Essay research 6

I watched an interview by Sheppi Khorsandi with John O'Farrell who was one of the writers behind 'Spitting Image' and also worked on 'Have I Got News For You'. This is a link to the transcript of the interview-

http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/bam/live/content/z2wr4wx/transcript

this was an very useful interview as he talks about how and why satire has changed in the time scale I have been researching. He said-

"The boundaries have been pushed back and back and back. So I remember studying That Was the Week That Was, trying to get my head round the notion that it was shocking to say that politicians were a bit bad or to criticise them at all. This was why this was must see viewing in 1963."

Satire must have been worrying to politicians who were used to a climate where their policies were rarely criticized let alone their personal lives. This shock value made satirical programmes must see viewing and made them a powerful tool. he went on to say-

"But gradually over the 60s and 70s we sort of came to understand that our politicians were not perfect. Spitting Image did it with the Royal family in the 80s and I think now political satirists are struggling ‘cause it’s sort of a presumption among the electorate that our politicians are no good… "

Over time all the shortcomings of politicians became common knowledge and were openly scrutinised in the public eye. Politicians went from being revered and above reproach pre 1960 to being seen as swindlers and crooks. It has got to the point where anything said about a politician, however bad is accepted and almost expected. this huge shift in public perception could have had an impact on the effectiveness of satire.

O'Farrell concluded that-

"…when I worked on Have I Got News For You we’d have politicians coming on and quite often it would increase their profile and help their status… There’s no great satirical programme on TV and I really think we are doing the cruellest thing that we could do to our politicians which is just ignore them completely. "

Because it is so common for politicians to be made fun of it makes sense that they would embrace these types on satirical environments to keep them in the public eye. politicians have changed the way they present themselves to the public, they now try to portray themselves as a flawed character that is trying their best. they seem to be trying to make a connection with the public by appearing to be one of the people even though most politicians lives have no connection to the lives of the majority of people in the country.