Brass Eye’s “Paedogeddon!” inflamed the U. K.—but was that the point?
Club. Welcome to the TV Roundtable, where some of TV Club’s writers tackle episodes that deal with a central theme. The next eight installments focus on “controversial episodes.”Brass Eye, “Paedogeddon!”(Originally aired 7/2. In which authentic outrage breeds faux outrage, which breeds further authentic outrage. Thank God the Internet existed in a much- reduced form, because I can only imagine the thinkpieces about “Paedogeddon!” that would bounce backward and forward through today’s online echo chamber.
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I imagine that watching this special episode of spoof newsmagazine Brass Eye without any explanation would be a pretty baffling experience—the target of its satire should be clear, but it’s still very jarring stuff, and it plays on very upsetting imagery. And that’s Chris Morris’ bread and butter. With Armando Iannucci, he created 1. The Day Today, a news spoof so perfect it still gets laughs even though the references are dated. Brass Eye arrived in 1.
British celebrities into supporting insane fictional causes or babbling about a made- up drug called cake. Both are detailed, perfectly curated works of satire, down to the hysterical graphics packages and the absurd hyperbolic ramblings of the anchors. The British press, never particularly renowned for its restraint, had kicked off a frenzy of fear, warning parents of sex offenders living on every street. This episode takes that hysteria and multiplies it by a thousand, with Morris’ stern anchorman warning of pedophiles (pronounced and spelled “paedophiles” by the Brits) crawling around neighborhoods dressed as schools or using Internet games to spy on children through the eyes of cartoon dogs. It’s lunacy, of course, but the episode nonetheless has a disturbing aspect to it, broadcast from a darkened studio and featuring mini- storylines like a pedophile who’s about to be released from prison (he’s eventually burned alive in a wicker phallus by an angry mob). At one point, the leader of a pedophile- rights group (played by Simon Pegg) invades the studio and is captured and put in a pillory. Presented with Morris’ 6- year- old son (actually an actor), he says he wouldn’t want to have sex with him, saying, “I don’t fancy him.” Morris proclaims himself happy to hear it, but obviously takes offense.
That scene was one of the most often cited by critics of the episode, who called in to complain to Channel 4 by the thousands (at the time, it was the most- objected- to episode of television broadcast in the U. K., although there have since been other similarly uncomfortable flashpoints). Politicians, including the ones featured, lined up to slam the show, although most admitted they hadn’t seen it. Channel 4 was forced to apologize for broadcasting the thing without warning its audience about what was going to unfold. The Guardian has a good summary of how long this controversy dragged on for. Morris mostly kept himself out of the controversy and has continued to make abrasive, fascinating comedy, including demented sketch show Jam, trust- fund- hipster sitcom Nathan Barley,and the terrific slapstick suicide- bomber comedy Four Lions. He’s never caused quite the stir that “Paedogeddon!” created, before or since, and perhaps with good reason.
Morris has said in interviews that he wanted to go after the very concept that the status of childhood had become “deified and inviolate”—until children turn 1. It’s fascinating territory but it’s also uniquely uncomfortable, more so than mocking terrorism or drug use or AIDS or what have you, because it’s taking on a universal taboo in our society.
Most of the laughs come at the expense of a hysterical media and the resulting mob mentality. But I always, always feel discombobulated after watching.
Phil Dyess- Nugent: I remember a Dennis Miller monologue—from his HBO series in the 1. He said it with a broad grin and then he chortled, the way he always does when he reaches a punchline, even when he’s the only person who registers it as a joke.
