What really upsets me is the fact that these complaints are apparently coming from parents who don't want their children subjected to anything homosexual. Yet a lot of these same parents are only too happy to allow their eight and nine year olds to play the immensely bloodthirsty Grand Theft Auto games on their playstations. Games which are only intended for over 18s because of the violent content.
It just completely amazes me that they are happy for their kids to witness people being stabbed, beaten up or blowing great holes in each other, but not willing to have them witness two people, albeit both of the same sex, kissing and showing love and respect for each other...
Okay onto the article. I don't agree with the writer's statement that Torchwood was a children's programme that RTD and the Beeb tried to convert into an adult show. I have always understood that the target audience for Torchwood was older kids and adults, the grown up version of Doctor Who if you like, it was never intended for small kids. If a show is shown after 21:00 it is therefore not intended for anyone younger than 15 years old. I'm pretty sure I'm right in saying that the only time it's been shown earlier than that, it's been edited to be suitable for younger kids.
As for the rest of the article, especially about parents being in control of their own children, I couldn't agree more.
Take a read...
What is a watershed?
Ofcom (and probably the BBC) have been receiving a small number of complaints about the smash Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood.
Why did people complain? Not because it’s got John Barrowman in it, not because it’s being condensed from 13 to 5 episodes, in the same week. They didn’t complain about the fact that the programme depicted someone being drowned/buried alive in concrete.
People are complaining about the gay bits. Apparently most complaints to Ofcom are from parents annoyed that their children are being subjected to homosexual content.
Lets look at the facts, and decide whether the BBC, or the parents, are being immoral.
* Captain Jack is gay. He kissed The Doctor in his earlier Doctor Who appearances.
* Torchwood is being shown on BBC ONE, after the 9pm Watershed.
* The 9pm watershed is effectively a 15 rating.
* Parents are complaining that Children are watching 15 rated content.
* Torchwood first came about as an attempt at a Children’s programme, but is now shown later.
I’ve got nothing against parents, personally. I just wish they would get themselves some common sense, and stop being quite so ‘holier than thou’ when it comes to protecting their precious children.
Parents also need to learn that the Watershed runs from 21:00 to 05:30 each day. This means that if you don’t want to corrupt your children, you need to control what your children watch after 9 o’clock at night.
Is it bad of the BBC to adapt Torchwood to be slightly more adult in its Sci-Fi approach? There aren’t any other Sci-Fi programmes made by the BBC which are targetted towards adults, but maybe it would have been better to dream up a new programme than change a children’s hit to an adult hit.
No matter what is broadcast, on which channel, Parents need to bear in mind that, whilst they may object to phrases such as:
“are you taking it up the bum?”
Your child can find that sentence, and a whole lot more, with graphic images to explain what the words meant, here on the Internet.
Torchwood is like Star Trek. It’s inclusive of all. Okay, Star Trek wasn’t quite inclusive of gay people, but Star Trek was in the 1960’s. Russell T Davies is creating Doctor Who and its offspring into an inclusive programme which doesn’t focus on gender, colour or sexual preference. If you can’t handle that, you’ve got an off switch. Let those of us who can handle real life get on with things. Read the Daily Mail instead.
Original Source
0 comments:
Post a Comment