Over the last few days, the BBC has been plagued by an organised protest by Christian groups over the screening of Jerry Springer – The Opera over claims of blasphemy. Star actor David Soul has defended the show saying “it wouldn’t have got where it is if it was about blasphemy and language – we have a right to enjoy quality entertainment”.
Blogger Eyedropper points towards a daily mail article claiming that the show contains 8000 swear words. This would work out at one swearword every 0.9 seconds, were it not for the fact that this statistic was calculated by “multiplying the number of swear-words by the number of people singing them”. So, ten people singing the same swear word in unison is meant to be ten times more offensive is it?
Well done to the DG Mark Thompson for defending the show and pointing out that the Beeb gets more complaints when they edit out obscenities than when they let expletives go out uncut.
The most obvious questions for the campaigners that come to mind are firstly why they can’t just not watch the show if they think it might offend and secondly why there haven’t been similar complaints about the stage version, which has been hugely successful and running for some time.
Personally, I think the show sounds great, and all this outrage has done has drawn my attention to the screening – it’s bound to get good ratings now. I have no problem with the swear words, and the Jesus-in-a-nappy scene sounds hilarious.
I’m sure that Ofcom will agree with the decision to screen the show and won’t uphold any of the complaints.
Ed said:
Jerry, with a J.
The organisers are happy not to watch the show- it’s been made very clear that none of them have actually seen it. The complaints coming in now are from Mediawatch, the renamed Viewers & Listeners’ Association, once headed by thankfully dead mad old bitch Mary Whitehouse, so the problem is specifically about it being on television- and probably also that it’s paid for by YOUR LICENSE FEE.
The BBC are being a bit shitty in their defense of the show and playing up the shocking controversy angle as much as possible to get as much as press as they can. (Though this is nothing new, apparently back in the day the producers of Doctor Who would pray that Mary Whitehouse would watch the show and complain because the press would boost the viewing figures.)
Lee has attacked the BBC for this- comments at http://www.chortle.co.uk/news/Jan05/springer030102.php.
Alison said:
A journo friend of mine had to interview the head of the organisation, and apparently he never sees any of the things taht he condemns
robin said:
Agree with you
It’s interesting that ‘artistic’ things such as Steven Berkoff’s Greek and the opera by Mark anthony Turnadge based upon it with the same name contains must ‘worse’ language and imaginary and has been considered a important work and has been recorded as a english classic! here is the last soliloquey from it, notice how it paradies the Lords prayer:
. . . . nails and fingers plunge in and scoop out those warm and tender balls of jelly quivering dipped in blood. Oedipus how could you have done it, never to see your wife’s golden face again, never again to cast your eyes on her and hers on your eyes. What a foul thing I have done, I am the rotten plague, tear them out Eddy, rip them out, scoop them out like ice-cream, just push the thumb behind the orb and push, pull them out and stretch them to the end of the strings and then snap! Darkness falls. Bollocks to all that. I’d rather run all the way back and pull back the sheets, witness my golden-bodied wife and climb into her sanctuary, climb all the way in right up to my head and hide away there and be safe and comforted. Yeh I wanna climb back inside my mum. What’s wrong with that. It’s better than shoving a stick of dynamite up someone’s ass and getting a medal for it. So I run back. I run and run and pulse hard and feet pound, it’s love I feel it’s love, what matter what form it takes, it’s love I feel for your breast, for your nipple twice sucked / for your belly twice known / for your hands twice caressed / for your breath twice smelt, for your thighs, for your cunt twice known, once head first once cock first, loving cunt holy mother wife / loving source of your being / exit from paradise / entrance to heaven.
Last speech from Greek by Steven Berkoff
Lever said:
This storm of “controversy” has been whipped up by hyper-sensitive hypocrites who believe their “rights” are greater than those of others.
And as for the TV License – those 2 hours of “Jerry Springer the Opera” equate to just 3p per TV license. “Songs of Praise” is on every week for 40 mins on a Sunday and that costs 48p per TV license, whether you watch it or not. It must have cost more to travel to the Beeb and have placards printed.