The world of movies, television or music has supplied the world with an insurmountable amount of entertainment. Over the years that entertainment has expanded into real life. The obsessive fixation of the media on the personal lives of all those professionals of Hollywood starting with actors, actresses and on to directors, producers is starting to drive everyone crazy!
I for one am sick and tired of hearing about Miley Cyrus' twerk, or Amanda Bynes' psychiatric problems, Lindsay Lohan's endless rehab stints, or now Shia LeBeouf weird and unsettling behavior. Why would we want to read about total strangers' life crises and their grimy unsavory and often obscene details? Are these news bites meant to be life lessons for the ordinary people? Doubt it, the regular folk are too busy tackling inflation and unemployment!
This kind of media stalking has become so common, that after seeing young Hollywood icons toppled over one after the other, their hiccups and misfortunes appear premeditated, orchestrated and so remote that no one takes them seriously anymore. It is only when some of them end up dying of drug overdose as in the case of Cory Monteith, or Amy Winehouse, that we realize maybe they were not really into that media madness and crying out for help. Ironically it is also then that the media right away takes on the role of the sympathizer. After hounding those poor souls for years and presenting them as drug crazed and irresponsible, now the media suddenly sees them as victims. Yes they probably can be categorized as victims as some level, but whose victim? The emphatic answer: THE MEDIA!!!
Unfortunately, some celebs use this scandal mongering to their advantage, best example Miley Cyrus, Paris Hilton, and now Shia LaBoeuf. The theory there is ' if I can be dramatic enough, stupid enough or just obscene enough I will make the front page!' And sadly enough it works out for them. These desperate antic are totally tiresome.
As long as the media gobbles up everything fed to them and keeps bombarding us with it without any sense of responsibility or filtering, it is highly likely that we never will be able to recognize the victim from the opportunist?
Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts
Monday, February 10, 2014
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Oranges and Sunshine
Last week saw " Oranges and Sunshine" a movie by Jim Loach based on a
book 'Empty Cradles' by Margaret Humphreys. The movie and the subject
are both so poignant that I wanted to share it with my friends.
Starring
Emma Watson , as Margaret Humphreys a real life social worker who in
the 1980s uncovered the scandalous and forced relocation of poor
British children (on welfare) to Australia. As usual Emma Watson gives
an impeccable performance.
Hugo Weaving and David Wenham also give powerful performances as Jack and Len as two former British Child migrants who are tormented by their painful past. The movie is slow paced and leaves one deeply disturbed by this blatant miscarriage of justice and cruelty to children but I would still recommend it!
Facts about British Forced Child Migration:
It has since been established that such forced migrations of poor children were made not only to Australia. The origins of the scheme go back to 1618 when a hundred children were sent from London to Richmond, Virginia which is now one of the United States of America. The final party arrived in Australia in 1970. It is estimated that child migration programmes were responsible for the removal of over 130,000 children from the United Kingdom to Canada, New Zealand, Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) and Australia. About 7000 of these children were sent to Australia.
In most cases children were told their parents had died or didn't want them back, while parents were told their kids had been adopted by wealthier people. These children were placed in Roman Catholic Institutions in Western Australia and Queensland, where they were housed and allegedly abused. The children were promised a life full of Sunshine and Oranges, hence the name of the movie.
Britain is the only country in the world with a sustained history of child migration. Only Britain has used child migration as a significant part of its child care strategy over a period of four centuries rather than as a policy of last resort during times of war or civil unrest.This is a shameful chapter in British history, the govt of Britain and Australia initially refused to acknowledge it. Prime Ministers Kevin Rudd and Gordon Brown finally made public apologies in 2009 and 2010 respectively.
Margaret Humphreys to this day is working through the Child Migrants Trust to join these children and their families to their relatives and families in Britain.
Starring
Emma Watson , as Margaret Humphreys a real life social worker who in
the 1980s uncovered the scandalous and forced relocation of poor
British children (on welfare) to Australia. As usual Emma Watson gives
an impeccable performance.Hugo Weaving and David Wenham also give powerful performances as Jack and Len as two former British Child migrants who are tormented by their painful past. The movie is slow paced and leaves one deeply disturbed by this blatant miscarriage of justice and cruelty to children but I would still recommend it!
Facts about British Forced Child Migration:
It has since been established that such forced migrations of poor children were made not only to Australia. The origins of the scheme go back to 1618 when a hundred children were sent from London to Richmond, Virginia which is now one of the United States of America. The final party arrived in Australia in 1970. It is estimated that child migration programmes were responsible for the removal of over 130,000 children from the United Kingdom to Canada, New Zealand, Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) and Australia. About 7000 of these children were sent to Australia.
In most cases children were told their parents had died or didn't want them back, while parents were told their kids had been adopted by wealthier people. These children were placed in Roman Catholic Institutions in Western Australia and Queensland, where they were housed and allegedly abused. The children were promised a life full of Sunshine and Oranges, hence the name of the movie.
Britain is the only country in the world with a sustained history of child migration. Only Britain has used child migration as a significant part of its child care strategy over a period of four centuries rather than as a policy of last resort during times of war or civil unrest.This is a shameful chapter in British history, the govt of Britain and Australia initially refused to acknowledge it. Prime Ministers Kevin Rudd and Gordon Brown finally made public apologies in 2009 and 2010 respectively.
Margaret Humphreys to this day is working through the Child Migrants Trust to join these children and their families to their relatives and families in Britain.
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