People Like Us is a new reality TV show
currently being broadcast on BBC3, set in Salford Lancashire it centres on the
lives of various, so called, ordinary people. These people are operating on the margins; the margins of common sense, self worth and basic intellect.
Quote from People Like Us :
"it's like what they say innit? 'Get rich or try dying'"
Quote from People Like Us: "They've took me pictures
out of the Laundriette, Sid Vicious, John Travolta and Bone-o out of U2"
Quote from People Like Us: "I'm cutting down from
drinking me usual hard stuff" (said while
pouring A PINT of Lambrini)
It's actually depressingly entertaining TV, It says more than a million words could about modern Britain. Oh,
and it's not scripted: no writer could come up with the verbal gems on offer.
Ah, glorious Salford!
No ones been able to successfully capture this underclass through satire. The
closest is Shameless but even that family are too 'posh' in comparison. Time
for Chris Morris & Charlie Brooker to tackle the subject. A Nathan Barley
(their superlative comedy about Hoxton trendies) about the dregs. They
could call it Lee Falkland or Kyle Manorview or Dean Deepfry or
maybe Jonjo Nailbar.
Lack of culture leads to
girls going out in pyjamas, it leads to bad manners and laziness, it leads to
lack of common courtesy, it leads to distorted values. Smash communities and
you smash culture. Close down Pubs and you close down culture. Destroy high
street shops and you destroy culture. It's been happening right in front of our
eyes
Morality, ethics, values,
sense of purpose, pride all things missing when there is no culture.
It`s not just this easily categorised Jeremy Kyle viewer
that is operating on the edge of knowledge though. Being dim is nationwide,
it's fashionable,the chattering middle class fashionista is embracing thickness
too, 'Thick-Chic': It started with Peaches Geldof and is almost
a replacement for culture. Wilful stupidity is the new black as we teeter on
the very verge the of an idiot national identity. The streets of trendy Dalston and beleaguered Salford are poles apart in terms of money and opportunity yet both run equally red with idiocy.
A true meaningful culture seems to be what's missing, being stupid appears to be 'on trend'.
