In our household, we really enjoy watching the TV competitions like The Great British Bake-Off, Strictly Come Dancing, The Great Pottery Throw Down, The Arts and Crafts House, Bake Off Crème de la Crème, and several others.
Recently we watched Project Runway, and a series called Glow Up which is for make-up artists, and Buzzfloyd put us onto Zumbo's Just Desserts.
We've also seen (but stopped watching) BBC's Big Painting Challenge.
And a couple of years ago we saw — and loved — a series of Australian Masterchef. We don't like the British version.
I've been intrigued by the difference in ambience, created by the demeanour of the judges, between Australian, and the US/UK.
The Australian programmes we watched — Zumbo's Just Deserts and Australian Masterchef — were such fun, because the judges were courteous, encouraging, respectful and kind. They were candid and forthright, of course — what else would you expect from Australians? But the critiques felt like simply person-to-person assessments of the work.
By contrast, the judges in the American Project Runway, the British Glow Up, and the British Big Painting Challenge, excoriated and humiliated their contestants with the most withering and contemptuously dismissive critiques; rude, scornful and unkind. They made me think less of the judges, not the contestants.
One aspect of it that came across very forcefully was the unwillingness of the UK/US judges to hear the contestant's point of view. These judges came over all "how very dare you" at the slightest attempt by the contestant to defend him/herself. There was a strong sense of hierarchy, of the successful celebrity separated from the hopeful aspirant by a chasm that could only be bridged by approval from the judges — to gain which, grovelling gratitude was required as well as excellence. The Australians seem much more egalitarian in their culture: and in my world at least, those who show respect to others are worthy of respect from me.
One complete exception to all of this is the extraordinary and intriguing judge of Bake Off: Crème de la Crème, Cherish Finden, who came to the UK from Singapore. Direct, frank, passionate, exacting, childlike, focused, whimsical — I didn't know what to make of her at first, but grew to like her more and more. What finally won my heart was the occasion when a contestant was reduced to tears as his wonderful creation was ruined (I can't remember what happened, I think it fell over and broke) and Cherish darted across and flung her arms round him, then stepped back with a murmured "Sorry!" It made me see the gap between the persona she felt to be required of her as a judge — strict, standards of excellence, school-teacher-ish — and the person she really is. And she is the perfect foil for the urbane and oh-so-very-French Benoit Blin.
I'm not very interested in winning and losing — I don't really believe in either as a concept — but I love to watch craftsmanship and people trying their best and human interaction. That fascinates me.
Two things that really turn me off, though, are humiliation and unkindness, which is why I stopped watching the BBC's Painting Challenge — couldn't stand the cruel and acid judges.
And that's why, on Project Runway, I (along with everyone else) really like Tim Gunn, but Michael Kors with his lovingly-hatched condemnations of fellow human beings so lavishly laced with contempt, not so much.
15 comments:
I've given myself permission to reject competition. It's not so much fun as simply playing or performing or creating. If we truly want to celebrate each person's uniqueness, why do we need some artificial activity of one-upman-ship? (But I also don't think everyone needs a participation ribbon.)
I have to agree there is no need to humiliate or belittle people to create entertainment. I am currently watching My Kitchen Rules and the behaviour from the contestants has been so uncivillised. But how much is editing.
Jenna — about the participation ribbon — yes, indeed; an unsettling sense of some who need validation and permission to do and be what they were made for.
Suzan — I don't know My Kitchen Rules, but it sounds like one to avoid!
How very funny Pen! I am Australian and its so amusing to hear the way you describe aspects of my culture.
We like to think we are egalitarian, but there are class distinctions here.... they just aren't well defined and we still can't agree what they actually are. Instead of egalatarian I would suggest that we are anti-authoritarian. I have bemoaned this quality's negative side at my recent CWA branch (our version of the WI) and every other large community group I have been in. Once they get to a certain size we can't DO anything because we refuse to adopt an actually practical entirely necessary hierarchy and nobody will follow leadership of any kind. Instead we bumble on inefficently insisting we all get our say at the expense of real progress on whatever we are trying to achieve ( even just organising a tea and scones morning)
I actually find shows like masterchef hard to watch because they seem really mean. From my very Australian perspective they play up that role of harsh critic even more than is natural. We have another similar style show called the chef's line on sbs australia that I prefer. It's a government broadcaster that embraces ethnic diversity and the show is so much nicer because they really support and encourage the contestants. It showcases different ethnic cuisines and everyone just loves food and the contestants compete against first the apprentice and then up the chefs line to the head chef from a fancy restaurant. It's a lot more playful and fun and communal. The judges sincerely want to see the best food from each contestant.
