That was the 1970s (or something?)
Discussion
Did anyone watch the programme on C4 last night about how 'incorrect' 1970s TV was.
Mostly it was quite interesting, with people who were there mostly saying "Oh dear, did we REALLY say THAT!" and some acknowledgement that in many cases what is taken as blatant racism, sexism or homophobia was a, rather ham-fisted from today's viewpoint perhaps, genuine attempt to address the issues.
Admittedly, the blacked up white man sexually assaulting a woman on a tube (from the Black & WHite Minstrel Show - which really did look bloody odd even then!) was very poorly judged, but some of the programmes (Mind Your Language, for example) were actually redeemed a bit by comments that acknowledged that, whilst there was a lot of sterotyping going on, it was inclusive and the butt of the joke was never one group consistently and others (A Goodies episode on Apartheid South Africa which made a point about casual racism, so common then, but which looks casually racist in these uptight times) tried to deal with complex issues that sometimes the 'serious' TV didn't.
What the programme really DIDN'T need was the 'modern comedians' (most of whom I'm sure no-one outside their direct family have heard of) parading their 'right on' credentials with over the top displays of shock and incredulity worth of Gogglebox.
An interesting idea and some good points, but ruined by the need for "talking heads" to tell us what we SHOULD be thinking.
M.
Mostly it was quite interesting, with people who were there mostly saying "Oh dear, did we REALLY say THAT!" and some acknowledgement that in many cases what is taken as blatant racism, sexism or homophobia was a, rather ham-fisted from today's viewpoint perhaps, genuine attempt to address the issues.
Admittedly, the blacked up white man sexually assaulting a woman on a tube (from the Black & WHite Minstrel Show - which really did look bloody odd even then!) was very poorly judged, but some of the programmes (Mind Your Language, for example) were actually redeemed a bit by comments that acknowledged that, whilst there was a lot of sterotyping going on, it was inclusive and the butt of the joke was never one group consistently and others (A Goodies episode on Apartheid South Africa which made a point about casual racism, so common then, but which looks casually racist in these uptight times) tried to deal with complex issues that sometimes the 'serious' TV didn't.
What the programme really DIDN'T need was the 'modern comedians' (most of whom I'm sure no-one outside their direct family have heard of) parading their 'right on' credentials with over the top displays of shock and incredulity worth of Gogglebox.
An interesting idea and some good points, but ruined by the need for "talking heads" to tell us what we SHOULD be thinking.
M.
I assumed this was a series and set my Tivo to record, but it seems the same programme has been broadcast a few times.
Watching poor Bill Oddie being shown The Goodies footage made me sad. It seemed to me they were very much trying to satirise the racism and sexism but it's now unsurprising that they aren't repeated.
Watching poor Bill Oddie being shown The Goodies footage made me sad. It seemed to me they were very much trying to satirise the racism and sexism but it's now unsurprising that they aren't repeated.
Jobbo said:
I assumed this was a series and set my Tivo to record, but it seems the same programme has been broadcast a few times.
It's both!I put it on series record as well, and have had two episodes so far, both recorded twice.
The thing that struck me, both watching it and talking about it with friends, was that whilst racism and homophobia seems to have by and large vanished from everyday life, the only real change in blokes' attitudes towards women is that we're no longer allowed to hold said attitudes in the presence of women any more!
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