|low graphics version | feedback | help|
|You are in: Talking Point|
Sunday, 23 July, 2000, 11:51 GMT 12:51 UK
Are we turning into Peeping Toms?
This month has seen the launch of a new, fully interactive TV show - developed from a Dutch idea - in both the UK and the US.
But what does the Big Brother series say about modern society? Television appears obsessed with fly-on-the-wall documentaries and on the internet we have had live births, surgical operations and weddings.
Are we becoming a society of Peeping Toms or is the trend simply a sign of the natural inquisitiveness of mankind? Is there something to be gained from watching other people living their lives?
This debate is now closed. Read a selection of your comments below.
Reality TV was an interesting novelty when it first came out as the Real World on MTV what was it, 9 years ago? But now it just seems much more interesting to go and live your own life rather then watch others live their lives while you sit and vegetate.
Big Brother was inevitable. If you look at the history of television, you see that it is a relentless progression away from a focus on paid celebrities and toward a focus on "real everyday" people.
If these people choose to indulge in voluntary imprisonment under constant surveillance they have missed an easier method to reap the reward. Simply steal £70,000, then they will be able to live out their desired lifestyle having already secured their windfall.
The main thing about a programme like this is that the people taking part KNOW they are so their behaviour will NOT be natural (for me this invalidates the whole exercise anyway).
Next time you are watching Big Brother
or any other banal and insulting TV show, I suggest
placing a small mirror on top of your TV set. That way, whenever
somebody does something interesting on the TV, you can glance up at the mirror and
compare it to what you are 'doing' (i.e. slumping on a sofa, getting fat and
wasting your ONE AND ONLY LIFE). This may then make you take the
next logical step and THROW Your TV out of the WINDOW (check for passing pedestrians
first)....GET A LIFE!
Brian Dawes, Australia
I didn't know we funded all of the medical research necessary to find cures for terminal illnesses so that now we can spend on such foolish reasons.
Maybe it's just a co-incidence but I find a strange parallel when one of the current best-selling PC games is 'The Sim' where you get to control a family on the computer and watch them go through their everyday lives. Meanwhile on TV you can watch a bunch of people going through their everyday lives.
Surely a great deal of entertainment (books, plays, movies, TV) is based on watching or reading accounts of the fictional lives of other people. What is so repugnant about watching the real lives of other people?
There's no blame to be laid with the
viewer for this sort of thing; if
people want to make monkeys of
themselves in pursuit of filthy lucre
and don't care how much they debase
themselves in the process, I think
we can all stand back, have a good
laugh at them and enjoy ourselves.
Herman Mackie, UK
I can understand the for's and against, but why do they have to film them in the bathroom? Is anyone really interested in that?
How can Big Brother be classified as 'Peeping Tom' television when the half wits they have chosen to appear on the show know they are being watched? I think a far better format for the show would have been to choose the same people but while they were living in the Big Brother house, install real hidden cameras in their homes and after the program has run it's course, see what this group of drama queens and attention seeking no-hopers are really like!
It is a very good idea. If I had the chance I would be on the show.
This sort of programme is more artificial than the Tory Parties election manifestos. Whatever you put on TV, there will be an audience. There are people out there who find it easier to indulge in the 'screen based culture' than go out and live life to the full. Enjoy it and miss out.
Simon Feegrade, England
People are interesting and, largely, fun; provided you can interact with them. These vacuous TV shows will be watched by people scared of interacting with others. This is perfectly understandable since if they vented their sordid curiosity in real life, someone might hit them. Or, even worse, laugh at them.
The chorus of disgust about this programme seems to have missed the point. The contestants are volunteers, so there is obviously no invasion of privacy issue; and it's hardly a challenge to find sex, nudity or fly on the wall programming on TV so this show's contribution to that total is minimal. What is really fascinating in this case is to see each contestant manoeuvre to try to appear both likeable (to ensure their popularity with the rest of the group) and watchable (sufficiently interesting that the public won't vote to throw them out). The rising tension as the numbers slowly dwindle should make for great viewing - it's drama as much documentary.
Programs like Big Brother are an insult to the human intelligence.
Stephen Kenney, USA
If you don't like it don't watch it. I think it is an intriguing idea and I will definitely be watching it. This programme has created a storm of controversy from the small-minded puritans that probably want to have violence, sex, and bad language banned from our screens.
It seems there are more and more TV programmes spying on the public. They started off almost softcore, with us watching people at work or committing crime. Now we are watching people at home and seeing the minutiae of their private lives. If it is socially acceptable to spy on one person at home why not everyone's home 24 hrs a day?
It should be made mandatory for all politicians that they be on air all the time. Besides, this could be extended even to their public life with cameras following their every move. This way, I am sure they would never indulge in corrupt practices and, in fact, keep on doing good things in life and so to society.
A group of people being constantly watched in a closed environment with nothing to do? I'm debating making a low budget version called "Prison"!
I think the only reason there are so many of this 'Voyeuristic' type of programme around is because they are cheap to make, which gives a much bigger profit for the TV companies. If people are dumb enough to watch them, then obviously they'll make more...