2 other Australianisms I would mention are we a not good at self-promotion or talking ourselves up. We are hopelessly self-effacing and I have admired the way Americans are comfortable saying what's good about themselves. We are also too comfortable with things (to coin an Australism ) 'being a little bit shit' or being 'half-arsed'. Also known as the 'she'll be right' attitude. The very fact we have so many ways to express this idea shows how common it is. We struggle to strive for excellence and even when completely capable of excellence, will stop just short for some unknown reason. I come from an asian migrant background, and in my mothers culture excellence is everything. So those 2 cultural constants constantly clash! It would be easy if we could acknowledge and talk about these things, but honestly nobody ever thinks about or talks about these things, and as a second-gen mixed race Australian, it's just not the done thing to look like you are criticising your own country in case they tell you to go back where you came from. Wherever they think that is. Oh yeah, Australia's also quite racist but its so far away from the rest of the world nobody really realises it yet. Oh dear... I think I am doing that self-effacing thing aren't I?
Tonight I was watching a show called employable me about people with different disabilities and their struggles to overcome stigma and find a job. And all the renovating shows I love. We also get these American shows that are literally just watching people look at real estate! It's really bizarre. I think it must appeal to all the millenials who will never afford a house in Oz.
One of my favourite british show to watch is antiques roadshow! It always amazes me the age of treasures people have in their attics. Everyone here is so new! We would struggle to find anything older than 30 years old in our... well nobody has attics anyhow... sheds? My kids and I also love call the midwife and dr who, and I love upstart crow.
Now, this is one of the things I have always loved about this blog — I came along and found your comment, Anekha, and a) how lovely to hear from you, and b) what a feast of ideas and interesting thoughts. Thank you so much! I wonder if they have that chef's line programme on Netflix? I'll have a look; it sounds nice. We like the Antiques Road Show too, and on British TV there's recently been a new programme called The Repair Shop, which is located not far from us at the Weald and Downland Museum in Kent. On that show, people bring in old and broken treasures to be repaired by craftspeople — can be anything from a broken juke box to a war memorial board that needs cleaning and restoring to an old teddy that's all dirty and lost its eyes and fur or an intricate porcelain bowl all in bits or a penny farthing bicycle that doesn't work any more — anything — and they fix it up as good as new.
Oh that sounds interesting! I'll look out for that.
I don't think the chef's line will be on netflix, its an sbs original so I'm not sure how to watch sbs shows out of country. If I figure it out I'll let you know! I'll look out for the repair shop. If its bbc we might eventually get it. One of my favourite shows I believe is on netflix too. Its an American one called The Good Place. It's a surreal comedy about ethics and heaven.
I'll give that one a try, though American comedy doesn't usually do it for me. Rather different from wry British humour. You're right, The Chef's Line wasn't on Netflix — I'll have a look on YouTube; sometimes excerpts from TV programmes briefly creep through before the vigilantes remove them.
I can't watch any of these shows. I really dislike the competitiveness which I think comes @ the expense of true excellence & when either the judges or the competitors start getting nasty I think a line's been crossed that encourages the wider community to also behave in negative ways, because, you know, if it's acceptable on tv....
Having read backwards from your comments on Irish folk music I found Anekha's comments hilarious as so many of the 1st European Australians were Irish [or Welsh or Scots] ~ the expendables of GB ~ & most definitely anti~authoritarian ~but also on the receiving end of racial discrimination, which so many people seem to forget & I think that has coloured how we interreact with migrants. There was a book round in the '60s called They're a Weird Mob, which I think explains the cultural mindset of your average Aussie rather well but also fails to acknowledge there are, I think, 2 Australias. One lot appreciates it's European cultural & artistic heritage [for some of us we still have family in Ireland or Wales or Scotland ~ or Greece or Italy or...]; the other lot are the *yobs of Asia* & holiday in Bali ~ as a generalisation. It creates political mayhem as there is no shared vision between those in power & their electorate.
