25 October, 2005 | Leave a Comment

Apparently, the United States and Britain are two quite bloodthirsty cultures. I left the US, where Law & Order, CSI and a million other shows about murder and mayhem fill the airwaves practically 24/7. Well, the UK is no different. The people here seem to have the same unquenchable thirst for television shows about psychos, murderers, rapists, terrorists and every other kind of crackpot imaginable. Most of the primetime dramas here revolve around the police, private detectives, cold case squads or lawyers. Within the past few weeks I have seen a woman murdered and her face completely sliced off; a man beat his wife to death with his bare hands; a serial killer drowning multiple women in a surprisingly graphic fashion; children watching their parents being tortured; children being murdered; and then there was the dead man who was tied up and placed on his kitchen counter with an apple stuffed into his mouth, like a pig – needless to say, he had been tortured first. To justify their existence, these shows tend to cast themselves as a learning experience for the audience, as if any daft television show can teach us something profound about the nature of evil.

Of course, the only reason I know about these shows is because I was watching them, natch. But I am growing tired of brutality-as-entertainment. Why is it so popular? As a wise man once said – and by wise man I mean Russell Crowe in his Oscar-winning performance in Gladiator—“Are you not entertained?” Well, yes, I guess we are. And that’s disgusting.

1. Comments RSS | TrackBack URI

1. Anita Says:

   October 26th, 2005 at 4:22 pm

   If it’s intellectual stimulation you seek in a crime scene, stick to Inspector Morse.

2. Anglofille Says:

   October 27th, 2005 at 5:32 am

   that’s a good point…

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website