Panic stations

version

Well-known member
The reception of that Stephen Graham drama, Adolescence, seems as though it could be developing into a bit of a moral panic. There've been several clunky opinion pieces attempting to boil it down to simple talking points, despite the creators stating they weren't pointing the finger at any one thing, and there's a push to have it shown in schools. There are also reports of anti-misogyny lessons being implemented into the curriculum. Hopefully it improves things, but I'm not particularly convinced by a lot of the discussion I'm reading. It's also a bit weird that this is all in response to a work of fiction. I know it's inspired by a couple of real incidents, but nobody seems to be talking about them. All the talk's about the Netflix show.

This is one of The Guardian's headlines, for reference: "Adolescence reveals a terrifying truth: smartphones are poison for boys’ minds."

There was another piece in The Independent which left some people puzzled as it was just the author making weird judgemental comments about her son and fumbling around trying to say something.
 

william_kent

Well-known member
I watched it - it's like some very bad episodes of Eastenders or Coronation Street where they try to tackle an "issue" by putting a couple of people in a room for an hour and making them do some excruciatingly bad acting
 

Benny Bunter

Well-known member
the english are awful at everything. easily the worst music. most embaressing opinions. the worst novels. the most cringy televsions.

I have to watch a fair bit of bbc news and TV shows for work and I almost never stop cringing. It wasn't a problem when I lived in England cos I didn't have a TV and didn't have to be subjected to it quite so often 🤪
 

william_kent

Well-known member
Labour MP Anneliese Midgley has called for the series to be screened in parliament and in schools, arguing that it could help counter misogyny and violence against women and girls. PM Keir Starmer backed the idea, praising Adolescence and saying that he’d watched it with his own teenage children. Starmer added that violence against girls was “abhorrent … a growing problem … we have to tackle it”.

Keir wants Adolescence to be shown in schools? If he had actually watched it then he would have heard Detective Inspector Ashley Walters complaining, during the scene set in a school, about "how are they supposed to learn anything if the teachers just make them watch videos all day" - so yeah, let's make them watch yet another video instead of teaching them

That Guardian article mentions that one of the scriptwriters was partially responsible for that piece of shit "This is England", which explains something about the quality
 
I watched it - it's like some very bad episodes of Eastenders or Coronation Street where they try to tackle an "issue" by putting a couple of people in a room for an hour and making them do some excruciatingly bad acting
No I think it’s definitely worth watching and your comparison is lazy. There are some hammy moments as you’d expect with the one take format, it’s essentially a play
 
the one take play format is so immersive. One of my favourite films of the last while Victoria was one the first to do this really well. You’re there with the characters, it’s visceral and also opens up these boring frustrating moments where you want out and that can add to the distress and the empathy and all that
 
It works cos it mostly focuses on the confusion and emotional impact of those around the boy. Chasm of understanding between online teenage world and teachers parents therapist etc, and doesn’t go into what the manosphere looks like … or how the conspiratorial mind feels, the thrills and seductions of it all
 

version

Well-known member
the one take play format is so immersive. One of my favourite films of the last while Victoria was one the first to do this really well. You’re there with the characters, it’s visceral and also opens up these boring frustrating moments where you want out and that can add to the distress and the empathy and all that

Sounds a bit like Alan Clarke.

 
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