Jerry Springer : The Opera

[Rilla]

Did anyone else watch this?
What did you think?
I quite enjoyed it - yes, some bits made me feel a little uncomfortable, but surely that's the point of good drama?

... And some of the songs were quite catcy....

Did it deserve people burning their tv licenses outside bbc offices?

I only even knew it existed cos of the protesters giving it free advertising.

[hr]Anything War can do, Peace can do better

[Thackary]

8000 swear words in it, apparently.

I wonder who counted?

[Don]

[s]Thackary wrote on 11:25, 10th Jan 2005:
8000 swear words in it, apparently.

I wonder who counted?


I read it was calculated by multiplying the number of swears by the 27 people who sang them in the chorus, so there was in fact only around 300 swears.

[5handicapgolfer]

wasnt a big fan, but made up my mind after watching.

i heard an interview on the radio of someone saying, "this is not good enough the bbc shouldnt be broadcasting it, i dont have to see it, ive heard its blasphemas (sp?)"
this got to me, watch it then make up your mind, then decide, its only a story that someone is telling, a break from reality if you will.

[Smith]

it seems pathetic when people protest about a tv show. how many channels are there?

[Rrrr]

well, for most people. 5.
The people that complain were never going to watch it, they just didn't want anyone else to either, playing nagging mum to the nation.

[hr]Splat!

[TheGamesMaster]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainmen ... 161109.stm

It would seem at least one person who complained did watch it.

All I can say is:

FFS PEOPLE!!!

[Amalgamat]

I watched this and thought it was quite unique, thoroughly enjoyed it however i was very conscious all the way through that it would offend a lot of people especially if they hadn't read any reviews and weren't expecting it to be so vulgar or they were particularly religious.

If someone wants to put a show on that parodies a main stream religion then why shouldn't they?? It has been a huge hit and recieved great reviews from prestigious reviewers who can take it as it is, tongue in cheek. Nobody forces you to go to the theatre and see it, whether the BBC should have used license payers money is more questionable, but you could always change channel.

[exnihilo]

This is now getting confusing because the same argument is being conducted on two threads, but to answer that last point: certainly you can change the channel, but should we be broadcasting racist, sexist or homophobic programmes too under the same caveat? Don't like it, don't watch it can only be taken so far.

[JAK]

[s]Amalgamat wrote on 18:19, 10th Jan 2005:
If someone wants to put a show on that parodies a main stream religion then why shouldn't they??


How exactly does this qualify as a parody? http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=parody&r=67
As a major comedy fan, I wouldn't say this is a a parody as a much as something which is intentionally offensive and tries to cash in on pure shock value.

How someone could call Jerry Springer featuring figures from the Christian religion a parody of Christianity intrigues me.

[hr]
I got my BBC

[Colin]

[s]JAK wrote on 18:28, 10th Jan 2005:

How someone could call Jerry Springer featuring figures from the Christian religion a parody of Christianity intrigues me.


My understanding was that it is meant as a parody of modern trashy entertainment, ie Jerry Springer and the likes, not of Chritianity. The use of a gay Jesus and the rest was simply to be about as shocking as they could be. Taking the shock value used in the real Jerry Springer and taking it to extremes - as generally used in parody.

[JAK]

[s]Colin wrote on 19:09, 10th Jan 2005:
[s]JAK wrote on 18:28, 10th Jan 2005:[i]

How someone could call Jerry Springer featuring figures from the Christian religion a parody of Christianity intrigues me.


My understanding was that it is meant as a parody of modern trashy entertainment, ie Jerry Springer and the likes, not of Chritianity. The use of a gay Jesus and the rest was simply to be about as shocking as they could be. Taking the shock value used in the real Jerry Springer and taking it to extremes - as generally used in parody.
[/i]

Yes: I thought it was a parody of Jerry Springer, however it has been suggested above that it is "a parody of a main stream religion".

Plus, parodies generally get weaker when taken to extremes, as they are not mocking the target, but an exaggeration.

[hr]
I got my BBC

[killjoy]

i saw it. was pretty funny, mostly because i had never seen the word cunt on 888 subtitles before.

i think the point that some protesters where making is that things like this are fine in terms of free expression or what ever, but that it sould not be supported by the bbc, a public organisation funded by the public.

all i can say to that is that they put songs of praise on every bloody weekend and i never hear anyone bitchin, pherhaps apart from me. i get more offended by gary linekar - only kidding he's a legend

[JAK]

[s]killjoy wrote on 20:24, 10th Jan 2005:
i saw it. was pretty funny, mostly because i had never seen the word cunt on 888 subtitles before.

i think the point that some protesters where making is that things like this are fine in terms of free expression or what ever, but that it sould not be supported by the bbc, a public organisation funded by the public.

all i can say to that is that they put songs of praise on every bloody weekend and i never hear anyone bitchin, pherhaps apart from me. i get more offended by gary linekar - only kidding he's a legend


And what actual points did it make?

[hr]
I got my BBC

[Guest]

[s]Don wrote on 12:10, 10th Jan 2005:

I read it was calculated by multiplying the number of swears by the 27 people who sang them in the chorus, so there was in fact only around 300 swears.


Well, to be fair, that does mean that 8000 odd swear words were uttered. Saying things as a groups doesn't mean they don't count....

[JAK]

http://portal.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main ... jerr13.xml

Posting this so you can read that article, and also to remind people that no actual points have been made to show that the opera wasn't gratuitously offensive.

[hr]I got my BBC

[Amalgamat]

Sorry for my mistake, i meant "poked fun at the characters" of a religion rather than "parodies" and that the play is a parody of Jerry Springer. -- thanks for pointing out my mistake i apologise for the confusion (esp. to you JAK as this really bothered you)

As far as i remember this show was not racist, sexist or homophobic - in fact all it did was portray religious characters in a shocking way making no attempt to be taken seriously and combined that with a lot of sexual deviance - similer jibes at religious characters are made in the likes of Southpark, family guy, futurama, the simpsons, dogma and in fact most stand up comedy eg. eddie izzard (I could go on) - however they don't get the same stick.

Like I said and Killjoy agreed the only reason this story was huge is because it was bough with tax payers money and that's what's questionable - it's the BBC trying to stay cutting edge and while they may have made a mistake with this one, I'm glad they do generally try to keep up with the times.

exnihilo wrote "but should we be broadcasting racist, sexist or homophobic programmes too under the same caveat? Don't like it, don't watch it can only be taken so far."

Umm. - i think you're taking things to extremes with that - like i say this show just portrayed religious characters as something everybody knows they are not believed to be....and added a lot of swearing. Racisim insights hatred between races, sexism oppresses women (or men but not usually) and homophobic programmes insight hatred / prejudice against the gay community. This didn't insight anything against any religion nor did it oppress it, it just showed famous characters as what they're not believed to be.

JAK WROTE "Posting this so you can read that article, and also to remind people that no actual points have been made to show that the opera wasn't gratuitously offensive"

It was obviously meant to cause some offence and to be contraversial, like the Myra Hindley portrait, or Brass Eye with paedogeddon. Although sometimes jokes and shows (eg some of Ricky Gervais' jokes in Politiks and Animals) go too far I'm glad that people can have freedom of expression enough to be creative and have fun with topics - You're never going to please everybody.