Difference between revisions of "Brass Eye"

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'''Brass Eye''' was a satirical spoof documentary that played on Channel 4 in 1997. It had one further episode in 2001. It mainly parodied scaremongering and sensationalist documentaries and was most famous for managing to trick public figures into saying outlandish things in the name of the cause of the week - from made up drugs to the genetic make up of paedophiles. It was "presented" by Chris Morris, who conceived the show as a follow up to his previous spoof news shows. It's over the top animations and intro sequences later became models for how ''not'' to produce serious news shows.
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'''Brass Eye''' was a satirical spoof documentary that played on Channel 4 in 1997. It had one further episode in 2001. It mainly parodied scaremongering and sensationalist documentaries and was most famous for managing to trick public figures into saying outlandish things in the name of the cause of the week - from made up drugs to the genetic make up of paedophiles. It was "presented" by Chris Morris, who conceived the show as a follow up to his previous spoof news shows. Its over the top animations and intro sequences later became models for how ''not'' to produce serious news shows.
  
 
==Original series==
 
==Original series==
  
The original series aired in 1997 and like all totally awesome British television, was brief - consisting of six episodes.
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The original series aired in 1997 and, like all totally awesome British television, was brief - consisting of six episodes.
  
 
==="Animals"===
 
==="Animals"===
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The 2001 special was centered around [[Pedophilia|paedophilia]], and subtitled in the show itself as "Paedogeddon". It was a dark satire of the extreme reactions to the threat of paedophiles and how people will lose all sense if it's done for the sake of protecting children. Out of its many celebrity set ups, the stand out ones would be Phil Collins talking "Nonce Sense",<ref>[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-61271/Phil-Collins-seeks-legal-advice-Brass-Eye-stunt.html He later sought legal advice following the prank]</ref> a slogan designed to warn children about the dangers of paedophiles ("nonce" being derogatory slang for men who like little boys) and radio DJ Neil "Dr" Fox saying how paedophiles had more genes in common with ''crabs'' than with other humans and that "there's no real evidence for it, but it ''is'' scientific fact".<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEolSjlcqng No, really, he actually said that and didn't realise it was a prank.]</ref>
 
The 2001 special was centered around [[Pedophilia|paedophilia]], and subtitled in the show itself as "Paedogeddon". It was a dark satire of the extreme reactions to the threat of paedophiles and how people will lose all sense if it's done for the sake of protecting children. Out of its many celebrity set ups, the stand out ones would be Phil Collins talking "Nonce Sense",<ref>[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-61271/Phil-Collins-seeks-legal-advice-Brass-Eye-stunt.html He later sought legal advice following the prank]</ref> a slogan designed to warn children about the dangers of paedophiles ("nonce" being derogatory slang for men who like little boys) and radio DJ Neil "Dr" Fox saying how paedophiles had more genes in common with ''crabs'' than with other humans and that "there's no real evidence for it, but it ''is'' scientific fact".<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEolSjlcqng No, really, he actually said that and didn't realise it was a prank.]</ref>
  
Naturally, the sensitive nature of the programme attracted a lot of criticism. This was especially hilarious when many of the critics later revealed to have not even watched it - and thus became examples of knee-jerking, reactive morons, exactly what the show was satirising. The irony was compounded when tabloid rags the ''[[Daily Mail]]'' (who else?) and ''The Daily Star'' both published scathing critiques of the show in very close proximity to articles that included lauding over the breasts of a 15 year old and pictures of princesses Beatrice and Eugenie in bikinis.<ref>[http://chilled.cream.org/graphics/charlotte.jpg Daily Star "She's a big girl now"]</ref>
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Naturally, the sensitive nature of the programme attracted a lot of criticism. This was especially hilarious when many of the critics later revealed to have not even watched it - and thus became examples of knee-jerking, reactive morons, exactly what the show was satirising. The irony was compounded when tabloid rags the ''[[Daily Mail]]'' (who else?) and ''The Daily Star'' both published scathing critiques of the show in very close proximity to articles that included lauding the sizable breasts of 15 year old Charlotte Church and pictures of princesses Beatrice and Eugenie in bikinis.<ref>[http://chilled.cream.org/graphics/charlotte.jpg Daily Star "She's a big girl now"]</ref>
  
 
==Footnotes==
 
==Footnotes==
 
<references/>
 
<references/>

Revision as of 16:35, 10 October 2010

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Brass Eye was a satirical spoof documentary that played on Channel 4 in 1997. It had one further episode in 2001. It mainly parodied scaremongering and sensationalist documentaries and was most famous for managing to trick public figures into saying outlandish things in the name of the cause of the week - from made up drugs to the genetic make up of paedophiles. It was "presented" by Chris Morris, who conceived the show as a follow up to his previous spoof news shows. Its over the top animations and intro sequences later became models for how not to produce serious news shows.

Original series

The original series aired in 1997 and, like all totally awesome British television, was brief - consisting of six episodes.

"Animals"

"Drugs"

'Drugs' was notable for having people say that "cake" was a "made up" drug. Which it is, cake is indeed entirely fictional but it was read in terms of "made up of chemicals, not plants", probably parodying extreme chemophobia. This is considered the most successful of the series, with certainly the most memorable, quotable and elaborate celebrity pranks of them all.

"Science"

In 'Science', Morris put science "on trial" in the manner of all appalling documentary features. The show consisted of various exchanges between "good" science and "bad" science.

"Sex"

"Crime"

"Decline"

2001 special

The 2001 special was centered around paedophilia, and subtitled in the show itself as "Paedogeddon". It was a dark satire of the extreme reactions to the threat of paedophiles and how people will lose all sense if it's done for the sake of protecting children. Out of its many celebrity set ups, the stand out ones would be Phil Collins talking "Nonce Sense",[1] a slogan designed to warn children about the dangers of paedophiles ("nonce" being derogatory slang for men who like little boys) and radio DJ Neil "Dr" Fox saying how paedophiles had more genes in common with crabs than with other humans and that "there's no real evidence for it, but it is scientific fact".[2]

Naturally, the sensitive nature of the programme attracted a lot of criticism. This was especially hilarious when many of the critics later revealed to have not even watched it - and thus became examples of knee-jerking, reactive morons, exactly what the show was satirising. The irony was compounded when tabloid rags the Daily Mail (who else?) and The Daily Star both published scathing critiques of the show in very close proximity to articles that included lauding the sizable breasts of 15 year old Charlotte Church and pictures of princesses Beatrice and Eugenie in bikinis.[3]

Footnotes