Lockdown Update Day 192

[elisi]

Tonight we watched The Truman Show. Still as relevant (maybe even moreso) than it was in 1998 (Darcy says we saw it on the opening night, which seems right).

If you haven't seen it - do. The ending... ♥ It's very much what we need right now.

ETA: This reminded me of something else, thinking about the reality TV aspect. Big Brother was first broadcast the year after (1999).

Now the Cherub & I are doing the world slowest Doctor Who re-watch, starting with S1 (Ninth Doctor many months ago). We recently watched Bad Wolf (from 2005) and it starts with the Doctor literally falling into Big Brother - the theme is pumping out, there are the eye symbols all over the walls, and it's like falling into a time warp. It's immediately recognisable. Except. The Cherub (just turned 15, born in 2005) had no idea what it was. Had never heard the music, didn't have a clue until I explained. She'd heard of Big Brother of course, but the effect of it was completely lost on her.

The other point I wanted to highlight was this, from when the Doctor and Lynda-with-a-Y are watching Earth from Satellite 5:

DOCTOR: What's happened to [Earth]?
LYNDA: Well, it's always been like that. Ever since I was born. See that there? That's the Great Atlantic Smog Storm. It's been going twenty years. We get newsflashes telling us when it's safe to breathe outside.
DOCTOR: So the population just sits there? Half the world's too fat, and half the world's too thin, and you lot just watch telly?
LYNDA: Ten thousand channels, all beaming down from here.


Anyway. Go watch The Truman Show.

Comments

[shadowscast]

Oh my gosh, the ending of The Truman Show is extremely high on my list of the most perfect moments in cinema ever.

[elisi]

We watched it with our eldest (22 y.o.) who had never seen it, except when referenced online - and she was taken aback by how affecting and layered it was.

[trepkos]

Very poignant.

[elisi]

Thank you.

I wish my brain was more functional, so I could make a better (or better formulated, rather) post, but this is what I could manage.

[kerk_hiraeth]

When I think of Big Brother I think of the re-broadcast of 1984; probably in 1984. All I renember of the TV show that's used as a reference on Who were news items about the new phenomenon coming from the Netherlands. I can't even recall hearing the music myself. I recall a lesbian was all over the gay press at the time; there was still a gay press back then. Only glossy lifestyle magazines now, but she lost; it was said, because the one who won promised to give the prize to charity - I think. That really is all I remember; whereas the black & white images of the BBC re-broadcast of it's production of 1984 are still strong enough to evoke emotions even now.

kerk

[elisi]

When I think of Big Brother I think of the re-broadcast of 1984; probably in 1984. All I renember of the TV show that's used as a reference on Who were news items about the new phenomenon coming from the Netherlands. I can't even recall hearing the music myself.
It's interesting how the surveillance issue has become 'Big Brother', but the far more worrying thing is the way information can be controlled. Re. the music then I think you'd only know it if you watched the show. So lucky you.

I recall a lesbian was all over the gay press at the time; there was still a gay press back then. Only glossy lifestyle magazines now, but she lost; it was said, because the one who won promised to give the prize to charity - I think.
I think she came 2nd or 3rd? Can't remember much about the guy who won, except that his name was Craig and he was sort of very average. The lesbian former nun was probably a little too out there, but it was good that they had her on the show, I think.

That really is all I remember; whereas the black & white images of the BBC re-broadcast of it's production of 1984 are still strong enough to evoke emotions even now.
I don't think I have ever watched it. But I have read the book.

[promethia_tenk]

I hate and loathe Bad Wolf for exactly this reason: it ages sooooooo badly. I'd probably be less annoyed if it was a skippable middle of the season episode, but as it stands Parting of the Ways is extremely good, and it's shackled to this embarrassment that's irrelevant five years after airing.

[elisi]

There is a line in an article (and I think it's Liz Sandifer, but I can't find it) where it's pointed out that 'Rose' [I think ] 'aggressively dates itself'. It stamps its currentness all over everything. And if you're going to use tv shows in a tv show, you may as well lean into it?

However, Sandifer does have interesting things to say about Bad Wolf & TV:

But it’s actually even stranger than it seems. It’s not just Doctor Who being a big deal - it’s the particular nature of what the deal was. “Bad Wolf,” after all, is as culty as cult can be - a bit of television designed only for obsessives. And not obsessives of the sort at whom Boom Town was aimed, but ones who are going to obsessively analyze episodes for fleeting lines and visuals. “Bad Wolf” was bait for cult television fans, and its emergence in the mainstream culture was in some ways a more definitive confirmation of Doctor Who’s arrival in that mainstream than the ratings themselves.

