (this also relates to my last blog) that there is so much sensitivity around this particular joke at this particular time. This has led me to once again question this industry that I am trying to break into. The media, and more specifically, Public Relations, seems to have the power to completely manipulate the masses. Society is told who to love and hate; who is good and who is bad. It was Andrew Sachs’ PR agent who was called by the Mail on Sunday and provoked into complaining, despite Sachs’ original permission to broadcast the telephone calls and it was the media who have blown Jimmy Carr’s joke out of proportion (in comparison to many of his other jokes) when so few of the actual public complained.
There’s nothing quite like a little bit of ‘political correctness gone mad’ to bring about a premature death of someone’s career, and it seems like the media are doing all they can to vilify the few genuinely amusing people to grace our screens and stages today. Is it because they are struggling for news? Or is it more of a keep up with the Jones’ in the world of print, where if one paper reports a story which generates some interest, the others scramble for similar readership and, having failed to generate any ‘shock’ stories of their own, are quick for a share in the glory? I find it more than a little worrying that stories such as these beat others such as earthquakes and murders to the headlines, yet these seem to be the stories that are favoured and shifting copies. Will Britain's love for a scandal lead to the eventual death of comedy?
What is interesting is that, having done a piece on political correctness, that this is only a term really considered in Britain and the USA. Other countries such as France seem perplexed at the very notion – often using what would be considered racial slurs here to one another without actually causing offence. Furthermore the vast majority of the British asked in my survey actually had little or no idea of what political correctness was, though were nonetheless afraid of crossing the line of this elusive term.
ReplyDeleteOut of those questioned (samples from Birmingham, London, Bournemouth and Newcastle) it appeared that the term was best recognised by the ‘middle class, white’ demographic – and even they had remarkably limited understanding.
There are countless examples of ‘pc gone mad’... for example in an Oxford school where they tried to change ‘baa baa black sheep’ to ‘rainbow sheep’ – ironically it was predominantly the black parents who complained! Another would be trying to change man-hole cover to ‘person-hole’ cover. By desperately trying to cause as little offence as possible, political correctness has mutated into something that is actually marking out differences (eg. race, gender, age) or making people nervous to talk to others for fear of breaching this ethereal line – which ties into the issue of positive discrimination but that is something for another time!
In regards to the aspect of comedy... I agree with you that people often need something edgy or controversial to make them laugh as the ‘tamer’ jokes no longer carry such an impact. This is probably enhanced by our biting of our tongues for fear of being un-pc. That said, shows like the Flight of the Conchords (New Zealand admittedly) are still successful despite being inoffensive!
There are loads of examples of comedies being targeted for being controversial, often blowing the situation out of proportion, and resulting in either further self-censorship or people kicking back at the complaints taking things a step further each time... all very dynamic! I do think that in the case of the Brand and Ross example they did take it too far but as you said it was aired nonetheless.
Other cases of satires being shot down like Brass Eye (dberendt.blogspot.com... blatant advertising of my blog I know!) often by a minority who did not even watch it.
I wouldn’t say pc will kill comedy... as it gets increasingly preposterous I reckon that more people will deliberately challenge it. There are still awesome British comedies that exist (in my opinion) – Peep Show springs to mind as an example.
The idea of PC, especially in terms of race reminded me of a poem I read, written by an African child:
ReplyDelete'When I born, I Black
When I grow up, I Black
When I go in sun, I Black
When I scared, I Black
When I cold, I Black
When I sick, I Black
When I ill, I Black
When I die, I still Black
And you white fella
When you born, you pink
When you grow, you white
When you go in sun, you red
When you scared, you yellow
When you cold, you blue
When you sick, you green
And when you die, you gray
And you calling ME Coloured?'
It seems to me that the pendulum swings from the world black being acceptable to becoming a racist slur racist and being replaced with the word coloured, then African-American, then back to black...If i describe someone as black it is not being racist, it is merely an observation in the same way that I have green eyes. I agree that it is the upper-middle class whites who drive this often ridiculous political correctness, but then (and this is a generalisation) but it can often be the uneducated who are more racist due to this lack of moral teaching.
There have been other examples of ridiculous political correctness such as gingerbread men now having to be referred to as ginger people and the like. Soon, no doubt, that'll be condemned as offensive to red-headed people...
I hope you're right in terms of comedy and that it will not be forced to become a bland and unprovoking snore-fest in years to come!
A poem written by an African child? Are you sure? I seem to remember it as part of a stand-up routine by a black American comic...
ReplyDeleteHmm - I remember studying it at school as an international poem, and this link seems to back up the idea that it was originally a poem which a comic may well have picked up on and made a feature out of:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.redbubble.com/people/pagly2/writing/989550-and-you-call-me-coloured
However, the top response from 'Anonymous' on this link suggests you might be right...
http://www.englishforums.com/English/AndYouCallIMeIColoured/ccndc/post.htm
Other sources say it was written by a pupil from King Edward VI School in Birmingham too. Either way, the message is a very valid one, whoever the author!
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteIn relation to racial stereotypes - The Arab American Poet Mohja Kahf writes short ripostes like this:
ReplyDeleteHijab Scene #2
"You people have such restrictive dress for women,"
she said hobbling away in three-inch heels and panty hose
to finish out anoother pink-collar temp pool day
and
Hijab Scene#1
"You dress strange," said a tenth-grade boy with bright blue hair
to the new muslim girl with the headscarf in the homeroom,
his tongue ringd clicking on the "tr" in "strange."
(the comment box is narrow, so won't allow the lines of the poems to be how they ought)