:P

[dreamer_easy]

On a quest for Top Gear bloopers, I watched some stuff cut out of the News earlier this year. There are lots of silly lols, as you might expect, and then this really nasty little bit where they slag off a woman for being ugly.

Obviously, the "news" on TG is entertainment, not actual information, as Googling any of their little outrages about the government or environment will quickly demonstrate. But that brief descent into boorishness disappointed me so much that I couldn't help looking up the lady in question, thereby discovering that (a) she probably does know what "novel batteries" means, being a former Director of Advanced Engineering at Rolls-Royce, former chief executive of the Institute of Physics, and so on, (b) her appearance is perfectly normal and in fact she probably looks like your mum and (c) she's around the same age as Clarkson.

They're lucky that bit wasn't broadcast, really: how large a part of TG's audience is made up of perfectly normal-looking women of a certain age? Pissing them off could dent the boys' chances of being voted "weird crush of the year" again. Although I'm sure the ladies would have enjoyed as much as I did what appears to be a helpful offer by Richard to ejaculate into Jeremy's mouth.

(If you're interested, search the PDF of the King Review's Recommendations for Action for the phrase "novel batteries". If you're only slightly interested: cutting CO2 requires r&d to find technological solutions, such as new kinds of batteries.)

ETA: I'm not sure if the TG Australia site provides subtitles / transcripts. If you need one of the bit in question, leave a comment and I'll type it up. ETA: There's a transcript of the relevant bit in the comments.

Comments

[infinitarian.livejournal.com]

That biog sounds familiar -- I'm certainly not going to watch any of Top Gear to find out, but would that be Julia King, the Vice-Chancellor at Aston University?

I've met her. She's really nice. And I didn't notice her being ugly.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

Indeed. I haven't included her name in my posting, just in case she somehow comes across it, and wasn't aware of TG's limp little joke.

[infinitarian.livejournal.com]

Ah, fair enough. Sorry.

What a bunch of wankers, though. She's a capable, intelligent and pleasant woman for whom I have an awful lot more respect than I have for Jeremy Clarkson.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

One does not respect Clarkson; one allows oneself to be amused by him. When he's funny. Which this clip suggests may be less of the time than one imagined.

(I'm pretty sure any mention of the lady's name is safe from search engines here in the comments.)

[qthewetsprocket.livejournal.com]

this is one big reason why i loathe the 'comedy mother' stereotype in films, tv and books; especially in childrens' stories (where it seems to be most prevalent, for some reason) - it promotes the whole 'har har, middle-aged women are mockable unattractive cyphers with no soul or sexuality whatsoever' idea.

also, alas, i cannot see the vid - it tells me it's unavailable and to check back later. it has been telling me that for the last few hours. :( *is on tenterhooks wondering what jeremy's answer to richard's helpful offer was*

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

It's something I appreciate about RTD's DW: there are plenty of ladiez my age and up, many of them sexeh and spirited.

Here's a tx of the relevant bit:

JC: You know the government has pledged to halve the amount of carbon dioxide that we all make within the next 17 years. There's this woman who's on the climate change committee, which is a sort of government thing. She says that we've all, all of us, including you [May] with your Peugeot 486, have got to buy an electric vehicle, and she says these electric vehicles are going to run on "novel batteries", charged by carbon-free electricity that we shall somehow make without harming any fluffy polar bears of anything.

RH: What does she mean by "novel batteries"? Novel...?

JC: Well obviously she has no idea how these batteries will actually work. Other than the fact that they're going to be running on magic and made in the forest by goblins.

JM: She hasn't really worked out the details of this, has she? It's a sort of a work for Citroen [inaudible]

RH: Is she good-looking?

JC: Is she what?

RH: Good-looking?

JC: I have actually got a picture of her here. *he shows Richard what is almost certainly Dr King's unflattering Wikipedia portrait*

RH: Well, maybe she's funny. [audience laughter] Rich! Really dirty?

JC: *shows audience* [audience groans]

RH: Not enough?

JC: This is the woman that's gonna ruin your life.

RH: Maybe she's all of those things!

JC: I would rather - *shows a picture of a Gammorean from "Return of the Jedi"*

RH: Hell-o!

JC: [who's using "artificial saliva" to combat laryngitis] I'm going need somebody to spit in my mouth. [to blonde in audience whose breasts he was admiring earlier, whose smile is becoming rather pastede on by this point] Could you do it?

RH: *leaping up and pretending to undo his fly* I can! It's not gonna be spit, as such, but it'll do the trick.

JC: *demurs*

[qthewetsprocket.livejournal.com]

It's something I appreciate about RTD's DW: there are plenty of ladiez my age and up, many of them sexeh and spirited.

0_ô

agree to really disagree on that one...in my book, the only bigger (modern) offender in the 'comedy mother stereotype' category is jk rowling.

and re: the top gear clip - you know, i think i've actually seen that one! was the fly pantomime bit in the actual show? the 'funny? rich?' bit sounds familiar too, though...*thinks uncomfortable thoughts about early senility, and wonders if the outtakes on the tg site used to actually work for me, once upon a time*

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

Well, as you know, I dislike the "mother in law" stereotype we get with Rose, Martha, and Donna's mums. However, neither Jackie nor Francine are sexless, and while Jackie is often played for laughs, Francine and Sylvia aren't. And none of those mothers are soulless - Sarah Jane certainly isn't! Moreover, "woman of a certain age" is not synonymous with "mother" - Yvonne Hartmann, Harriet Jones, Blon Slitheen, Captain Magambo, heck, Sky Silvestry and the Hostess. I honestly wouldn't expect to see such a variety of female characters my age and up in any other show.

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure I get it. Why does this actually surprise anyone?

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

They're usually cheeky and forgiveable rather than mean.

[the-ladylark.livejournal.com]

Top Gear have a reputation for saying things that are Just Not On. In fact this week they made a joke about it, mentioning a long list of groups that had complained about comments in the previous week, and then proclaiming that they would never offend [single most contraversial group listed].

I'd say that calling a particular woman 'not good looking' is fairly mild for what they get up to! I suspect that none of them are particularly sexist, just as none of them actually believe that lorry drivers all murder prostitutes.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

I usually don't mind their naughty boys act, but then usually it's funnier! They undercut a lot of stuff which would be painful by being silly or OTT or self-deprecatory. In fact, one remark about how unattractive the boys themselves were that week, between Jeremy's artificial saliva, James' eye infection, and Rich's heavily made-up zit, would've taken much of the venom out of it!

[edorm.livejournal.com]

... aaaand this is why I've missed the whole Top Gear boat - the first time I ever watched it, they were interviewing people in the crowd, and Jeremy decided it would be funny to make fun of how one of the people looked. I just changed the channel and never went back.