The thing is, Miller probably thinks that he, like Chris Morris, was practicing satire. A lot of people probably think that satire consists of labeling something as monstrous and expressing glee in the prospect of seeing it—or them—wiped off the face of the Earth. Much of this episode comes down to arguing that the media hype that creates pedophilia scares is inhumane and cruel and leads to vile acts—which is true: Rebekah Brooks’ “naming and shaming” campaign during her time as editor of News Of The World led to a pediatrician being driven from her home by vigilantes who didn’t know there were words beginning with “pedi” that aren’t synonymous with “child molester.” But the show also touches on the actual acceptance of sexual predators, so long as they’re rich and famous and work in the music industry. It even suggests that “normal” people might have complicated, illogical feelings about their children, extending even to being offended at the idea that a pedophile wouldn’t be attracted to them. That’s a good thing to keep in mind when we’re all living in a culture that, in its inability to see children as simply smaller, less experienced versions of ourselves, seems to continually swing between trying to shield them from everything and, in the wake of something like Columbine, being terrified of them. Aside from the fact that he’s funny, Chris Morris deserves the honor of being called a satirist because he would never see any point of raising a loaded, morally clear- cut issue like the rape of children just to say, “Personally, and forgive me for being brave enough to admit this, but I’m opposed to it.” The Dennis Millers of the world would be unable to think of another reason to bring it up at all. Genevieve Koski: Man, I sort of wish you hadn’t pointed out Morris’ defense of the special as a comment on the deification of childhood, David.
Before that, I was fully behind Brass Eye’s breathless lampooning of a hysterical media getting its teeth into a topic and shaking it for all its worth. As you point out, this is where most of the laughs come from, but that underlying unease you feel seems to stem from Morris’ desire to also lampoon the idea that children are idealized and off limits. I get what he’s saying there, especially in the context of a society that sexualizes these same children after a seemingly arbitrary cutoff point. I still don’t think there’s anything in “Paedogeddon!” that isn’t fair game for comedy, nor do I think any of it should have been censored; but I can certainly understand why it upset so many (especially given the abduction and murder David cites). But being a fan of comedy, particularly that of the “edgy” persuasion, often means reconciling the humor with your discomfort about the subjects it’s addressing. As with anything that takes the kitchen- sink approach to comedy, many of the gags don’t work, whether it’s due to a cultural divide (I doubt many of us reacted much to the use of British celebs outside of Simon Pegg and Phil Collins), the passage of time (it’s hard to ignore the staleness of the red- hatted Fred Durst caricature), or simply personal preference.
Ryan Mc. Gee: Of all the topics we’ll undoubtedly consider in this phase of the Roundtable, I’m guessing “children” will be the one that won’t suffer due to our distance from the original product. A few of us seemed to have a hard time reconciling the original controversy surrounding The Smothers Brothers through more modern eyes, but there’s something consistent about our desires to protect children from harm.
That’s precisely the paranoia that fueled the environment from which “Paedogeddon!” was sprung, and David is correct in postulating that this episode would receive talking- head treatment for weeks if it aired on today’s televisions. That its target is “the media” versus actual pedophiles is both astute yet also somewhat safe. I kept thinking of Todd Field’s Little Children, a film that makes many of the same points but locates people’s innate fears stemming not from what’s in the media but rather what’s already lurking inside their own hearts. It’s all well and good to blame institutions for societal problems, and there’s plenty of blame to go around. That so many papers and politicians shot themselves in the foot while hypocritically condemning a program they hadn’t even seen demonstrates how keenly observed this episode’s satire is. Still, while tricking Phil Collins into supporting a fake charity is fun, it’s also shallow. I’m not suggesting this episode should have drawn upon real- life pain in order to sharpen the satirical blade.
But Brass Eye, at least in this episode, only tells half the story. We get a deep look at the way that media can transmit fear through propaganda, distortion, and outright subterfuge. But we see very little of why such approaches actually work on those consuming it. Analyzing that feels like more difficult work, but more important work as well. If it didn’t work, the media wouldn’t do it. Placing all the blame on those spreading fear and disinformation ignores those that allow it to succeed in the first place.
Erik Adams: I don’t know, Ryan: I think what you’d like to see more of from Brass Eye is absent because it played out in real life. Why dig deeper into a public that’s so often portrayed as a faceless mass of black- and- white opinions by the show’s secondary target when that public was bound to react to the special as a faceless mass of black- and- white opinion? In the Guardian profile David cites above, Morris says he wasn’t eager to cause such a commotion (“If I was happy at the result I’d need to have had my brains sucked out through a straw”). But the way I see it, “Paedogeddon!” needs that reaction to make one of its most salient points. It might be a shallower read than the one Morris would prefer, but the humor of people reacting without thinking is at the foundation of Brass Eye.