BRITONS support the new BBC commissioner's proposals to scrap left-wing comedy shows, according to an Express.co.uk poll.
The BBC’s new commissioner, Tim Davie, has vowed to tackle alleged left-wing bias in the corporation’s comedy shows. Some programmes could be axed altogether, while others will have to ensure they project a wider range of views on issues such as Brexit.
Express.co.uk readers have overwhelmingly backed such a move, if the plans were to go ahead.
- The Express, 1st Sep 2020
Tim Davie, the new director-general of the BBC, is reportedly planning to tackle perceived “left-wing bias” in the corporation’s comedy sector. Mr Davie’s first speech in his new position on Thursday will reveal plans to restore “trust and confidence” in the BBC, according to The Daily Telegraph.
There could be an expectation of BBC programme-makers to find a more “balanced” list of satirical targets for comedians, as opposed to jokes that consistently take aim at the Conservatives.
- The Independent, 1st Sep 2020
There have been reports coming from both without and within the BBC that the new Director General of the Corporation, intends to sweep through the Beeb and start cutting budgets for television shows which display left-wing bias. Evidently the same kind of people who have white-anted our own ABC in Australia, have been appointed to positions of patronage by the Tories in as much of a piquant of ideological based acidification, as what has happened here in Australia.
Unlike the last time that this kind of purge happened at the BBC, the memories of people who served the nation in times of war no longer exist and it has become increasingly obvious that anything and everything that keeps the general populace informed about what the economic owners of the country want to do, must be kicked apart.
The thing is though is that comedy by its very nature, sets itself up against power; for the very practical reason that laughter is one of humanity's coping mechanisms against horrible things. It doesn't help that apart from natural disasters, literally every bad thing that happens in the world is the result of someone's selfishness and/or stupidity. The classic elements which form comedy (sarcasm, surrealism, vanity, surprise, wordplay) are all directed at taking a given set of conditions and rules and then subverting them. Political comedy is mostly about taking those elements and directing them against the horribleness perpetrated by whoever is in charge; and because government has broadly shifted to the economic right and the authoritarian north over the last 40 years, that's where the sights of comedy are most likely to be directed.
Comedy in principle is a subset of stories in general. Virtually every story since the beginning of time follows at barest, the structure of: Situation, Conflict, Resolution, and Denouement. Most television shows and films (and even longer form series) follow this almost formulaically to the point where you can actually track to the minute where you are within a story. Mrs Rollo and I were watching a comedy program on the telly recently and because we were at the exact lowest point in the story for the main character, I commented that we were at "16 minutes" (being 25 x ⅔); we were actually at 16:33. Once you know how stories work because humans are pattern recognising machines, it becomes impossible not to notice this type of thing.
That second element of how a story is built, is why political comedy if it exists, is usually going to set itself up in opposition to the prevailing power structures; whatever they happen to be. Comedy almost always sets itself up against the people in government irrespective of political persuasion and the rich and powerful. Admittedly comedy does set itself up against the poor and downtrodden but because they are already being beaten up by society, comedy in opposition to the poor and downtrodden tends to look cruel. That kind of comedy is the comedy of the bully; which is almost always an '-ist' (sexist, racist, ableist, classist, nativist). It should be noted that nobody much likes being the subject which comedy is being set up against; it's just that the rich and powerful are more of an acceptable target because they have the ability to walk away from the consequences more pleasantly.
The fact that the Director General of the BBC who is a Tory appointment, hates left wing comedy and wants to defund it, cancel it, and shut it down, is perfectly understandable. The fact that rich people don't like to be ridiculed is no different whatsoever to anyone else; it's just that they have the ability to exact punitive measures against the people who ridicule them.
Fitting the general theory of how comedy works over the top of the political compass, also gives you a pretty good idea of why right-wing comedy is so rare and why there is a tendency towards left-wing comedy.
On the left-right spectrum of economics (completely state owned collectivism on the left to completely privately owned individualism on the right), there actually isn't all that much space for comedy at all. Remember, comedy requires conflict and just on a pure economic scale, all you get are technical discussions about what is appropriate for people to own. Comedy is fought on the material of character mostly and for that you need the overlay of the north-south authoritarian-libertarian spectrum.
Comedy which sets itself up against libertarians trades heavily on the ridicule of vanity. Comedy against libertarians is for the most part, done by libertarians against themselves. Comedy which sets itself up against authoritarianism, is in fact where the vast majority of political comedy lives; it is far easier to write material which makes sport of the stupidity and vanity of those who exact power, than those who advocate for open liberal democracy. Comedy against authoritarianism looks pretty similar in both collectivist and individualist economies. Comedy against Khrushchev, Honecker, Thatcher, Reagan, Stalin, and Mao, once you remove the names, may as well be identical; even though their economic views of the world are totally different.
You can of course write comedy which is not much more than parody but that's not really politically driven; even though the targets might very well be. The other point worth mentioning in relation to this is that comedy which is targeted against Libertarians, generally has no ability to find a foothold for the simple reason that almost due to the very nature of governance itself, government and the enactment of policy doesn't happen without whoever is in charge having some weight of authority to be able to enact policy. Whether they like it or not (or even because they know it) governance doesn't simply disappear because the state has stepped out of the way. When that happens, private governance happens; which is often even more authoritarian than organised government.
I say all of this because I think that it is exceptionally difficult for right-wing comedy to be funny. Once you've attacked the people on the economic left for inefficiency (which requires deliberate and willful blindness on the right) or attacked Libertarians on matters of style, there's not really a whole heap of interesting or funny places to go. Calling out wokeness (whatever that's supposed to be) doesn't really provide enough grist for the mill of comedy. I honestly can not think of any really funny right-wing comedy and it isn't through lack of trying. On the other hand, left-wing comedy almost always attacks the apparatus of power itself.
No doubt that the BBC will enact the policy coming from the Director General and start purging comedians; then we shall see just how unfunny the right actually is. Silencing voices of dissent is an authoritarian concept and is completely divorced from the left-right economic spectrum. However, in the setting of a right shifted economic environment where the private owners of capital are the ones making policy, then it's very easy to see what voices they want silence and why. Comedy doesn't live on the right because there's nothing that you can kick against, if you already own everything.
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