Monday, February 02, 2009
Bruce 'The Ego' Parry Versus Simon 'The Storyteller' Reeve
Last night on BBC2 there were two exploration shows. The first was Bruce Parry's Amazon. Wiry and objectionable, Parry's shtick is that he finds remote tribes and takes part in their lives and rituals. Last night, deep in the jungle (as we were repeatedly told), he encountered the Achuar people. They are mistrustful of whites but, after long negotiation, they let Parry and his crew in. This climax of his stay with the Achuar was taking part in a ritual involving the consumpton of hallucinogenics which are supposed to give you 'your vision'. Parry said his ego stopped him finding his vision. Actually, his ego had stopped him getting the story. Having established how isolated this tribe was, Parry then showed us a group of people wearing football shirts and with a large, accurately marked football pitch. He could have told us more about these people by getting an answer to one question - 'Where did you get your shirts?' - but he didn't. The next show was Simon Reeve's Explore in which Reeve travelled down the Great Rift Valley. He asked questions, he analysed, he got stories, good ones. Parry, sentimentally, suspended the third person perspective, his analytical imagination, and turned the Achua story into the Parry story. Reeve stood back and saw much more.
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A blog about, among other things, imaginary ideas - What ifs? and Imagine thats. What if photographs looked nothing like what we see with our eyes? Imagine that the Berlin Wall had never come down. What if we were the punchline of an interminable joke? All contributions welcome.
Hear hear - Reeve is brilliant. Started as a Fleet Street postboy you know...
ReplyDeleteMaybe the answer wasn't that interesting. Telly is only ever about entertainment.
ReplyDeleteThe Achuar people, being expert negotiators had a clause in the agreement that included the supply of their favourite teams strip, they could then watch the matches on cable TV, kitted out like real supporters. I always wonder what goes through the natives minds on these occasions "tosser", "ponce" or maybe, "wonder what he tastes like"
ReplyDeleteYeah, but is that as interesting an explanation as the Lima City reserves' plane coming down in '53 and the only survivor was a rather didactic linesman?
ReplyDelete(is '53 funny enough or should I have gone for '57?)
Sounds like there is going to be handbags next time you meet up with Parry at the blessed beeb.
ReplyDeleteIn memory of H.Pinter I watched the Superbowl all the way through.
Ill tell you what, Rugby and the like are greatly enhanced by HD, Parry needs to get back to the amazon and let them know they are falling further behind.
Oh well, maybe the Top Gear boyos could have a new slot on the show in which celebrities are shown trying out "a reasonably priced hallucinogenic" under the tutelage of "El Brujo", an Amazonian Stig. It would be quite hard to beat Bruce Parry to judge from last night's episode. Simon Reeves was a sharp-eyed pleasure all through but I enjoyed both programs.
ReplyDeleteDo you mind if I steal this for a TV column I write for a small intellectual magazine (as if there's any other kind)?
ReplyDeleteIf you credit the blog, Nick.
ReplyDeleteThe human race is badly in need of some aliens to encounter.
ReplyDeleteIt would give us something to explore, bring us together and allow us to pick that World XI cricket team.
I'll buy you a beer, but that's as far as I will go
ReplyDeleteI'm shocked. Blogging is asking to be plagiarised but not by one's friends. In fact, the credit is a blogging convention
ReplyDeleteBut how can I review a show for Standpoint and say 'hat-tip Thought Experiments" at the end. It just doesn't work.
ReplyDeleteHow about I
1. Buy you a pint of bitter
2. Add a bag of nuts, or pork scratchings if you would prefer.
3. Send you an invitation to my book launch?
Well, there's 'as Bryan Appleyard says on his excellent blog'. I've already got the invite - thanks - and, because of the name, I've never been able to face scratchings
ReplyDeleteMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
ReplyDeleteCould do that but it would have to be
The old "Bryan Appleyard noted on his excellent blog the scandal of X, but even he missed the wider disgrace of Y" routine.
Oh that's fine, cheap oneupmanship is always welcome.
ReplyDeleteI must say that I am impressed by that graphic demonstration of Nick's outside-the-box skills.
ReplyDelete