Glorifying gang culture?? (1 Viewer)

[Jeff and terri]

Just wondering what peeps opinions are about tv companies making a programme about the so called gangs and there female members ?? Showing the drugs,knives, oh and the big wads of cash they can make . All with there scarves around there faces. To be honest that's all I know about the program, as I only seen the trailer for it and refuse to watch it . As I don't agree with glorifying it ..
Now I could be totally wrong and should have watched it before I judged it?? Really am I ??

 

[pyro]

I have met a fair number of these brave pilgrims, almost always in tears by the time I get to them, having been apprehended by some of our finest.

Broadcast standards have slipped over the years, largely to keep pace with the decline in standards of our once proud press industry. Discerning people will make a choice, not everyone wants to watch Gypsy weddings or Essex girls making themselves look cheap (not that they seem to have to try hard) or footballers wives displaying their vacuity (and laerge parts of their anatomy) for the world to laugh at.

I just don't watch live TV any more, and with the increasing number of people who get their entertainment from the internet, it is a trend that is likely to continue. Tonight I confess I watched an old Dad's Army and chuckled, but that's an exception. As for cookery programmes and the glorification of chefs, don't speak to me about it

 

[Jeff and terri]

Re-runs of open all hours for me and the two ronnies sketch book . Although I do like a good documentary even if it's about serial killers and the like . But these are things that have happened

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[Gromett]

I think TV has gone broader range. By that I mean there is a section of TV targetted at the lowest common denominator. However there is also much more high quality TV these days with movie level production values. One of the things I like about NetFlix and Amazon Video is that I can choose decent quality viewing on my own schedule rather than waiting for all the Cookery, reality, Cheap DIY, antiques and quiz shows to finish for the one decent show a week.

The thing I have noticed over the last couple of years is that I am getting less and less able to watch films these days. I find that the 1.5-2 hours limit means that time spent on character development and back story is very short. It makes the vast majority of films either tedious or vacuous. TV series however have time to spend on characters, back story and detail. With the production values of TV programs now getting up to the same level as films they are much better value. A single film on DVD would cost £10 whereas a box set would cost £20.00 So that is either say 2 hours or 22 episodes at 50 minutes each or 18 hours+.

It's a fair point though, the quality and type of TV targetted at the lowest common denominator does seem to have gone down hill massively.

 

[Stretto Boy]

Ah, Dad's Army. From the days when I was merely old. You are, Lord Pyro, clearly a man with exquisite tastes. I doff my cap to you, your Lordship.

 

[Dave K]

I think unless you want to pay additional fees (which I don't) for Sky, Netflix etc then tv is poor to say the least, I don't think I watch anything on ITV, seems to be always BBC, including the iPlayer. I think Friday and Saturday nights are a prime example, It's not every weekend people go out for the night so at least there could be something worth watching on there instead of very low quality comedy shows, the one last Friday evening being a prime example, and soaps

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[magicsurfbus]

Just wondering what peeps opinions are about tv companies making a programme about the so called gangs and there female members ?? Showing the drugs,knives, oh and the big wads of cash they can make . All with there scarves around there faces.

I guess that rules out watching any Westerns in future then. Be honest - we've always been fascinated by criminal activity. Midsomer Murders anyone?

Probably not the programme you're describing, but a lot of people regard The Wire as one of the best TV series ever made, not least for getting inside gang culture and de-glamourising it. I watched Boardwalk Empire recently - set in the 1920s prohibition era when organised crime first found its feet. It showed the 'celeb' gangsters of the day for what they really were - nasty vicious little thugs and psychopaths. Not a few leading politicians of the time came in for some fire over their balatant corruption too - people whose names adorn great American buildings and institutions.

Whatever you put on TV as a warning will however be taken as cool by some - it has always been that way. Take Til Death Us Do Part - a sitcom intended by its writer and cast to show Alf Garnett up as a pathetic racist buffoon. Plenty out there still think of him as the spokesman for a generation. It's not about what you choose to watch on TV, or what TV producers choose to show - it's about how you interpret it.

 

[Electraglide]

Yes Minister for me, amazing that it could be commentating about today's politics.

 

[Hollyberry]

I don't blame you for not watching it, @Jeff and terri , always depresses me, the stories if low life Britain. You have to tell yourself there are more ordinary, good people than low lifes. ( can you gave low lives?)
Friend regularly has to drop of a young adult with special needs she cares for at a day centre. Every time, Jeremy Kyle is blaring out on the TV with staff watching it. Doesn't say much about the standard of staff they employ.

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[SpeedyDux]

Just wondering what peeps opinions are about tv companies making a programme about the so called gangs and there female members ?? Showing the drugs,knives, oh and the big wads of cash they can make . All with there scarves around there faces. To be honest that's all I know about the program, as I only seen the trailer for it and refuse to watch it . As I don't agree with glorifying it ..
Now I could be totally wrong and should have watched it before I judged it?? Really am I ??

I also decided not to watch this show. A snap judgment from that trailer made me conclude (perhaps too hastily?) that it fell more into the class of exploitative trash reality TV rather than serious investigative reporting. I am not sure if it actually glorifies gang culture, but it probably feeds the fantasy that many teenagers who identify with "gangsta" rap music, drugs, lingo and clothes seem to follow. Because in their view it is both rebellious and "cool". There is another topic for debate about the gangstas' attitude towards girls who join gangs as "bitches" who have to put up with abuse including rape but that's for another day.

