Channel 4
has another reality TV show, expose, documentary. Move over My big Fat
Gypsy Wedding, Benefits Street is the new kid on the block. The documentary makers from
Channel 4 spent over a year filming on a street in Winson Green,
Birmingham UK where it claims the majority of over 99 inhabitants on James
Turner Street are claiming government benefits.
Many
people have criticised the show as 'poverty porn', a way for us "have
somes" can stare and jeer at the Dickensian style baddies, draining the
state of all of our hard working money. The episodes focus on different themes,
episode 1 introduced some main characters of the street, including white Dee, a
matriarch of the street whipping everyone into shape and black Dee a woman on
the verge of eviction and frustrated at the lack of employment
opportunities.
The
episode was also extremely controversial as it depicted a just released from
Jail Danny and his junkie friend Fungi on an expedition to find loot to sell
for drugs. It showed Danny creating an alarm proof bag and depicted him
breaking the security tag for the stolen goods on a bus. Episode 2 showed the
cultural mix on the street by featuring a group of Romanians entrepreneurially
trying to make ends meet by selling scrap metal much to the dismay of other
residents annoyed at the mess this caused.
The show
is an interesting depiction of a modern street with problems, but these issues
are not so different from those in wealthier, middle class neighborhoods such
as: unemployment, absent fathers, immigration, integration, drug abuse and
crime. These issues are not just social ills of the less fortunate, they occur
in normal people too, just behind closed doors. The show shows a street
where people can group together, help each other out. Struggling heroin addict
Fungi could always call on white Dee to help him with his benefits claims and
hold money for him.
Episode 1
showed a gentleman Smoggy who offered basic amenities such as soap, milk and
hot chocolate all for 50p. He noticed that many people including himself were
struggling and took advantage of a gap on the market. Since the show aired he
has been offered three jobs. Some people have said the show portrays a
negative image of people on benefits. I know people who live on benefits and
they don't live like this. I also spent 3 years living in Birmingham and didn't
see evidence "scroungers". People who claim benefits are everywhere,
in every city and town in the UK. What the show does do is shows its
perspective of what some people on benefits go through and what they face.
The show
has had some major criticism, incensing conservative MPs to use the show as
political fodder, cries of child exploitation, claims of poverty porn. I think
I understand what the show is trying to do, show people on benefits and how day
to day life is for them warts and all, but does it go too far? One thing that
is portrayed is the community spirit people helping each other out like an
episode of Eastenders, but maybe they should all go and just get a job.