But a large part of this has been the way in which Doctor Who has found space in the mainstream. Doctor Who’s challenge, from day one, was to establish itself as something with more than a niche, cult appeal. And so every single episode has made sure to include something that feels unexpected within Doctor Who, but that is utterly normal by the standards of British television in 2005. Doctor Who reverted to what it began as - a show about strangeness lurking on the edges of mainstream culture. But even by those standards Bad Wolf and its profusion of reality TV and game shows is absolutely bizarre. It was possible to imagine Doctor Who as a successful television show - it had been before, after all. A stretch, perhaps, but possible. Imagining Davina McCall contributing to Doctor Who? Completely and utterly impossible.

And yet here we are. Much of this can be explained straightforwardly: Russell T Davies. Bad Wolf is, more than anything else in the entirety of his time on the series, seemingly a depiction of what the interior of Russell T Davies’s brain must look like. Davies is an absolutely voracious consumer of television. Just listen to him on the commentary track of this, as he enthuses passionately about the brilliance of The Weakest Link and its structure, and how hard it is to write good game show dialogue. Davies eats and breathes television, obsessing over its structure and rhythm like nobody else save, perhaps, for Julie Gardner. For him, Doctor Who has always existed in the context of everything else on television.

But that statement is more compelling than it sounds, and it’s what this episode exists to prove. Doctor Who is, after all, the only show on television where you could do a far future version of What Not To Wear with added dismemberment. All television exists in the context of other shows. Doctor Who is unique in existing in the context of the entirety of television. It’s the one show that can comment on absolutely anything else. That’s its power, and it’s a power that’s been steadily accumulated over the entirety of this season.

(pops up) Hello there

[(Anonymous)]

So. Just dropping by, as I am wont to do once a month. Hi.

The radio silence that you have been hearing is due to the universe constantly coming up with new and inventive ways to keep me extremely busy. For instance, I have recently come to live and study in your beleaguered isle, as I had been planning. AAAAAAAAAH, so many things to do.

I will properly get in touch at some point. Really.


Now that you mention the ending, one of my favourite bits is that tiny moment where it shows his girlfriend watching him on the TV, and she goes "please, God", while, you know, Truman is essentially talking to god. And that's when he makes his decision, because a real god would want man to be free.

By the way, have you seen S1m0ne, also written by Andrew Niccol? Not as well-known, but it's one of my favourite movies.



P.S. That bathtub guy is the best.

Re: (pops up) Hello there

[elisi]

Hello! *waves* I was just thinking about you (I swear) and wondered how you were getting on.

This might be due to my life finally letting up and I feel like I can maybe breathe again, which is nice.

The radio silence that you have been hearing is due to the universe constantly coming up with new and inventive ways to keep me extremely busy. For instance, I have recently come to live and study in your beleaguered isle, as I had been planning. AAAAAAAAAH, so many things to do.
Well, welcome to the country that is busy destroying itself. Although many parts are nice and a great deal of the people are lovely. Let me know if you need any cultural pointers. (Although this is a good starting point: https://twitter.com/SoVeryBritish)

I will properly get in touch at some point. Really.
Whenever you have the time. I'm not going anywhere. Both of my eldest have now gone off to uni, and are not overly communicative, which I take as a sign that they're happy. Hope it's the same for you.

Now that you mention the ending, one of my favourite bits is that tiny moment where it shows his girlfriend watching him on the TV, and she goes "please, God", while, you know, Truman is essentially talking to god. And that's when he makes his decision, because a real god would want man to be free.
THIS. There are so many layers to it, and I just sort of flail trying to think of them all. But that one is definitely up there.

By the way, have you seen S1m0ne, also written by Andrew Niccol? Not as well-known, but it's one of my favourite movies.
I have not, but probably should. I loved Gattaca.

P.S. That bathtub guy is the best.
I also like the old ladies. But bathtub guy is in a league of his own.

Re: (pops up) Hello there

[(Anonymous)]

Well, S1m0ne is basically the inverse of the Truman Show. Instead of a director trying to convince a person that the world is real, here we've got a director trying to convince the world that a person is real --she is in fact an entirely digital creation.

It's like poetry, it rhymes :D

Re: (pops up) Hello there

[elisi]

Yeah, I know approximately... that much about the plot. :) But will make sure to check it out if it's on a platform I have.

And you know me well, I love poetry!! <3