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G4EBT > FILMS 14.10.04 20:41l 123 Lines 5513 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : D13226G4EBT
Read: GUEST
Subj: Re: Progs from down under VK6BE
Path: DB0FHN<DB0THA<DB0ERF<DB0ROF<DB0ACH<DB0ACC<DB0EA<DB0RES<ON0AR<GB7FCR
Sent: 041014/1745Z @:GB7FCR.#16.GBR.EU #:16652 [Blackpool] FBB-7.03a $:D13226G4
From: G4EBT@GB7FCR.#16.GBR.EU
To : FILMS@WW
Bob, VK6BE wrote:-
> Maybe The Bill has gone on too long.
You're right there Bob. The main focus used to be on crime, but this last
few years it's been on dysfunctional police officers who are bigger crooks
than their supposed "clientele".
They've had the lot in their midst - alcoholics, gamblers, rapists,
arsonists, murderers, psychopaths, indeed every type of dysfunctional
sociopathic basket cases imaginable.
Sure, the police are just a cross-section of the public at large, but
to have so many oddballs in one station is pushing it a bit.
We were fortunate enough to have the President of the Writers' Guild come
to give a talk at the library in Hull last year - he wrote the scripts for
The Bill for many years. A really interesting guy.
I mentioned to him that in recent years in "The Bill" there seemed to be a
trend for men to be depicted as inadequates with washed-up careers, being
pushed around by assertive ambitious women rapidly climbing up the ranks.
The women always seem to be shouting to crestfallen men "In my office -
NOW!", and the guys always seem to be saying "yes, boss", "sorry boss"
"won't step out of line again guv".
I asked if this was a deliberate policy to push a hidden feminist agenda.
He said "Oh no - you must remember that The Bill is written for "Mavis
from Scunthorpe". (Apologies to Scunthorpe, but it's an industrial town in
north Lincolnshire which has seen better days).
I asked him to elucidate. He said "Mavis" is a euphemism for women with
low self-esteem who spend their lives being messed about and slapped
around by a succesion of men who dump them. As they can't get their own
back, they like to see scheming women cast in roles where they don't just
get even, but come out on top every time and tample men underfoot. ("Bunny
Boilers").
Apparently, many viewers of The Bill are middle-aged women like "Mavis",
from the lower socio-economic groups. That's when I bailed out and
realised I was only watching it from force of habit from the days when it
wasn't a bad series.
> The shows from OZ about the
> Outback, in spite of the dig from Ian G0TEZ are excellent portrayals of
> the Outback. They show it as it is. I hate to mention the word "desert"
> again but you see it as it is in the shows about the Outback.
The wonderful ABC/Channel 4 series "Wild down Under" has just has a re-run
on Brit TV. It really is spectacular and shows every aspect of wildlife in
Australasia. Quite the most outstanding series for many a year here in the
UK. So much of the flaura and fauna in Oz is of course unique and appears
nowhere else in the world.
> Kylie? Yes but there are plenty more over there if you look further
> than the Pop scene. Composers, musicians, singers, many from OZ and New
> Zealand but maybe you don't follow the serious art scene. It's not
> everybody's cup of tea.
Kylie and Nicole Kidman come to the top of my list, well above Slim Dusty
and his Pub with no Beer, Rolf Harris with Two Little Boys", and "Men
without Hats". (Let's not forget Olivia Newton John, or as she was called
here in her glory days, "Olivia Neutron Bomb"!). Oh, and let's not forget
Kylie's sister Dannie either!
Nicole is multi-talented - films from Weather Girl, to Dead Calm, to
Moulon Rouge, and more recently that excellent thought-provoking film
with a minimalist film-set about small-town America, "Dogville".
The Oz film industry seems to have the knack of turning out delightful
low budget films that are hugely amusing. "Strictly Ballroom" has to be
the funniest film, par excellence. An all-time favourite of mine - I never
tire of watching it.
NZ of course brought us that wonderful tear-jerker "Whale Rider".
The Oz soaps are as good as anything here. "Cell Block H" which seems
to have been going for decades, still has a cult following here.
Rolf Harris must be one of the most enduring (and endearing) exports to
the UK and still enjoys a huge following here. His painting command very
high prices, and he's seldom off the UK TV screens.
Ever noticed that all of the people who move here from Oz are highly
successful, but many of those who moved to Oz from here to "start a new
life", especially a good proportion of the "ten-pound poms" were losers,
and did the UK no favours?
I remember a lot in the late 50's who went to Oz with rose-tinted
spectacles and had nothing good to say about the UK. within a year they
were back here, slagging off Oz and everyone in it. I guess that's when
the term "whinging pom" really came into its own.
Anyone who can't make a go of it in their own country should take stock
of the reasons why. If they go half-way round the world to a different
country, different culture, customs and practices, where they may not be
universally welcome, that adds to, rather than reduces their "excess
emotional baggage".
It has to be said that the original "exports" who were sent there for
crimes that wouldn't even get to court these days, did a remarkable job.
It really was a "leap in the dark" for them.
I was in London a week or so ago, and was surprised to see a huge queue at
Australia House. Why was that? Apparently it was the largest polling booth
for the Australian Elections - larger than any in Oz - 23,000+ voters.
73 - David, G4EBT @ GB7FCR
Eddystone User Group Member
G-QRP Club Member No: 1339
QTH: Cottingham, East Yorkshire.
Message timed: 18:22 on 2004-Oct-14
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