Posts: 275 |
Kristy Posted Wed 29 Oct, 2008 2:45 PM |
Shadow culture secretary Jeremy Hunt is due to criticise soap operas, claiming they should not "legitimise negative social behaviour" in a speech to the London School of Economics.
In a session with LSE students on public broadcasting, he will suggest that broadcasters are continually contradicting their efforts to raise awareness for certain issues such as binge drinking and obesity with scenes and storylines from their soaps.
According to The Telegraph, he will say: "It's not good enough for Channel 4 to say they are doing their bit with a Dispatches programme on alcohol abuse like 'Drinking Yourself To Death' when 18% of the screen time in Hollyoaks was accounted for by alcohol references.
"Nor can Five claim to be doing their bit with Diet Doctors Inside Out when the gym instructor in Home And Away is seen with alcohol in 50% of his scenes"
He will add: "I'm not saying there should be no alcohol references in any soaps. To deliver large audiences, programmes need to reflect the world in which we actually live and not some Truman Show fantasy of what we would like it to be. Nor do we want to fall into the trap of co-opting broadcasters into social engineering.
"But just as it would be wrong in a plural and democratic society to require broadcasters to produce programmes that meet government objectives and promote social behaviour, so it is also wrong for broadcasters to produce programmes that legitimise negative social behaviour."
Source: DigitalSpy
__________________
What a load of bollocks.
And they say Brown's got his priorities wrong!
It's obvious dear ol' Jeremy has never watched Home and Away in his life - the show in which pretty much everyone is perfect, none of them are obese, none of them smoke, and it's a rare event for anyone to buy alcohol at the so-called 'bar'!
(And yes, I am sad for knowing that. I draw the line at watching Hollyoaks though).
|
|
|
Posts: 8142 |
minnmess Posted Wed 29 Oct, 2008 3:13 PM |
While i gave up on soaps in univeristy and i think the only British soap i have ever seen is Cornation Street, it seems like the government should really think of better things to do with their time!
The Canadian government sometimes gets locked into hockey debates so...every government gets fixated on something that is really unimportant (ps-hockey is important, but really has nothing to do with the government).
Maybe they just want excuses to sit at home and watch soaps! pretend it is research. |
|
|
Posts: 7519 |
Nikki Posted Wed 29 Oct, 2008 4:12 PM |
Kristy, what does the Canadian government debate over when it comes to hockey? Please say it has nothing to do with banning fighting.
During the Wings game vs. the Blackhawks over the weekend, Fox Sports Detroit did a poll during the game where people text in to cast their vote. They asked if fighting should be banned from the NHL. Something like 96% said NO. Haha! |
|
|
Posts: 8142 |
minnmess Posted Wed 29 Oct, 2008 4:26 PM |
no...during the 2007 World Championships, there was a debate of whether Shane Doan should lose the "C" bc he apperently said anti-french things and people got their panties in a knot. it wasnt even true (he said something about how a Montreal ref was playing favourites in Montreal. It was a hometown thing, not a french thing. He could have said a ref from Chicago was playing favourite in Chicago) but some some politicians have nothing better to do.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shane_Doan#Controversy |
|
|
Posts: 2012 |
Darran Posted Wed 29 Oct, 2008 4:28 PM |
| Imagine saying anti-french things. :-D |
|
|
Posts: 8142 |
minnmess Posted Wed 29 Oct, 2008 4:30 PM |
Darran wrote: Imagine saying anti-french things. :-D
you would never be allowed to be Captain, Darran.
Oh, you should really consider moving to calgary. I saw on the news last night that it was 22 degrees and people were golfing in tshirts. |
|
|
Posts: 625 |
Joe Posted Wed 29 Oct, 2008 4:55 PM |
| I wouldn't really say that they glamourise alcohol, but I'd agree that soaps do tend to make adultery seem more acceptable, as affairs are often shown. You could say that they're just relating real-life, but that goes both ways. Granted, there're limits to everything, but it hardly helps. |
|
|
Posts: 7519 |
Nikki Posted Wed 29 Oct, 2008 5:44 PM |
minnmess wrote: no...during the 2007 World Championships, there was a debate of whether Shane Doan should lose the "C" bc he apperently said anti-french things and people got their panties in a knot. it wasnt even true (he said something about how a Montreal ref was playing favourites in Montreal. It was a hometown thing, not a french thing. He could have said a ref from Chicago was playing favourite in Chicago) but some some politicians have nothing better to do.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shane_Doan#Controversy
Yeah. That's just dumb. People are so uptight and PC about certain things it's ridiculous. And what does that have to do with the government anyways? It's a sporting event. They should stay out of it. |
|
|
Posts: 8142 |
minnmess Posted Wed 29 Oct, 2008 5:46 PM |
bc politicians are dumb and want publicity.
it was stupid. And Canada won gold. and the politician looked like a moron to 95% of the country.
|
|
|
