Although I know that most blog posts have been focused on one specific show, I just like Our War and Being Human too much to not talk about both of them. Since my thoughts are wildly different in both tone and subject for the two shows, (as is to be expected by the two radically different programs) I will separate them into two distinct sections of the blog post. First, I will give my thoughts on Our War and its unbelievable ability to paint an unbiased portrait of war. Second, I will speak towards the refreshing take on a pilot that Being Human was able to pull off.
Like many others in the class, I was completely floored by the extremely emotional and vivid documentary. However, the part of the show that stood out the most to me was its ability to portray a current war without bias towards whether it supported or was against the it. I think back to all the documentaries on 60 Minutes and similar shows during the war that constantly bombarded us with patriotic hoorah and were clearly meant to support and give a reason to the war. Our War does none of this and instead represents both sides of the argument in an extremely impressive balancing act. For example, there was a point in the program when one of the soldiers comments about the positive effects they have made on a market town that obviously would be pro-war. On the other hand, there are also many anti-war moments like the mother being lied to about her son’s death. This balance between two polar extremes is exactly the place and position that BBC needs to occupy and perfectly demonstrates why BBC needs to continue to exist as the top broadcaster in Britain.
On another note, the show Being Human also impressed me a lot especially in regards to how to create an intriguing, unconventional pilot episode. I went into the show expecting something along the lines of Twilight or Teen Wolf, (ok I won’t diss Vampire Diaries this time) but came out very pleasantly surprised. On one level, I liked the show or its intriguing characters that were not just complete rip-offs of past industry favorites like Edward Cullen. But even more amazing was how the show departed from a stereotypical pilot. Instead of dumbing down the show and introducing us to the characters one by one as they meet each other, the pilot instead plops us right into their everyday lives together and expects us as viewers to keep up. This strategy is much more engaging as the viewer must actively participate instead of just being spoonfed information. For example, in most of these sci-fi supernatural shows, the viewer is introduced to X character in the first show and completely defines this X character multiple times throughout one episode by beating the viewer over the head with exactly which Y powers they have and what Z mythology constitutes their existence (i.e. look here is a vampire he can’t go out in the sunlight but he can run at supernatural speeds etc. etc.). However, in Being Human we only get a small glimpse into these character’s natures and powers and this makes us want to continue to come back for more. I personally loved this strategy and this is the reason I continue to watch more episodes of it on Netflix.
I think you bring up a really important fact about Being Human that helps make it as good as it is: the fact that we’re not introduced to one character at a time. Usually the audience might tend to identify with the first protagonist they’re introduced to, especially when they’re beaten over the head with information about that person. While the other protagonists might be introduced shortly after, there will always be that judgement call made by the show that foregrounds the one that was introduced first. Introducing them all at the same time gives the audience a least more of a chance to choose the protagonist they identify with instead of having the show decide it for them.
Brenna, your point about the “main” character of the show is great and something I dont think that I really touched on much during my blog post. You are so right in terms of the fact that we as viewers are not pointed at one specific character to put above the rest and instead we are able to choose who to connect with the most or just hold all as equal. Although the ghost girl does introduce the rest of them in a voiceover, I think that we still are thrown into the program without any huge bias on who we are supposed to uphold as the “main” character. A similar U.S. show that comes to mind in connection with this idea is Friday Night Lights. Although Coach Taylor is obviously the connecting factor between all the storylines and thus the “main” character of the entire series, the series (for the most part) does not really single out any of the high schoolers more than others and instead gives them all their space and time to develop which allows us to become connected to some over others (i.e. Tim Riggins is so much better for Lila than Jimmy Street).