Hi Ganeida — what a really interesting comment. From England too, of course, as well as Ireland, Scotland, Wales. It also occurs to me, many were deported as criminals, and of those some were quite seriously criminal, others only triflingly so, but for all in that category it must have been a deeply traumatic experience — not eagerly seeking a new start in a beautiful country, but simply uprooted from everything and everyone they knew and sent to far away to realistically reconnect. I wonder in what ways that shared history of personal trauma made a difference in Australian society.
What you say about the lack of shared vision and the division between the people and the corridors of power also interest me — I think something of that kind is arising here, which is how we came to our ill-advised Brexit vote.
Racism I have come to the conclusion is everywhere — we are as territorial as cats.
And about the competitions, what you said, "when either the judges or the competitors start getting nasty I think a line's been crossed that encourages the wider community to also behave in negative ways" — yes, absolutely! The wold of television is its own odd bible, but how influential!
Yes, for most deportation was a life sentence & many were children. Many were the victims of poor government policy that created terrible poverty. The truly criminal types were hanged out of hand but so many of our national *heros* are criminal types [like Ned Kelly] it makes you wonder & of course it was a very different experience for the free settlers, like my family. My Scots grandfather was old enough to be directly descended from the generation that saw the clearances & was very bitter about the policies that created it, which determined how he voted & thought about government out here. The paternal lot were sailors & explorers [some of the 1st white settlers in remote Queensland] so not really fans of centralised government. Yet @ the same time you have Elizabeth Fry's wonderful work amongst the women while the deportation boats sat in the Thames, sending these women into a new country with a firm Christian foundation. It seems to have created a schism in the collective psychology & very little trust in governing bodies of any description. We always assume our government is lying to us; just read the FB comments! :D Present policy seems determined to change the whole structure of our society without consulting the electorate & we are likely to see a Trump~like backlash because of it ~ & the government will then wonder why it happened! ~ Ganeida
I can never understand how it happens that those in democratically elected government manage to live in such an insular bubble! Unless of course they are in fact becoming adept at being creative with truth . . .
Back in the day when I had a lot to do with a chaplaincy fellowship meeting in a men's prison, something that struck me about some of the men I met was that the very same characteristics that made them a criminal nuisance in peacetime would probably have made them great heroes in times of war and danger.
That's an interesting observation Pen... about men from prisons. I remember being taught once at a religious class (now I am not actually sure of the verity of this, but I still like it) that thw word 'sin' derives from an irish archery term for 'missing the mark'. The crux of this lesson was that sin was the misplacement of virtue. That these qualities and aspects of human nature can miss the mark and have negative impacts. It implied that the impulses themselves were not the problem, but the controlling and directing of them. I'd like to think that those things research has shown to lead many to prison might be the thing that leads them to miss the mark. Alcohol, drugs, trauma. I'm reading a fabulous article about a speech pathologist that works in mens prisons to help them. She says its no coincidence that men in prisons also have an extremely high rate of language and speech problems. Simply put, if they haven't got the language to express their emotions how can they deal with them. She powerfully describes introducing them to a richness of expressing their emotions so that 'angry' or violent isn't the only way of expressing themselves. Interestingly, this speech pathologist is based in Tasmania, where so many irish convicts were sent. Most of them were political prisoners... anyone who was of political prominence in Ireland was shipped to Tasmania.
Yes — alcohol, drugs, trauma. I suspect the trauma usually comes first, and the alcohol and drugs are partly accepted as a cultural norm and partly a go-to coping method for managing trauma. In the parts of society in which I move, sugar and refined carbs are the go-to drugs for managing sadness, anxiety and despair, and these drugs exact a heavy price just as alcohol, cocaine and heroin do.
I'm starting to think facebook and technology is the current addiction of choice in my community.
I liked Facebook but also found it did my head in so much that in the end I permanently deleted my account.
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