18 January 2007

The rise and fall of Jade Goody

To find out why this is the biggest news in the UK in one easy read, try Bryony Gordon's column in the Daily Telegraph, she summarises it beautifully.
^
You see, UK Celebrity Big Brother was doing badly in the ratings until the past few days. It had even more of a B and C list range of celebrities, with the only people in the Big Brother household with international celebrity status being Leo Sayer, Jermaine Jackson and (in South Asia) Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty, also Dirk Benedict from the “A Team” and well known film director Ken Russell. The highlight until recently was Leo Sayer breaking his way out of the Big Brother house and being stopped by security guards, because he was sick of dirty laundry. Ken Russell left on his own accord as he was sick of it, and punk musician Donny Tourette hopped over the wall because he refused to take the role of servant to Jade and her family saying ""I'm not waiting hand on foot on some fucking moron and her family" - you'll soon find out why he would say that.
^
Anyway, the key person in there now is clearly Jade Goody, who became famous for being a brainless chav in a Big Brother in 2002. She made a fortune out of being on TV since then, being stupid (Cambridge is in “East Angular” according to her, which she thought was overseas), with the BBC website listing a whole range of her insights, as does Digital Spy.
^
She was popular because she is very WYSIWYG – which is basically not very bright, foul mouthed and gobby (eek I’m picking up the vernacular). She talks a lot, about anything and doesn’t know much about it – which a lot of people in Britain appreciate probably because they all know people like that. She has had an “autobiography” written for her, and “writes” a column (rather gets someone else to write the thoughts she gobs out). A workout video was made of her, describing how she lost lots of weight - except she actually had liposuction. Yes I know she had a hard life when young, father left, mother is a nutter - but i know a few people who have had it hard too - they're not making millions of out talking shit.
^
So she is famous not because of talent, skills, having produced nothing besides laughter from people taking the piss out of her for talking like an adolescent with less intelligence.
^
Now she is the centre of a row having lost the plot by engaging in a prolonged abusive tirade against Shilpa Shetty a major Bollywood star. Her rant went on and on almost without interruption, largely just abuse, calling Shilpa a “princess” and how she’s “just like everyone else” – in other words the truth about how Jade is a nobody who was lucky to make a fortune out of it, vs others who actually are more than a mouth, hurts Jade. With Jo O’Meara and “glamour model” (in the UK it is glamorous to show your tits for a tabloid paper) WAG Danielle Lloyd cheering Jade on (with comments like “Shilpa should f*** off home. She can't even speak English”, she speaks English and much more than you, ignorant tart) it has caused an international row.
^
There is an element of racism, but moreso an element of rather common working class young women being bitchy with a more dignified and polite young women from another culture. However nothing beats Jade’s abusive tirade, calling Shilpa a liar and fake, and much more that you can read on wiki, or watch it under Jade and Shilpa fight over stock cubes.
^
The culture that celebrates and rewards talentless foul mouthed stupidity needs to be crushed. Goody’s truly insane persistent rant shows her up for what she really is - a stupid little envy ridden bitch who would rather bring down people who have some dignity, class and talent than listen and be civilised. Shilpa stood there and heard this little toilet mouthed nobody spew out her chivvy abuse, Jermaine Jackson tried to intervene but Jade thinks she is special because “Big Brother” is her environment. I hope this is her downfall – sponsors and producers should steer far away from this.
^
Jade – you’ve made your money from being brainless and talking like an adolescent – now get some advice, invest it and spend your life watching TV, reading gossip mags, eating ready meals and fly Ryanair to Spain ever year to get your tan and get trollied with people like you. You can take your equally stupid boyfriend with you. You are a side show freak and you’ve been shown up to be a bundle of anger and brainlessness with NO sense of when to stop and think about your actions. The age of fame and fortune without brains, talent or beauty should be over and it is about time you were given the same attention you got five years ago – nothing. Jo O’Meara and Danielle Lloyd will also need to repent, although they have some talent (singing and tits/pretty face respectively). Essentially they are the stereotype of three bitchy bullying schoolgirls sniping and egging each other on, maybe they should get real jobs and learn to get on with people? Shilpa’s comment to Jade ““You know what? Your claim to fame is this. So, good for you.” is so true
^
Channel 4 is thrilled because the ratings are now way up, and newspapers in the UK and India, and TV news is dominated by what has been going on in this show. Gordon Brown has had to respond to it during his visit to India.
^
See coverage in The Times, Guardian, it is THE front page in the Independent. The Daily Star calls it World War 3, The Sun calls it a national disgrace.
^
This Friday Jade goes head to head with Shilpa for the vote as to who should be removed from the Big Brother household. I suspect Jade will be gone, the only question is whether the fanciful career of this nobody will have been poisoned for good. Her abuse reflects only on herself.
^
By the way, Channel 4 is state owned – you might wonder why the state has a stake in this?

