Selling Sleaze

US uber-blogger Ace points out the humbuggery inherent in an ’Indie’ movie world which worships at the altar of radical innovation, even while drowning in its own clichés. It’s the same kind of annoying as hearing campus Lefties pay fulsome tribute to their own heroism in denouncing Blair.

Still, that set me to thinking about one of the media clichés I most despise, namely the fetishisation of the dysfunctional. What is it that convinces media luvvies that they can get away with filling the scripts with trite 2D caricatures, providing the characters are hooked on crack, insane, terrorists or some other version of scum ? Take 2006’s worst show ‘Torchwood’. Here was a group of stereotypical charcters presented with no back story at all but, hey, they were constantly banging each other, so that’s nearly the same as depth.

There’s more to it than just bad television though. Consider this point:

Tonight’s the night Hollywood takes a break from disclaiming responsibility for any of the culture’s ills to congratulate itself for having so much influence over the culture.

We’ve had at least thirty years of the media portraying the violent, the depraved and the just plain crazy as more lifey, more sparky, just plain more authentic than people with actual jobs. Plus, we’ve had the Yang to that Yin, with movies like ‘American Beauty’ depicting normality as the worst fate that can possibly befall anyone. Are we really sure that there’s no connection between this phenomenon and the chaotic lives of the underclass as chronicled by folks like PC DC ?