Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: The strange story arc

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  • Kyle Matthews,

    They're bloody clever, those media companies. I'm surprised they find it so hard to make money...

    I hear it's because everyone is stealing their movies over the intawebs.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • stephen walker,

    ah, ok.
    but surely the subject matter has nothing to do with "dramatic fiction"?

    nagano • Since Nov 2006 • 646 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    I think we should invoke Los Bros more often. Could they be PA's next Battlestar Galactica?

    Wow... My brain melted a little trying to picture what kind of wonderful world would see Hoppers and Palomar in their true glory on a television near you.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    ah, ok.
    but surely the subject matter has nothing to do with "dramatic fiction"?

    Only in that's how it reads.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Parks,

    I think we should invoke Los Bros more often. Could they be PA's next Battlestar Galactica?

    I invoke it (kinda) every time I post.

    Wow... My brain melted a little trying to picture what kind of wonderful world would see Hoppers and Palomar in their true glory on a television near you.

    Dunno about the tely, but the movie rights have been held up, according to Wiki: "Many attempts have been made to make L&R into a movie, or series of movies. However, until recently, the movie rights had been held up in litigation for over 15 years."

    I think Hppoers could make good tv.

    Wellington • Since May 2007 • 1165 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Parks,

    er.... and Hoppers would make good tv, too.

    Wellington • Since May 2007 • 1165 posts Report Reply

  • Rich Lock,

    My wife had some interesting comments on the whole Jade Goody/racism issue - she reckons it was more that Jade Goody was intimidated and lashing out more than anything else.

    Considering that the contrast between Shilpa Shetty - a polished, poised, intelligent, classy, attractive woman - and Jade Goody could not really be more stark, I tend to agree.

    Whichever way you cut it, life does seem to have delighted in giving her a good kicking.

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Considering that the contrast between Shilpa Shetty - a polished, poised, intelligent, classy, attractive woman ...

    And an actress coming out of Bollywood -- where women, if they want to last, have to be incredibly circumspect about what they say and do. I don't think a Lindsay Lohan would survive long in Mumbai.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • George Darroch,

    but surely the subject matter has nothing to do with "dramatic fiction"?

    Given that it's about the work of tabloid "news"papers, it has everything to do with dramatic fiction.

    Fictional forms infect all sorts of material for better or worse, and use the same narrative devices and characters. Some argue that we're wired that way, others simply that adapting non-fiction to these forms reads better, and others that it is just laziness on part of the author.

    WLG • Since Nov 2006 • 2264 posts Report Reply

  • stephen walker,

    are you suggesting that the life and death of this woman is somehow a "fiction" because it's presented in tabloid newspapers?

    i certainly wouldn't suggest that it was "news" in any sense that i understand that term, and i do not disput that the whole thing is laced with real and invented drama. but this person's life and death as fiction? really?

    nagano • Since Nov 2006 • 646 posts Report Reply

  • Mark Harris,

    She lives, she will die. That much is fact. What happens in between or, more importantly, what you know about it is up to her and her publicist. More than half of what you read in a tabloid (especially a UK tabloid) will be made up by a 'reporter' with 5 column inches to fill.

    Waikanae • Since Jul 2008 • 1343 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    My point, and it's not a particularly original one, is that Jade Goody's life is like a story.

    Having been defined in genres that are 50% fiction -- reality TV and celebrity tabloid news -- she has transcended both with her actual life. The Secretary of State for Justice intervened so she could have her wedding: it really is like a movie.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    And who would play her?

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • stephen walker,

    She lives, she will die. That much is fact. What happens in between or, more importantly, what you know about it is up to her and her publicist

    so you are saying that she and her publicist decided she should die from cancer before she was 30?

    nagano • Since Nov 2006 • 646 posts Report Reply

  • stephen walker,

    My point, and it's not a particularly original one, is that Jade Goody's life is like a story.

    yes, like a story. but not a story. like one.
    maybe i'm nitpicking, but it just doesn't seem right to me, to describe some woman's early death from cancer as "oddly perfect". stranger than fiction, like fiction, eerily like fiction---sure. but describing this person's demise as "oddly perfect" sounds quite callous to my ear.

    nagano • Since Nov 2006 • 646 posts Report Reply

  • Alastair Thompson,

    Back on the subject of news about the union movement.

    We carry lots of it on Scoop.

    Just thought I would mention that.

    http://search.scoop.co.nz/search?to=Unions&sort_by=relevance&q=unions

    Admittedly its not really news - just statements from unions - but its something.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 220 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    News by the union movement, I guess. Nice to see you in these parts, Alastair.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    but describing this person's demise as "oddly perfect" sounds quite callous to my ear.

    Yes, but I'm not talking about her demise as being oddly perfect. It's terribly sad, and I don't think anything I've said here has been unsympathetic -- unlike some of the coldly snobbish "quality" paper coverage.

    But Jade Goody's life has been a public narrative since she first appeared in Big Brother in 2002. We're talking about someone who found out she had cervical cancer last year on camera on the Indian version of Big Brother.

    That's the story arc: emergence, fame, fall from grace, redemption in the final reckoning. All in public. I honestly don't think it's callous to say that.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Yes, I found it amazing that they had footage of the moment she found out - chilling. That's one mediated life, and it's still not that common.

    We have a little way to go before Evernote lives up to the promise of Continuity in William Gibson's Neuromancer trilogy.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • stephen walker,

    I honestly don't think it's callous to say that.

    ok, i can see that you weren't referring to her demise. i misunderstood your initial allusion.

    nagano • Since Nov 2006 • 646 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    He's not that kind of guy.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    so you are saying that she and her publicist decided she should die from cancer before she was 30?

    Well, I'd like to know what kind of advice she was getting when she decided going to India was a higher priority than being in England to get the results in person, and privately. I wouldn't call this woman's life and death a tragedy, but a sick farce -- and no less so because Goody was fully complicit in it until the end.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Craig, going to India was how she was making money. It was her job.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark,

    Re Oscars - it had better be being repeated at some stage.
    Re Jade Goody - vey vey sad, and good on her for milking it for money for her boys. I think it shows a fantastic degree of pragmatism considering the soap opera that has been presented as her life.
    Re trade unions - I agree with Jan that pkiwi's comment is a good jumping off point for a discussion re TU. A small club, pkiwi? My union, the NZEI, is reasonably large. They are also highly effective, and quite frankly, I'm not sure where public kindergarten teachers would be without them. And one thing is for sure - we're going to need them for the next few years. Anne Tolley is a scary human being, and she's ignoring us at the mo, but goddess help us when she turns her cold gaze on early childhood, and public kindergartens in particular. I mean, who is she? Why did she get education? HELP!

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report Reply

  • Mark Harris,

    so you are saying that she and her publicist decided she should die from cancer before she was 30?

    Did I say that? No. No, I didn't. Read what is written, stephen, not what you want me to have written.

    Waikanae • Since Jul 2008 • 1343 posts Report Reply

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