BBC's #TopGear represents mass entertainment that adds public value

By -


One of my favorite shows is produced by BBC. It is actually a car show, Top Gear. Since it is a car show, its supposed to be just about cars right? No. They manage to make it entertaining–full of your usual English tongue in cheekness, satire and national stereotyping. More than once, that show got a lot of flak for mentioning a national characteristic that isn't flattering: They were stoned in USA by hicks for painting "NASCAR Sucks" on one of their cars. Lol.; and they are hated in Mexico for saying, "Cars reflect national characteristics … a Mexican car's just going to be a lazy, feckless, flatulent oaf with a moustache, leaning against a fence asleep, looking at a cactus with a blanket with a hole in the middle on as a coat."

In spite of this they often feature car related challenges in exotic locales, they make car-related inventions which are deliberately cr@p but nonetheless somewhat meritorious in their design. Through this, the show is actually quite educational.

Their lead presenter, Jeremy Clarkson is quite outspoken in his car criticism as well as political commentary. The presenters are also not ashamed of their "Britishness" and always go on with their "British Pride" or whatever every chance they get.

Best of all, because of the unique way the BBC is funded, they don't advertise.

The BBC's mass market oriented shows still reflect the "Promoting education and learning; Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence" criteria that you mention. Furthermore, BBC is also a good way of instilling "British Pride" (if there is ever such a thing), which is like "Pinoy Pride" with substance. Filipino TV should be like this, sadly, it isn't.

------------------
This is a GRP Featured Comment. Join the discussion!
http://getrealphilippines.com/blog/2014/08/how-to-stop-philippine-medias-systematic-dumbing-down-of-an-entire-nation/comment-page-1/#comment-650175

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular this week

The sound of a #Tagalog convo: 'like chickens and hens cackling in unison'

By -
Image
While I'm not sure the language should totally go the way Latin did, one can't deny the limited use of Tagalog. As it is now, a sentence can't be done without two or three borrowed words in English which makes it redundant in academia. Somehow you gotta address the technical jargon but there really is no equivalent to it in Tagalog so the English term just ends up jammed in between the local vernacular. Nevermind the fact that reading Tagalog online is cringey no matter who wrote it. Add the fact that it just doesn't sound pleasing to the ear. Normal conversation with Tagalog is like chickens and hens cackling in unison to the uninitiated. It's the peasants' language through and through. ------------ This is a GRP Featured Comment. Join the discussion! http://getrealphilippines.com/blog/2014/06/kudos-to-the-commission-on-higher-education-ched-for-finally-junking-tagalog/comment-page-1/#comment-544143
Read more

Poor people in the Philippines seem to prefer poverty over aspiring to be not poor

By -
Image
Sadly, a MAJORITY of the poor people here are bad people. That is WHY they are poor. They disrespect others, they disrespect themselves, and they disrespect God’s creation. Exactly how do they think they’ll be rewarded for that? If you genuinely had empathy, you would be able to get inside their heads and understand why they do these things, and perhaps know how to fix it. However, you are confusing “empathy” with “sympathy”. I have yet to meet a poor person who actually WANTS to do the things necessary to escape poverty. The funny thing is, everyone can see that I’m more successful than they are. They think this is because I’m “rich”. I’m sure a lot of them are full of jealousy (as benign0 describes) and sit around thinking “ha, it’s not fair, that foreigner is so rich and I’m so poor. I guess it’s OK if I steal his stuff”. Which they do. Regularly. I grew up poor. I know how it feels to be hungry, all the time, every day. I decided I didn’t like feeling like that. I’m successf
Read more

Rappler CEO @MariaRessa suggests that Duterte was ORDERED to sing by Trump! 😮

By -
Image
In a tweet fielded by Rappler CEO Maria Ressa today, the causality reader could be led to believe that Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was ordered to sing by US President Donald Trump. But was he really? It seems Ressa is just being too quick to selectively interpret a common Filipino colloquialism that is no different to the way we use terms like "bossing" and "chief" to address peers or even subordinates in a tongue-in-cheek manner. Ressa is most definitely grasping for straws here.
Read more