Constructing audiences

We had a long and fascinating seminar discussion on audience construction today: how texts are constructed to create a particular (temporary, fuzzy) audience. We watched this trailer, for Synecdoche New York and talked about cinematography, sound, narrative, title, casting, class, age, and education.



Then we talked about Top Gear. Sadly for Clarkson's dreams of world domination, even the car-fan young men knew very well that he's a cartoon character and not meant to be taken seriously.

How not to apologise

The BBC has supposedly apologised for the Top Gear presenters' comments about Mexico.

In a letter to Mexico's ambassador in London, the BBC said it was sorry if it had offended some people, but said jokes based on national stereotyping were part of British national humour.

In a statement, the BBC said the comments may have been "rude" and "mischievous," but there was no "vindictiveness" behind them.

"Our own comedians make jokes about the British being terrible cooks and terrible romantics, and we in turn make jokes about the Italians being disorganised and over dramatic, the French being arrogant and the Germans being over-organised," the BBC said.

It added that stereotype-based comedy was allowed within BBC guidelines in programmes where the audience knew they could expect it, as was the case with Top Gear.

"Whilst it may appear offensive to those who have not watched the programme or who are unfamiliar with its humour, the executive producer has made it clear to the ambassador that that was absolutely not the show's intention," the BBC added.

I hate this. Possible even more than the original offence. It's not an apology. Instead, it's another in the long line of non-apologies. Read it carefully: the magic phrase is 'if it had offended some people', and the claim that something may 'appear offensive' to non-fans while not actually being offensive. So if the Mexican ambassador is offended, that's because he doesn't watch the show often enough? This moves the location of the offence from the speaker to the recipient.

That's not an apology - it's a conditional clause implying that anyone offended is frankly a bit pathetic. It moves the debate from what was said to the feelings of the target of what was said. The rest of the statement becomes a defence of Top Gear's unjustified attack on Mexicans. If 'stereotype-based comedy' is acceptable when the audience expects it, will we see the return of Irish jokes, Jim Davidson doing comedy 'black' accents and the like?

So here goes. All my readers are repugnant, lazy, smelly bastards.

You don't mind me saying this do you? After all, you're all familiar with my sense of humour. And I'm very sorry if I've offended you. These adjectives merely appear offensive because you're overly sensitive. No vindictiveness was implied. Now feck off and read my friend Mike's academic paper, 'Saying Sorry: The Politics of the Apology'.

Steve Coogan has a good take on this.

The last word on Top Gear

Stewart Lee - of course - skewers the Top Gear clowns rather accurately. And the last 30 seconds explains very clearly the comedic purpose of taking offensive comments and exaggerating them to demonstrate their offensiveness - a technique some of you didn't quite grasp when I did it a couple of weeks ago with reference to Mary Portas.

Is this racist?

I know that Top Gear is deliberately designed to wind up non-driving liberal lefties like me, but is it really OK for Richard Hammond and friends to say stuff like this on television?

"Why would you want a Mexican car? Because cars reflect national characteristics don't they?

"Mexican cars are just going to be lazy, feckless, flatulent, overweight, leaning against a fence asleep looking at a cactus with a blanket with a hole in the middle on as a coat."

Jeremy Clarkson and James May went on to describe Mexican food as "refried sick". Clarkson, who has repeatedly been criticised for making offensive comments on the programme, said on Sunday's show there would be no complaints this time because the Mexican ambassador would: "be sitting there with a remote control like this,". The presenter pretended to slump in a chair, snoring.

Britain has a long tradition of racist comedians - Davidson, Manning, perhaps Jimmy Carr, but mainstream society has moved on. The detail of this one really does put it beyond the pale: it's not a quick gag laughing at stereotypes: it's a complete list of them.

I know many of you think I'm humourless, but I really don't see why three publicly-funded bullies can say this kind of thing. If it was Davidson or Manning, or the remarks were addressed to black people or the Scots, there would be public anger. Instead, all that's happening is a stiff letter from the Ambassador, who is wide awake and not very happy.

Stig in the Dumps

Sorry, but how often will I be able to use that pun?

Stig, in this case, is the 'anonymous' racing driver employed by popular silly car programme Top Gear to drive fast cars around a track. Apparently, this is enough to justify an autobiography, but the BBC has used lawyers to ban him from making his identity known.

This is more interesting than it might sound: 'The Stig' is being treated not as a name, but as piece of intellectual property which can't be attached to the individual using it. So the man whose major claim to fame is playing 'Stig', can't tell anyone, even though it's true and probably the most prominent thing he's ever done (do you remember Ben Collins' career in Formula 3 and NASCAR?). He must be undergoing a strange existential crisis…