{"id":2954,"date":"2010-03-16T10:47:03","date_gmt":"2010-03-16T10:47:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/?p=2954"},"modified":"2010-03-16T16:50:39","modified_gmt":"2010-03-16T16:50:39","slug":"whoops-outside-your-head-i-said-whoops-outside-your-head","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/?p=2954","title":{"rendered":"Whoops outside your head I said whoops outside your head"},"content":{"rendered":"

Music news<\/strong>:
\nAfter a brief meeting with Sony (and an almost as brief 15 minutes of fame), pop duo sensation Jedward have been<\/span> canned<\/span> dropped<\/span> find themselves in the unexpected (to them)<\/span> fortunate position of looking for a job<\/span> seeking new career opportunities.<\/p>\n

OK, all joking apart.<\/p>\n

Is there anyone out there who still believes that ‘talent’ shows such as The X-Factor have anything to do with ability?<\/p>\n

I think you know that shows like this are no more than the 21st Century equivalent of Christians v Lions.<\/p>\n

It’s bloodsport, but instead of the blood there’s lots of ritual humiliation.<\/p>\n

The reason I’m raising this is not to show X-Factor for what it really is – I think we all know that now.<\/p>\n

No, the reason I’m focussing on the news that Jedward have been dropped by their label (and, to be fair to Jedward, they now join a long and not very exclusive list of of ‘talent show’ winners who are all, similarly, out of work and devoid of both a label and media representation), is because this story shows up how superficial the media industry has become.<\/p>\n

‘Famous for fifteen minutes’ – I like the quote and I love the notion behind it – but really, is it right that our media channels should assume guppy-like spans of attention?<\/p>\n

Should we expect our national broadcaster to hop from show winner to show winner in an annual process that, behaviourally speaking, resembles the characteristic of a feeding flea?<\/p>\n

Or do we, as the people who are paying for the continued existence of our national broadcaster – via a tax – do we deserve a more thoughtful, a more considered approach from the organisation that is, some might argue, the custodian of part of our cultural heritage?<\/p>\n

There is, in financial circles, a strong argument against ‘dealing for today’, which is more commonly known as ‘short-termism’.<\/p>\n

My first question is, through the unquestioning acceptance of what are obviously going to be short-lived entertainment acts relentlessly spawned from talent shows, is the BBC guilty of the entertainment variant of short-termism?<\/p>\n

My second question is, given the\u00c2\u00a0colossal\u00c2\u00a0position of power and influence that the BBC has – and also given the potential longevity within the nation’s cultural conscience that the BBC’s output can command, should the BBC be discovering, investing in and promoting talent, rather than being the PR mouthpiece for the annual batch of famous-for-15-minute soundbites?<\/p>\n

I’d be interested in reading your thoughts on this, no matter which side of the fence you come down on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Music news: After a brief meeting with Sony (and an almost as brief 15 minutes of fame), pop duo sensation Jedward have been canned dropped<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stuff","two-columns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2954\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}