FACE THE NATION | RACISM IN REALITY TV
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Much ado about Shilpa | Fa(r)ce-off
Published on Sat, Jan 20, 2007 at 12:47, Updated on Sun, Jun 17, 2007 at 13:02 in Entertainment section
Tags: Face The Nation, Big Brother
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“Shilpa Shetty incident is the mindset that led to the US invasion of Iraq.” - Booker Kiran Desai on the Big Brother racism row.
Too drastic a statement or an apt reflection of the rising intolerance in the post-9/11 world?
British reality TV show Celebrity Big Brother - where Indian actor Shilpa Shetty was allegedly culturally abused by her housemates - has now become an international cause-celebre, a rallying point for the flag-bearers of the anti-West, anti-imperialist agenda.
From British Prime Minister Tony Blair to the India’s Minister of External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee to intellectuals like Kiran Desai and actors like Meera Syal – they have all made their voices heard by condemning racism and discrimination that was for all to see on Prime Time.
There has been a storm of protests on the Internet as well and petitioners have written about the show to the media regulator Ofcom, making it the most complained television series ever.
In fact, Channel-4 Chief Executive Andy Duncan went on to say the show is simply a reflection of social attitudes in the West today and Booker Prize winner author Kiran Desai has compared the event to same “racist mindset” that led to the US invasion of Iraq.
So is the Shilpa Shetty racism row really a case of the East and West heading for a clash of civilisation of sorts? Or is too much being read into what is perhaps a stage-managed show aimed at titillating the audience and keeping the TRPs soaring?
This was the big debate on CNN-IBN show Face the Nation with Sagarika Ghose.
On the panel were Emeritus Professor, London School of Economics Lord Meghnad Desai; Cofounder and COO of Mind Tree Consulting Subrata Bagchi and Editor of Asians in Media website Sunny Hundal.
The sponsors of the reality show Big Brother have withdrawn from the show and there have been massive protests from the Indian community across the globe on the Internet.
Clash of civilisations?
In the post 9/11 world, does it require a small trigger to set off a clash of civilisations?
Lord Meghnad Desai couldn’t agree less. Disagreeing that in post 9/11 world cultural identity has become increasingly inflammable, Desai said people have learnt the art of creating media hype.
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Watched the show. It starts with Sagarika Ghose's sweet
smile and then she talks. Nice interview. I think west
is more liberal
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Having lived a couple of years in the South I can say the South Indians are not particularly friendly towards
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Be happy now that the govet. is supporting Ms. Shetty. We Indians do not look at the positive side. Always
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I fully agree with the views expressed here. It is not appropriate to have a business man in the panel
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Mohanan you are quiet right.Stop the shilpa episode and there are other important issues for the media to concentrate on.
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