I can think of few things less interesting than watching a group of people live their day-to-day lives. I have my own neighbourhood in the street where I live. I don't want to look in someone else's bedroom, just as I don't want these people looking in my bedroom.
J Cahill, UK
I think this programme is an EXCELLENT idea. It will keep thousands of socially inept people glued to their TV sets, living vicariously through the participants. Keeps them out of my way when I go out to live my REAL life!
In all fairness I suppose you could say that you don't have to watch whatever is broadcast, however, when you pay your TV licence one does expect a bit more for your money than a bunch of kids taking their clothes of and being stupid on camera. It all seems like a bit of a complete waste of time and money to me and totally reflective of the way society is going in general¿. The boundaries of what is acceptable or what the public want to see are being stretched further and further and at this rate, there will pretty soon be no restrictions on what is forced on us under the guise of entertainment.
These programmes don't say anything about the declining morals of society as a whole; they just show what sleazeballs run TV channels.
People are interested in each other. Watching other people's everyday lives on TV strikes me as somewhat sad and dull but as long as it's voluntary, I don't see a problem. It's when government agents start doing it without our knowledge we should worry!
There is no supply without demand. Obviously a lot of people want this rubbish.
Paul Charters, England
The question of privacy which is one of the basic ideals of freedom in democracy is increasingly threatened by the internet. Suitable measures have to fall in line to ensure privacy of the net users, especially in the developing nations.
But I wonder what kind of people would want to watch every detail of the lives of men and women locked in a TV studio? These viewers must be some of the saddest examples of humanity. Can't they find something else to do? How about reading a book. Or going for a walk, or getting together with friends for good conversation. In short, get a life!
Another good reason to get rid of the TV.
Reena Vadehra , USA
There is only one thing that really needs to be said on this subject. If you don't like these programs, use your brain and the "OFF" switch!
Some Romans had precisely the same worries about how people would be affected watching gladiators kill each other in the arena. It seems to me that this is a little better than that. Still unpleasant, perhaps.
The nicest thing about a TV set is that you can switch it off. In The Netherlands there were numerous protests against the Big Brother programme. Lots of people advised us not to watch it. But so many people (including a lot of those who were against) must have seen Big Brother. What about hypocrisy?
Besides the strong interest in voyeurism, there are other reasons why Big Brother was successful in Germany. One reason is "trash"-hype: to become a star it's helpful to be a complete idiot, so that others can talk about the stupid things you said in the last show. One of the big brother guys got famous by not knowing who Shakespeare was... etc.
This voyeurism fad is actually nothing new; how else would tabloids and magazines such as "Hello" stay afloat?
Ninety per cent of what's on TV is just
electronic wallpaper, so I don't think it is a
very important indicator of social values.
We haven't become peeping toms because of the internet. Titillation has always been sought from the tragedies/lives/scandals of others (see the everlasting popularity of rubbernecking, muckraking journalism and so on). The net has merely provided a hitherto undreamt-of means of indulging the habit, in a period in our evolution when there are fewer inhibitions about doing it openly.
We must differentiate between visuals where the subject is aware that they are being watched (fly on the wall documentaries and *most* web-cams) and those where there is a genuine ignorance that the individual is being monitored (e.g. hidden web-cams and surveylance equipment at work). It is the latter that draws a voyeur due to the power that it gives the observer.
Peeping Tom Syndrome is a disease. There is nothing good to be gained to watching other people living. On the contrary it's harmful to society.
I think that somewhere along the way, we have all lost an essential ingredient in life. Call it self-satisfaction or inner tranquility, but we seem to be constantly searching for what is missing by dissecting and examining other peoples lives. I think that we should all take a look at ourselves and develop our own lives. A little mystique and imagination would be a welcome relief from all this modern reality. Maybe the escape into the fantasy world is the secret of success in the Harry Potter books?
The vastly overhyped internet is responsible for the "apparent" interest in Big Brother type of things. It is like the mobile phone phenomenon, gullible people swayed by media pressure. For those of us, like myself, with a mind of our own, you are able to focus on what is important in this life and get on with it. Family, friends, your health and interests. wasting your life in front of a computer screen isn't my idea of a life, you only get one chance at life. Enjoy it.
Perhaps this sort of programme is more reflective of our natural inquisitive run amok and facilitated by advances in technology! Like a car crash one observes on the highway, one wishes it wasn't there, but we can't help ourselves from looking; pathetic, but base in its appeal! Still, this is one programme I won't be watching, though I'm sure it will be successful without my patronage
Mr Brown, UK
We are. I don't want somebody watching me in the bath or the toilet or even bed or anywhere else for that matter. I not into this voyeuristic malarkey.
Reality-based television shows are only the latest chapter in journalism's penchant for snooping. The media, most especially the press, has always considered privacy to be nonexistent. Television is merely catching up to this fact. Privacy, as a concept, is only a bit over 100 years old in civil society. To the purveyors of media - just as to those of other personal information - what we regard as privacy is a commodity to business, whether media-owned or other commercial enterprises. The new shows only exploit the basest parts of human nature.
