There’s a lot happening in Essex right now. Sleepy picturesque villages, private educated kids, Rod Stewart. However, the real action is all happening around the Club Sugar Hut in Brentwood, where the tangoed-skin, Nuts- readers are all stars of a new ITV2 reality TV show The Only Way is Essex.
The main focus of this week’s episode was the result of weeks of planning for an event the cast called 'Essex Fashion Week', and saw a bid by the word 'jel' (short for jealous) to be the latest addition to the Oxford English dictionary.
Despite such a huge event taking place very little actually went on, the clothes which were worn weren't even fashionable at all. Each cast member only gets a few minutes on screen every week and this means that we never really get to bond with the characters or care about whats going on in their lives.
But personally i don’t think the cast’s lives are even the point of the series. I think the producers are more worried about getting that ‘typical’ Essex image across to viewers and try to create the English version of the top US show Jersey Shore.
The Only Way Is Essex is clearly the work of middle-class executives who think that watching people expose their astonishing lack of general knowledge give high ratings. I think the whole show is a joke and makes Essex just look bad.
However, the search for properties in Brentwood has gone up by more than 20 per cent since the show started.
What are your thoughts on the new reality TV show?
Daphne Field, founder of The Essex Women’s Advisory Group, an organisation set up to counter the cruel stereotyping of the county’s females said, ‘I watched the show for about 20 minutes and i couldn’t stand it any longer. I actually felt sorry for the cast, having to go on screen and do it. What can be good about trying to tell young people that life is all about expensive clothes and no morals? I know it’s supposed to be entertainment but there’s a serious side to all this. We’ve got businesses in Essex that can’t attract female staff because women feel uncomfortable saying they’re from here. One chap I was talking to recently wanted to come here, and he’d found a house and good schools, but his daughters wouldn’t come because they didn’t want to be Essex girls.’
ReplyDeleteI find the show entertaining but purely because of the 'cruel stereotyping' that you have mentioned. The show is a bit of a joke and even at the end where the narrator jokes about "watch out in the next episode for what Nanny Pat will cook" it is like mocking the audience for watching it. The script is also so forced like everything is really over the top, and we don't even see this happening in The Hills. I would much rather watch something like 7 days in Nottinghill which is also 'reality tv' but has more realistic plot lines and tackles real issues like illnesses, the recession, finding jobs ect.
ReplyDeleteI will still watch the only way is essex because its easy viewing but wont exactly be disappointed for missing an episode, or 2, or 3!