The even more worrying part is that, unlike most previous teen rebel sub-cultures like Punk, the gangsta culture encourages impressionable teens to believe that carrying knives and possibly guns too somehow elevates their status among their peer group.

 

[angusboy]

only fools and horses still tops

 

[Jeff and terri]

Thanks for your replies . I guess I never even thought about the gangster films I use to watch , James Cagney , Edward g Robinson , bogart etc etc glorifying there life style but I guess it was fantasy to me then and I knew it . Even though obviously based on fact . I think I've just got grumpier lol

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[pyro]

Not necessarily grumpier, just more discerning

The anti-heroes of yesteryear were the characters, the individuals who played the characters, rather than the culture they represented. The focus has shifted over the years from the central character to the environment. Consider, at one time Coronation Street was all about the doings of Elsie Tanner, Len Fairclough, Annie Walker, the Ogdens and Ken Barlow. Now it is less character led, it is about the shop, the pub, the taxi office or whatever is the flavour this week. Why? Well, actors are forced by their unions to have breaks to make sure that more are employed and to reduce individual over exposure. Thus writers have had to work around this, and it has changed the way that soaps are produced. For the worst in my opinion

As has been said, they are playing to the lowest common denominator. A bunch of knife wielding moronic kids pretending to emulate New York gangsters, robbing telephone boxes, breaking off wing mirrors, snorting solvents and bullying the weak makes compelling television to other morons, and has the advantage of costing nothing to make, with no unions dictating contractual breaks, low production costs, etc. The whole "celebrity chef" culture started in much the same way, Ainslie whatsit with one professional chef (invariably the shop lifting Anthony Worrel-Thompson) against a skilled amateur. It graduated into the generation of super wannabe celebrity chefs who, lacking both a personality and the skill of the Roux brothers, developed such gimmicks as being obnoxious and screaming obscenities at everyone - and Gordon Ramsey exploited that to the hilt.

What would I probably watch if it was on? 'Allo 'Allo, Dads Army, Morse, It Ain't Half Hot Mum, but only then no more than once a week. I've just lost interest in TV

 

[filopastry]

My wife says I'm getting grumpier with age. I disagree, I suggest folks are becoming less respectful and therefore the more I react against that which is rapidly becoming the norm. The world is full of b****y idiots who believe the state owes them everything and that's how it is today INNIT!!! I'm so much happier WITHOUT the news, rubbish programmes showing how to get council houses, young pregnant girls with no intention of ever working in the belief that a family with multiple fathers paid for by the state is the way to go. To talk a stroll hand in hand with the gaffer, to sit, with a book, a glass of summat, listen to some music and look out at the views there it is ahhhh. See, I'm not grumpy at all, just tired of hearing lame excuses.

 

[rangi]

There's not much on telly that I follow, lost all interest in Soaps (not that I watched many anyway)
I watch 2 news prog. RTN and the News at Six.
I do watch those "Walter Presents" series, Baku, Spin, etc. Am waiting for the latest to start "Black Widow" on Wenesday.

As a general thing, I watch something I think will be interesting, if however, it hasn't grabbed me in the first 10 mins, that's it I'm off.
Spect that's why I'm reading 5 books a week

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[wasp]

It's cheap telly for the masses and it has all been dumbed down

 

[GWAYGWAY]

Ah, Dad's Army. From the days when I was merely old. You are, Lord Pyro, clearly a man with exquisite tastes. I doff my cap to you, your Lordship.

Reminiscing from your day when actually in it ? I do, it was a bit like that in the TA when I was in that. Old service cast offs and WW2 boots.

 

[Littlewheels]

Just wondering what peeps opinions are about tv companies making a programme about the so called gangs and there female members ?? Showing the drugs,knives, oh and the big wads of cash they can make . All with there scarves around there faces. To be honest that's all I know about the program, as I only seen the trailer for it and refuse to watch it . As I don't agree with glorifying it ..
Now I could be totally wrong and should have watched it before I judged it?? Really am I ??

My wife says I'm getting grumpier with age. I disagree, I suggest folks are becoming less respectful and therefore the more I react against that which is rapidly becoming the norm. The world is full of b****y idiots who believe the state owes them everything and that's how it is today INNIT!!! I'm so much happier WITHOUT the news, rubbish programmes showing how to get council houses, young pregnant girls with no intention of ever working in the belief that a family with multiple fathers paid for by the state is the way to go. To talk a stroll hand in hand with the gaffer, to sit, with a book, a glass of summat, listen to some music and look out at the views there it is ahhhh. See, I'm not grumpy at all, just tired of hearing lame excuses.

What a sad world we live in Jeff and Terri live a respectable life! Why would you want to see the seedy side of life, I agree with your choice to switch off and not allow this filth into your homes via the TV. I do the same even if it's one of the so called fouled mouthed comedians or dare I say personalities that appear on the screen, I click off immediately in the hope it registers when they come up we switch off, I know!! It doesn't but it satisfies me.

Jetlag03, your not Grumpy, your a rarity in today's world! You are as stated in your post "Respectable " in the grand scheme of things today most people don't know the meaning of the word. Unfortunately, I don't believe it's ever going to get better "I want it and I want it now and I don't want to pay for it,or work for it,and it would mean the world to me" appears to be the chant of these deplorable people.

Brian

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