A Look At the Infamous 'Irish Episodes'
By Suzanne Campbell
"Tonight's episode of EastEnders contains scenes that may offend some viewers. The BBC has apologised if they offended Irish people, as they have no wish to misrepresent them. The BBC would like to assure viewers that there was no intention to upset anyone through the portrayal of the Irish visit and they apologise to anyone who has been."
And so began the introduction to the ill-fated journey to the Emerald Isle.
The legwork that led the Fowlers and Beales to their destination was set into motion months ago. Pauline's discovery of that fated letter was to bring a subversive attack upon her life via the secret, contained in that letter, that came burgeoning to the surface. A surprising fact that would alter our Albert Square matriarch forever.
Lou had another daughter.
When thinking about the structure of a serial drama, one sees that characters' front-burner pertinence ebbs and flows. Pauline Fowler, although always an integral member of the community, has been sidelining of late. Folding linens and chasing after bad boy Martin have been her duties to the camera.
In retrospect, however, the writers have cleverly woven the key players into motion with each other. Pauline managed, in all her strength, to draw her family close to her once again. This is a feeling that has been lacking, I dare say, since Arthur's passing.
The Fowlers and the Beales have overcome. Martin did not follow in Mark's youthful mistakes; he has stayed with his family instead of going with the dangerous crowd. Mark and Ruth have both averted and contributed to family static, as Mark's illness slowly progresses and Ruth's longing for children grows. Lastly, Ian, aimless in his bitterness and paranoia, has opened a door that returned him to his family and connected him to reality once again.
All this in place, the trip began, Pauline's clan united on the threshold of discovery. And the show began its journey towards controversy, which began with Pauline's quest for a cup of tea and continued throughout the course of the episodes, until the show went back to London.
So what was the uproar all about? What is the definition of a harmful stereotype? Since I'm not an Irish citizen, I obviously can't provide an authorised answer in this specific situation. However, I think it is safe to say that, at least in part, a stereotype is when negative aspects of a specific race, religion, nationality or other group of people are used to represent that group, are highlighted or strongly emphasised... and the more positive aspects of that group are de-emphasised. And the Irish were angered by what they saw.
According to the BBC News/Ireland site, "... the BBC had met 60 of the promises it made [last year] but judged it had fallen short of three....
"A key failure was the promise to represent all groups accurately and avoid reinforcing prejudice. This was not fulfilled because of the EastEnders Ireland specials," Sir Christopher said. He added: "This is our third attempt to state our promises. I think we are getting better at this process."
"Will Wyatt, Chief Executive of BBC Broadcast, said: 'The BBC applies the highest standards of quality, taste, decency impartiality and integrity to all its programmes and services."
What Mr. Wyatt said, to me interviewing him for the Walford Gazette, states the case of the BBC quite precisely. When one looks at the any-day episode of EastEnders, stereotypical elements are dominant everywhere. Here are some parallels to illustrate.
Irish: When Pauline and crew stopped in the village-no, excuse me, town-they encountered several unsavoury characters. Before even exiting their minivan, they witnessed two men engaged in a public row, out in the street. No punches were thrown but threats did fly.
I think what made these first impressions of Ireland stand out even more was the fact that while this was going on, the villagers were busy trying to pawn off their livestock in the village square, an image so old-fashioned that one was led to think that the mention of a hard drive would evoke conversation about trying to get a horse 'n cart up a steep hill instead of a computer.
Of course, while all this is going on, Pauline and Ian are sharing a dynamic heart to heart. While we are seeing the backdrop of the townspeople in all their primitiveness-two-dimensional cardboard cutout characters-the two English visitors are embroiled in a deeply personal discussion about life, revealing layers within two comparatively refined people, civilly discussing such matters over a spot of tea.
EastEnders: There are too many EastEnders fights on record to remember. Kathy vs. Sharon over Phil. Mark got walloped and his HIV status was revealed to those within earshot range. Grant vs. anybody. Bianca, out on the market at her stall, reaching decibel ranges that only dogs can hear, whenever she found out that Ricky had to work late or Diane insisted on them not flushing the toilet for fear it may wake the baby.
Irish: The caricature-like innkeeper, not able to understand that the Towlers were the Fowlers and that someone had copied their name down incorrectly in the reservation book. So Mark 'humoured' the man, saying that they would be sure to vacate the rooms should the 'Towlers' ever arrive.
EastEnders: Dim-bulb stereotypes? Two words: Ricky Butcher. The guy has gotten a worse reputation than Jayne Mansfield for being the dullest knife in the drawer, both when it comes to matters of intellect and matters of common sense. The bachelor party, where the boys found themselves on a barge to nowhere on Ricky's and Bianca's wedding day will stand out as one of Ricky's more stellar moments. Can you say will power? The man doesn't know when to say when. Ever.
Irish: The kind-hearted barkeep telling Pauline that the English "worry too much about time," indicating to the wary eye that the Irish are the epitome of the slacker, that they never have any cause to worry about the time. This was almost as nauseating as the bus scene in the movie The Matchmaker, when the tour guide tried to get a wee grin out of Marcy (Janeane Garofalo) by telling her to let her smile 'come out and play.' This was, of course, followed by the singing of "O Danny Boy."
English: Ian would be the stereotypical English yuppie, obsessed with time, driving his employees and himself equally hard. His behaviour is always justified through personal reasons, however. When he first started Meals on Wheels, he drove Hattie so hard because he was obsessed with her in lieu of his obsession with his first-time disappeared wife, Cindy. More recently his behaviour has been rooted yet again in Cindy's disappearance, only this time she left with two of his three children after failing to retrieve the third.
