In the second series we followed events in the months leading up to the Boscastle floods, and how the community coped with the dreadful aftermath. We see this through the eyes of the parish priest, the Revd. Christine Musser.
Worship programmes, such as “Songs of Praise”, which include Church ceremonies and hymn singing, have been present from the first days of television. On the other hand, as society has undergone a dramatic change, for example, the society we live in has now become multi-faith society; the stereotypical view of religious programme has now also been altered. Because of this alteration, worship programmes have been forced to change. “Songs of Praise”, is now shown at around 6-7pm on a Sunday evening, has started to include new features. These include features like human-interest stories from ordinary working class people, inspirational music performances, and how faith has affected their lives. “Songs of Praise” analyses many different aspects of Christianity.
The traditional features of the programme are still shown. For example, the television audience can still sing along with the hymns, as the words actually appear on the television screen through a process similar to subtitles. Overall, worship programmes have changed by a considerable amount as they have now started to attract viewers from a younger age group, mostly teenagers.
In the particular episode I watched, Dave Tierney talked about the problems he faced as a young man when he was involved with drugs and how he overcame them with help of his faith after becoming a Christian. He talked about setting up the Lighthouse Foundation a combination of sheltered housing for the elderly and a residential centre for people with drug related problems. We heard from some of the residents at the Lighthouse Centre about their experiences of living there. Also, Roy Blackler and Jack Hughieson shared their moving stories of finding peace in Japan. In Addition, after seeing a war grave in Japan where 16 British POWs were buried, Keiko was overwhelmed with the desire to trace their relatives. This led on to her dedicating her life to reconciliation work between surviving POWs and Japanese people. Despite the hostility of British POWs, she persisted, encouraging them to tell their story, and finally persuading them to come to Japan with her and meet former Japanese soldiers and ordinary Japanese people. This has become an annual event and is a life-changing experience for the POWs, who finally learn to forgive and find the peace that has eluded them for 60 years.
QUESTION (ONE) PART (B)
Analyse and explain the way in which a religious or moral issue has been dealt with in a television soap opera OR the national press.
Since taking the decision to breed guinea pigs for medical research at Darley Oaks farm in Newchurch near Yoxhall, the Halls, who are the owners of the family run business, have suffered a five year campaign of abuse and intimidation. Death threats and letter bombs have been sent to the family, and the grave of relative Gladys Hammond was dug up and her remains stolen. The family have now decided to stop breeding guinea pigs and return to traditional farming. They hope this will result in Mrs Hammond's remains being returned. Here below is the story so far.
In 1999, John Hall and his brother Christopher began breeding guinea pigs for medical research. After a few months of the farm being opened and business commencing, the farm was raided by animal rights activists who claim that the guinea pigs being bred there are being kept in appalling conditions, a claim which was later denied by the Halls. These protestors also objected to the use of these animals in laboratory experiments. A campaign was then set up in a bid to close down the family business. As a result, regular demonstrations were being held outside the farm and the campaign began to draw in supporters. As the campaign began to take pace, the farm premises were attacked and later on in the year, they started to attack the employees. Near-by surroundings were also vandalised with abusive graffiti, local pubs attacked and explosives let off at night to leave residents sleepless. Over four hundred and fifty separate incidents in the period of 1999 to 2003, leaving the entire local community feeling under siege.
In 2004, the campaign against the business moved to a new and higher level when the body of Gladys Hammond was dug up and removed from its grave in St Peter's Churchyard. This caused unrest among the Hall family and local residents and the majority of activists condemned the actions of minority involved. Later on in the year, the Hall family received threatening letters from someone who claims to have the remains of Mrs Hammond. Staffordshire Police confirmed that they were investigating but said they could not verify the letter. As a result of the investigation, the animal rights campaigners were asked to stop their protests outside Darley Oaks Farm, and the campaigners obliged with the police request.
In 2005, the animal rights activists again continued to protest outside the farm, enforcing police to patrol the protests in case the get out of hand. Death threats were again posted to employees and an amateur petrol bomb delivered to the business. This resulted in the majority of the employees feeling traumatised, which resulted in them leaving the farm to find other employment. Later on in the year, letters were again sent to the family regarding the remains of Gladys Hammond, which resulted in forensic experts examining the letters for possible clues of where it was sent from as the letter revealed the whereabouts of the remains. Another letter stated that one of the remaining employees or family members will be killed if the farm continued to breed the guinea pigs for medical research. As a result, on the twenty-third of August 2005, The Hall family announce they are to stop breeding guinea pigs for medical research after years of intimidation by animal rights activists. The family said they hoped the decision would prompt the return of the body of Mrs Hammond. Since her remains were taken, police have arrested several people in connection with the theft but no one to date has been charged and the remains have never been found.
