Program scripts from week of July 2, 2012
My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media. TV, radio, the movies and more. I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion. Call this the View from the Phlipside.
50 Shades
Well I suppose we should address the issue of the novel Fifty Shades of Grey. It’s all fairly silly and oh so American that we’re as wrought up about the books as we are. And it’s all because of the “S” word. No, not snow.
In case you have somehow managed to avoid any knowledge of the great furor in the publishing world let me bring you up to date. Fifty Shades of Grey is the first novel of a trilogy about a young American college student and her slightly older lover. The books were originally fan fiction written about the characters in Stephanie Meyers’ beloved/despised Twilight series. The rather adult nature of these stories caused the author to pull them from the fan fiction site and completely re-write them. That followed with some digital age self publishing as an e-book and on demand print which eventually led to an actual publishing deal. Right now the original novel, its two follow ups and the boxed set of them all occupy the top four slots in USA Today’s Best-Selling Books list. . It’s also resulted in people saying silly things like “Guess this proves that sex sells”
Um, duh?
The source material for this best selling series isn’t considered great literature and these books have gotten very much the same reaction. The stories are just well written enough to keep people turning the pages. At the same time people note that the English author has no idea how Americans actually talk and her prose is awkward and cliche ridden. So what’s the big deal?
Well of course that would be the “S word” again. S-E-X. Americans are obsessed by it but stoutly maintain that we’re not. It’s not like this is the first best seller that dealt with it. In 1928 we had D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterly’s Lover which set the world on fire by talking about sex. 40 years later it was Philip Roth’s Portnoy’s Complaint. It’s been just over another 40 years and it’s another book about sex again. I think we’ll survive this one as well.
We’d probably be much better off being outraged about the diminishing quality of the writing rather than the topic.
Best or Worst
The recent big story out of Rochester about the school bus monitor who was abused by four students and had that abuse posted on the internet has me a little perplexed. Not over the action of the students in question. I work with young people just that age and can tell you that I didn’t find the behavior particularly surprising. I’m not saying I approve of it or that I think there is any mitigating factor. The reality is that this kind of pack mentality is not unusual and it can build on itself. Two of the boys involved have apologized and even acknowledged that they don’t know what go into them. I do. It’s not pretty and nothing to encourage but it happens more often than we like to think about. Usually it happens among the youth themselves rather than going after an adult.
What puzzles me in all of this is the question - Is this the Internet at its best or at its worst? The young man who recorded the bullying incident has been upfront that his intent was to submit the video to a Comedy Central show that features viewer created content. Because he has seen many other videos featuring bullying on YouTube the young man didn’t think it would be a big deal.
And that’s really, really sad all by itself.
But it gets worse. The boys are now getting buried in all kinds of abusive, even threatening, e-mails and texts from around the world. The knee jerk reaction for some will be “Good, they deserve it”. Seriously? Our idea of a proper reaction to young people being stupid is to be the exact same kind of stupid to them? The solution to bullying is bullying? Sorry you can let me out here.
On the upside folks have started an online fundraising effort for the 60 something bus monitor that has blown up. The original goal was to raise five thousand dollars to give her a little vacation. At last count, with some 25+ days still to go the total was already at 600 thousand dollars. That’s a wonderful generous out pouring of support from all over the globe which is cool. It’s a little over the top maybe but it’s still a pretty cool thing to happen.
So I’ll leave you to figure this question out yourself. Was the bus bullying story the Internet at its best or worst? Or is it like most things in life, a little of both?
Olympic Failure
Once upon a time I would have been on pins and needles at this point in the summer. Not just because school was out and summer vacation was here but because this would be an Olympic summer. The Olympics were this great festival of sports and sportsmanship. And not just the usual stuff like baseball and football (in fact neither of those two were even included in the Olympics back in the day!) but all sorts of cool stuff that you just never got to see much of normally. I would root for the USA against those terrible eastern bloc nations especially the USSR. It was an event and it put me in front of the TV for many more hours than normal during the summer.
This summer I may not watch a single minute of the Olympics.
If you’re a regular listener to this show you won’t be surprised to hear that I miss those old school days. Days when it was about the best amateur athletes in the world competing for their nation. Unlike today when it’s professional athletes in all the big time events and mostly pros everywhere else. Every athlete has a sponsor who is paying their way. In fact sponsors are really what the modern Olympics are all about. This would explain the 35 day, 1 kilometer wide “Brand Exclusion Zone” surrounding all Olympic venues in London this summer. Basically if you’re not an official Olympics sponsor you can’t hang your advertising signs there. The U.K. also pass a law saying only the Olympics folks can use the words "games," "2012," "twentytwelve" or "two thousand and twelve." No I’m not kidding.
As if to prove just how little joy is left in the Olympic movement the U.S. Olympic committee recently sent a cease and desist order to the online knitting group Ravelry. They were planning on having an “Ravelympics” where they would have a lot of fun knitting activities with an Olympics theme. The Olympic Committee told them that it lessened the dignity of the games and the athletes. Since that time someone has slapped them upside the head and they have sent a rather insincere sounding apology to the knitting community.
Somewhere along the line we seem to have lost the heart of the Olympics. And that’s taken the heart out of me as an Olympic viewer. Maybe it’s time for me to just go outside and play.
Call that the View From the Phlipside.
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