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

B.B - a programme for morons about morons. why don't more people use the OFF switch?

Libertyscott said...

quite!

sagenz said...

actually its a very libertarian program. people can exercise their personal right to watch it and spend their own money supporting whomsoever they like.

Viewers know it is low brow

I found your comment "The culture that celebrates and rewards talentless foul mouthed stupidity needs to be crushed." to be strangely facsist. Who should do the crushing. Why shouldnt people have the liberty to watch something mindless. Is it any worse than a fantasy story written by Terry Pratchett. It is by real people, mostly not acting. Human nature in a laboratory.

Jade Goody has made execptional use of the limited talents she has. And good on her.

Contrast it with the highly acclaimed Alan Bennetts -"The History Boys" which is nothing more than a pretentious, sometimes funny justification of paedophilia and worship of the oxbridge intellect.

I will have the reality of Big Brother over that any day.

Libertyscott said...

Thanks for your comment sage

I agree people can choose to watch and support it if they wish - hell I watched the last celebrity big brother avidly, so I can't be accused of not having a taste for this sort of thing. I completely support the right of Channel 4 to broadcast this programme or indeed any others, but that does not mean I have to agree with that or can't criticise it.

Crushing is maybe too strong a word, but I find the worshipping of the irredeemably stupid and insulting to have no value whatsoever. It reflects the same attitudes that see people unwilling to confront those who vandalise, or are loud and obnoxious on buses, or who threaten others. The idea that esteem comes from being loud and denegrating those who HAVE achieved something. It is a form of tall-poppy syndrome, except this is making tall poppies out of weeds.

I equally wouldn't use the state to stop Jade Goody making money out of being herself, or newspapers etc - but I despise the culture that makes this popular as much as I despise the likes of Brian Tamaki. It tells kids that you don't have to work, do well at school or have any talent to be wealthy - and that it is ok to sneer at those who do (which is what Jade has done).

I haven't seen "The History Boys" and have little inclination to do so anyway :)

Anonymous said...

Better than using the 'off' button, fire your TV into the trash.

I did it 5 years ago and have not regretted it. I was starting to dumb down and was disliking myself for sitting there like a cabbage and wasting my life.

I saw the stupid harpy mouthing off at a friends place, [as usual the tv going while entertaining]and marvelled at the low level of life. The elegant Indian lady in complete juxtaposition to the sad harpy, but how the hell does this make news?

I get it...TV 'news'.

Anonymous said...

This Pommie crap has been on my screen for at least 5 days in a row - TV3, Prime, TV1 etc. I know I can turn it off which is what I do and switch to J2 on Sky, but my question is who makes the programming decisions for approving this shit over New Zealand? I can understand TV1 taking it up as it's full of Pommie rubbish over the holiday period, but is there some criterion to which the others must adhere?

Craig Ranapia said...

Here's why I've absolutely no sympathy for Shilpa Shetty - either she signed up for this with no idea what the hell she was letting herself in for, which makes her a moron. (Perhaps her agent should get her to do a couple of hardcore pornos to keep the profile up.) Or, she knows exactly what drives the Big Brother format - neurotic attention-seekers degrading themselves and flinging poo at each other like monkeys in a cage - and has no detectable self-respect.

Libertyscott said...

I don't have sympathy for Shilpa, nor does she need it. She thought it would be an opportunity, but it doesn't excuse Goody's behaviour.