In the recent debate about whether Respect MP George Galloway should have taken part in Channel 4's reality show Celebrity Big Brother perhaps the least discussed aspect was that he was lending credibility to the perfect neoliberal TV programme -Big Brother itself
No programme so completely captures, in just about every conceivable aspect, the economics, politics and cultural banality of our neoliberal age.
As Mike Wayne points out in his book Marxsm and Media Studies (Pluto Press), Big Brother in terms of the hours of viewing generated and aaverlising revenue brought in, is wonderfully cheap TV. Together with Big Brother's Little Brother, hour upon tedious hour is generated and it is all 'new'.
No problem of repeats, because the house's inmates will do something 'different' (or at least say something different) each day.
Revenue is also No generated by the high cost of programme
calls to so completely VULC which captures the housemates should be economics, evicted. On one politics and million cultural rang in to vote. banality of our Further revenue sucamns arc created by books, magazines, caps and T-shirts.
Ideologically Big Brother involves a series of vile elemclls.
First and foremost is a sadistic element - delight in ritual humiliation. The programme can only work if the inmates make idiots of themselves.
Also there is the idea that people will do anything for money. To get large amounts of money in capitalist society you will give away your dignity and grovel. (Of course that is what numerous service workers do on a daily basis, but they do it because they nave to, not oul oi ambiton and greed.)
Then again Big Brother -in its 'normal' as well as "celebrity version -is part of the cultural apparatus of late capitalism celebrating 'celebrity' itself.
Celebrity today is a uniquely debased and mystifying version of the Hollywood-created 'star system', generated in the 1920s and '30s.
A vast exaggeration of the merits of the few very famous devalues the merits of the millions of 'ordinary people wno are by acnmaon unimportant'.
And of course it promotes the notion that the only solutions are individual workbased solutions which will make you better off, even if you can never aspire to fame or real celebrity. Collective SolDons de nor so nouca SUDVCISIVC merely unthinkable.
Big Brother is political by banning politics (one of many
by George Galloway). The programme allows controversy only about
the most trivial of things WILO house itself. And Big Brother celebrates one of the most threatening aspects Britain - surveillence itself. Britain is the most monitored and watched society in the world, even if postneoliberal age. Patriot Act America is
catching up. Finally Big Brother comes into its own in its symbiotic relationship with the popular press.
Part of that is the witch hunt. Contestants, parucularly women, are singled out by the popular press, as being hate figures because they are variousıy nasty, favourite), 'slags', gay, transexual and of course - finally we have it - left wing in the shape of George Galloway.
All this suggests that for all those making a radical critique of modern society, any association whatever with Big brother ano simuar saows 1s to make a pact with the devil - one vou can never win.