Irish: Meet Sean, introduced to viewers as an apparent 'local lush.' Surly, belligerent and drunk while the sun was still up, he gave Pauline a run for her money and a pint for her blouse. Her personal impressions of the Irish were tarnished from the get-go. Sean insults and chats Pauline up all in the same breath, not knowing that they would be introduced as in-laws that evening. After all was said, done and spilled, the kindly bartender told Mark and Ian: "We have to be thankful for small mercies-he didn't get violent." Combine this with the earlier verbal combat in the street and the Inn people, Irishmen are roughly sketched as violent, irrational drunks who don't have a clue.
English: Phil Mitchell was the biggest fall-down drunk to ever be portrayed in a major character on EastEnders. He not only is an alcoholic, he also cheated on his wife, thrashed her about and abandoned her with a small child. We also had Nick the heroin addict/murderer, Pete the fall-down drunk who couldn't remember where he slept... and Angie who made it all look like fun.
Irish: Poor Maggie, the housewife feeding the world. With children and other various relatives underfoot and a husband who could very well be Nick Cotton in 30 years, Maggie stands alone in her daily battles. A house bursting at the seams, constantly rotating mealtimes according to when everyone decides to come home or wake up, Maggie is the household saint. When Pauline questioned her about it, what did she say? "That's all right, I'm used to it." Yikes.
EastEnders: One easily sees that if there is a negative stereotype here, it carries over to the regular characters on EastEnders as well. Pauline has basically been leading a mirrored life. However, the argument can be made that although Pauline does seem to take in strays (cases in point: Mandy and Aidan) while simultaneously acting as the family glue, she also doesn't put up with any nonsense. When she found out about Arthur's infidelities, she didn't hop to the kitchen to make him shepherd's pie in the next beat. Martin certainly gets no leeway. Eventually even Auntie Nellie overstayed her welcome.
Apparently, the Irish impressions of the fact that the BBC have been the most noticeable culprits of late doesn't mean that they are the only guilty parties in Irish stereotyping. As an American viewer of EastEnders, I don't see how the Irish were any worse represented here than in Roddy Doyle's novel-made-film The Snapper, the story of an Irish girl who gets drunk and pregnant (by no less than the dirty old married man across the street) all in one banner evening. It can therefore be assumed that relativity is another factor in defining a negative stereotype.
As previously mentioned, one of the first Irish characters we meet in the Ireland episodes is a nasty drunk. Does that mean that all of the Ireland segments are dismissive and negligible? That depends on how seriously the viewer takes the show and if the viewer takes a dramatisation as absolute fact. That is certainly an underestimation of the viewer. Imagine then what our neighbours across the pond would think about the U.S., based upon an American soap, say, The Bold and the Beautiful. I don't know about you, but I am not a millionairess Barbie doll.
But does it stop there?
One thing that the BBC do claim to attempt is more than a modicum of reality when it comes to EastEnders. According to the BBC's "Information-Standards and Policies" section on its Web site that directly pertains to EastEnders...
"The production team working on EastEnders have carried out meticulous research into the habits and lifestyles of the real-life counterparts of the characters portrayed in the programme for the sake of authenticity, and the programme has been widely acclaimed in this respect. It is however, very difficult to produce a programme which ties in with everyone's image or recollection of life in the East End of London."
Bearing all that in mind, EastEnders is a television drama, not a documentary. But no one wants to be ill represented on a TV show that is broadcast around the world... not when so few shows are focused upon them.
There were also many pleasant things in the Ireland episodes. As the introductions began to thicken, there were several very sweet moments between the Irish and the English; Martin's experience was evidence of that. Whereas the boys he hung out with in England were nothing but corrupt, the Irish lads still took part in innocent mischief, such as trying to cross a creek on unstable rocks. Martin smiled at the prospect of trying to cross again, even if he did end up in the water the first time around. Therein lay evidence that there was also a reversing of negative stereotyping.
Back to our friendly neighbourhood bartender. As Mark, Ian and he chatted, Martin returned from his rather damp outing, sloshing up the steps in his wet clothes and shoes. The bartender turned to Mark and Ian, rather sarcastically saying "Keen on swimming, is he?" Maybe he had a quicker wit than first thought.
So where does the show's liability end and the viewer's responsibility begin? Somewhere within a grey area that varies from one viewer to the next. Regular viewers of EastEnders are used to characters being revealed one layer at a time. How many of us liked Peggy Mitchell or Frank Butcher upon first sight? On the flip side of the coin, how many of us liked James Willmott-Brown when he first sauntered into town? The luxury of a serial drama-especially one that airs several times a week-is that it can take its time revealing what it wants to about characters and plot.
However, remote sequences such as the Ireland episodes are limited by nature. Knowing that they would not be flipping back and forth from Ireland for countless weeks limited the amount of air time that the characters we met in Ireland received. In such a situation, characters often become caricatures, not intentionally, but caricatures nonetheless. There is not enough time for proper development and we are left with a concentrated version of a person or place.
This is whence the problems with the Ireland episodes stemmed; the normal level of development was absent. Although I personally feel that the characters were ultimately redeemed, their actions justified by their problematic lives, this was a mercurial situation before it began. Maybe someday down the road, we'll be treated to another visit to Ireland, and Sean won't be such the drunken curmudgeon and Maggie won't be the dowdy housewife with 1,000 mouths to feed out of a 2 x 4 kitchen. Maybe Pauline will get her drink next time, instead of someone else's dropped in her lap.
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