In conclusion, this topic has been covered in the national and local press, as well as on television in the national and regional news. It has also figured on the BBC’s Crimewatch UK programme, so it has been covered well, and in my opinion, is a fairly balanced topic in which neither side are focused upon more, making it an unbiased article.
QUESTION (ONE) PART (C)
Analyse and explain the way in which a religious theme of concern has been dealt with in a film or television drama.
In the well-known film named “East is East,” the scriptwriters have presented a religious and moral issue. The matter involves the idea of an arranged marriage, homosexuality and the concept of free choice. “East is East” is about the growing up of Asians youths in two cultures, where the father has a very influential Asian role. The father is a typical Asian, strict and religious, and this is how he is portrayed in the film, who is very keen in wedding his three elder sons. In “East is East” arranged marriages are displayed in a negative manner, the younger men, who the father wants to wed, dread the day of the wedding, and wish they could choose who they marry. The eldest son, who the father tries to wed, runs away as he is homosexual, but is too scared to say so to his dad. Therefore, he runs away on the day of his wedding. This film clearly demonstrates that it is unfair towards certain cultures where arranged marriage occurs.
The idea of homosexuality is both moral and religious; but it is more of a religious issue as all the major religions are against it. In “East is East” the eldest son is pressured by his dad, to marry a women who his dad chooses for him. The direct result of this is that the son runs away on the day of the wedding, as he is homosexual. The father, who pressurises his son to marry, displays his religious hypocrisy, as he tell his sons to be good Muslims, yet he himself uses arranged marriage as an excuse to marry his children to whom he wants, without consulting his children.
After reviewing this film, the father should allow his children to marry whom they want to, yet he persistently forces his children into a marriage, which they did not even know about, and is therefore portrayed as a hypocrite.
I conclude by saying that I believe that there is only one possible solution to this problem, which is that the father should have allowed his sons to play a role in their own marriages, which may have led to the problems earlier never occurring. I am also of the opinion that if the father had spent more time with his sons and talked to them, it may have rid of some problems. However, I do not think that this would have stopped his son from being homosexual, but it could have strengthened the relationship of the father with his sons, and the father may have grasped why his son felt like so.
QUESTION TWO
“Television always presents religious people as out of touch with the modern world.”
Do you agree to the quote above? Show that you have considered both points of view.
The quote above basically means that modern-day television presents people who have a faith or religious belief as old and out of touch with the society that they live in and the modern world.
To some extent this quote can be classified as true, as many modern-day religious programmes are aimed at the older age group, who in general, went to church very often and accepted all of the traditional beliefs, for example programmes such as “Morning Worship” and “Songs of Praise” don’t draw the interest of the younger audience, as such programmes are seen to be boring and dull. The majority of people who appear on the two shows named above are usually aged over 50. These people seem to criticise a lot, which leads to the audience judging them as “out of touch” with the modern world. The well-known soap opera “EastEnders” also portrays some religious characters in an old fashioned manner, in terms of religion. Dot Cotton, an elderly character out of EastEnders, is portrayed as a very religious woman and teaches people about the bible in great detail, however, the fact that she is elderly and religious implies to the viewers that all religious people are “out of touch” with society.
There are very few programmes on terrestrial television that do present religious people as “in touch” with the society we live in today. A well-known show that does this is “The Vicar of Dibley”, which is a comedy, and is disliked of by many members of the Catholic Church for this reason. Geraldine, who is the female vicar in her thirties, jokes all the time, especially about her religion, and has a very humorous character. The Catholics believe that the vicar mocks the religion to extreme measures, and also mocks the role of a vicar. The Catholics also disapprove of the fact of the vicar being a female, as Catholics prohibit female vicars seeing that Jesus only chose male disciples, and vicars are modern day disciples. This programme has an audience of all ages, as the people enjoy such shows, and it is a family programmes.
Furthermore, a magazine show such as “The Heaven and Earth show” discusses some important issues regarding religion, and also displays religious views on a certain topic. This show does not display religious people as out of touch with the modern world, because the presenters use modern day techniques on the show, like phone in sessions, where they give out advice to callers. In “The Heaven and Earth Show” celebrities are also interviewed, and seeing that they are classed as role models of the modern world, the show does not display religious people as out of touch wit the modern world.
Conclusively, I believe that the idea of religious people being portrayed as “out of touch” with society is dying out among the television’s broadcasters, and that they have now started to portray religious people as “in touch” with society, in the modern shows, to attract more audiences. However, the fact that no other religions are shown on television is understandable, seeing that people of a certain society may find such programmes a little dull for their interests, and broadcasters have a main aim of scoring top marks on the rating of their programmes.