I find the concept of this show, and other like it, to be a sick form of entertainment. It might pass for a poor excuse for a psychological experiment, but it should not be for public viewing. It does not say much for our society when people willingly put themselves through this situation for publicity and money.
I don't see the problem. It's just the "new thing" in entertainment. The people who are being watched have given their full permission. It will have its peak and trundle off into the background like all fads.
People should stop being so judgmental and uptight.
This spring it was on German TV and it seems everybody was watching it, the participants became stars. We live in a media society, everybody can be famous for 15 minutes. It is a fantasy for the masses.
Tim Williams, UK
We live in a Peeping Tom society.
People have no privacy. That is what
each and every person ought to know;
but, doesn't. When, everybody has a
camera on their computers it will be
much worse. You can bet on it.
Sure, we are turning into Peeping Toms. To be more specific, we've been them for a long time. How else can one explain such popularity of tabloids and fly-on-the-wall documentaries. If people weren't Peeping Toms by nature, the media wouldn't snoop into people's private life.
I took part in a documentary about my private life and it led to me splitting with my wife and losing job. Ban these programmes now!
Big Brother has been airing here for a week now, and I can't see what all these people are talking about when they blast such shows for being immoral and harmful. Observing human behaviour can act as a valuable reminder of what worthless beings we truly are - think of it as a wildlife show.
While big brother peeping is alarming, in its own twisted way, it can be very liberating. Soon to be gone, are the days when rogue cops and prosecutors can frame an individual as to his whereabouts or actions, when all is on film or file.
Roger Thomas, Wales (Cymru)
Commentators so far seem to be of the view that the current voyeuristic interest is new. TV 'soapies', and the like, have been catering to lounge-room voyeurs for years. Fly on the wall docos are simply a soapie extension. Some people who don't have sufficient interests in their own lives watch soapies to be fascinated by someone elses life, whether real or imaginary.
No one so far has commented that these kind of programmes are cheap to make. The past ten years or so of UK television has seen an increasing desparation by producers to maximise audience and minimise costs in an increasingly competitive market. A genre of programming that is obsessively popular and cost-effective is bound to please TV companies.
You must be lacking something in your own life if you feel the need to follow another's life in detail. TV and now the internet have given a new meaning to isolation. They transport you to some other real world. They substitute for an emptiness in your own life. This grows the isolation in your own life. Now the US Government has developed 'carnivor'- an internet means to spy on others. To me this is government imitating the sick Peeping Tom. How do we wean individuals and governments back to their own purpose? This more than an issue of Big Brother; it is an issue of societal health.
Banal voyeurism that contributes nothing to society. Try to improve society and one's own life.
You ask the wrong question. What you should ask is why TV
makes show that appeal to the lowest of human instincts simply
because people will watch. The media, including the BBC, has changed. They now seek the sensational at the expense of the truth, and the voyeuristic. What happened to Lord Reith's dictum that the BBC should lead taste, and not blindly follow it?
The BBC of today is not the BBC I grew up with, and I no
longer trust it in the way I once did.
While everyone moans about media exploitation and intrusion (which ultimately these individuals have chosen to allow), the UK Government is passing into the law books one of the most invasive and sinister big brother acts we have ever seen. This programme is a fad, if the RIP bill gets passed, we will be living with the consequences of that for years to come. And those who believe the internet is simply a passing fad, are extremely short-sighted - a fact which I am sure the government takes comfort from.
I know that I am in a small minority, but I find the Survivor and Big Brother TV shows repugnant. I have no interest whatsoever... Watching other people seems to be increasing in popularity. The Internet did bring about web cams. Those sites were quite popular. Now Dennis Rodman, the tattooed flake of the NBA, is going to install web cams in his house, so you can log on, pay a fee and watch the drunken debauchery. Guess he needs the money, no fool
will pay his salary for him to play anymore.
It is a sick exploitation of an increasingly sicker society. I am not proud to say that this horrible programme was in the Netherlands firstly some years ago. The rights were then sold to other countries after an enormous success there. I have only followed the hausse around this peepshow and it merely shows that we are becoming obsessed by seeing other beings in live action. Now that this vulgar stuff also has infiltrated other countries quite successfully I am disgusted by those simple souls who are making this a success.
I take this opportunity to voice my disgust.
If this is really just about observing life,why not just do that, and switch off the TV, and interact with real life. If Neighbours no longer satisfies, then I suppose synthetic docu-soap is the next natural step.
21 Jul 00 | Entertainment
Big Brother's bedroom antics
20 Jul 00 | Entertainment
Channel 4 hails Brother hit
17 Jul 00 | Entertainment
Former nun is Big Brother favourite
14 Jul 00 | Entertainment
Big Brother starts watching
06 Jul 00 | Entertainment
Big Brother hits the US
27 Jun 00 | Entertainment
Big Brother unleashed by Channel 4
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites
Other Talking Points:
Links to other Talking Point stories
|^^ Back to top
News Front Page | World | UK | UK Politics | Business | Sci/Tech | Health | Education | Entertainment | Talking Point | In Depth | AudioVideo
To BBC Sport>> | To BBC Weather>>
© MMIII | News Sources | Privacy