Dennis Potter

[handsomefortune]

cont. p. 94

...would suit pe perfickly.

[jayne lee wilson]

Avoiding the crossfire, and pausing - from a female point of view - to acknowledge teamsaint's intelligent thoughts on Blackeyes, doesn't anyone else remember "Where Adam Stood" with as much pleasure as I do? A touchingly insightful two-hander for father and son, so beautifully written and filmed you could enjoy it any number of times. A wonderful ending too...

"The Lord says I am to keep the boat, father.
-Are you quite sure, Edmund?
-Yes Father."

[teamsaint]

I thought it just horribly sexist at the time.

What were the 'important issues' it raised?

Like most people, I have only seen the series once, so please forgive any inaccuracies.

The series addressed, in Potter's usual skilful multi- layered way, the relationships, including power relationships, between men and women. It particularly focussed on the way that women are , as a group in society, exploited through media focus on looks, which feeds on the power and instincts of men. There is then further focus on how women can, at the individual level, exploit the very thing that undermines them as a gender.

However, centrally I think, the series invites men to look at their own role in their relationships with women on a number of levels. Of course, this is done most obviously by presenting the (male) audience with the symbol, the casual portrayal of the unclothed female body, that both demonstrates the power of the male in society, whilst fundamentally undermining the male in terms of their individual relationships. It's hard to see how Potter could have avoided demonstrating visually that which he wanted to discuss, but it could have been done in other ways. However, as said before, what was shown on the series was no more graphic that that available in the red tops every day of the week. In any case, the (rather unusually presented)nudity, for instance, serves surely to confront men(and possibly women) with their own potential hypocrisy. Potter's approach could be seen as a thoroughly honest one, perhaps too honest for those with certain sensitivities. It could equally be seen as exploitive, but my suspicion would be that by exposing the issues in the candid way he did, he hoped that longer term good would ensue as we examined our consciences on these issues, presented in what is the most powerful medium. Potter was acutely aware, I am sure, of the enormous power of TV...fresh in his mind from his huge triumphs on SD and PFH. I happen to think that it is a fair assumption that he felt strongly about the issues raised in Blackeyes, since he was talented and influential enough to have covered pretty much any topic he wished at that moment.It also true to say that he frequently touched on these issues in his other later work.

I cannot remember now if Potter dealt with these issues in interviews, but he is surely presenting us not with what he wants to see for his own gratification, but is rather bravely exposing his own frailties and fallibilities?

[teamsaint]

Avoiding the crossfire, and pausing - from a female point of view - to acknowledge teamsaint's intelligent thoughts on Blackeyes, doesn't anyone else remember "Where Adam Stood" with as much pleasure as I do? A touchingly insightful two-hander for father and son, so beautifully written and filmed you could enjoy it any number of times. A wonderful ending too...

"The Lord says I am to keep the boat, father.
-Are you quite sure, Edmund?
-Yes Father."

No I don't remember it, but its available complete on Youtube so I'll give it a watch when there is a break in the music.
Whenever that is !!
Thanks for the tip.

[johnb]

I can't say much about DP's dramas because I only saw a couple of them and that was many, many years ago.

However his truly remarkable interview with Melvyn Bragg, given when he was dying and having to take slugs of morphine every so often from a flask by his side, is still etched in my memory. It was perhaps the most remarkable programme I have ever seen on television.

[Serial_Apologist]

I can't say much about DP's dramas because I only saw a couple of them and that was many, many years ago.

However his truly remarkable interview with Melvyn Bragg, given when he was dying and having to take slugs of morphine every so often from a flask by his side, is still etched in my memory. It was perhaps the most remarkable programme I have ever seen on television.

A couple of short excerpts are available on youtube, but the entire 75 minutes are unavailable in this country, courtesy Channel 4, it says when you click on it.

[teamsaint]

It is a shame that the interview is unavailable.It was, as johnb says, quite extraordinary stuff.

The next best thing I guess, is to revisit Cold Lazarus/Karaoke, about which he talked quite a bit in the interview.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/cold-lazarus/4od

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/karaoke

Edit: quite a bit of his other work, including Blackeyes complete available on youtube.

[amateur51]

A couple of short excerpts are available on youtube, but the entire 75 minutes are unavailable in this country, courtesy Channel 4, it says when you click on it.

The link contains 50 mins of the interview - I love it

http://vimeo.com/26503584

[Serial_Apologist]

The link contains 50 mins of the interview - I love it

http://vimeo.com/26503584

Ah you found one that works. Well done ams, and many thanks. Quite an afternoon's worth of back-listening to catch up on now!

[teamsaint]

Yes thanks Ams.
Think I will have a watch of episode 1 of Blackeyes as well, and discover how defective my memory is !!

[gurnemanz]

Pennies from Heaven was a classic, also Blue Remembered Hills. I enjoyed Lipstick on your Collar. Potter was a fellow linguist (Ewan McGregor, a translator, was its central character) and I am old enough to remember the Connie Francis hit first time round.

[amateur51]

Ah you found one that works. Well done ams, and many thanks. Quite an afternoon's worth of back-listening to catch up on now!

You can imagine why certain people on here are so incommoded by this man's speaking out

[Globaltruth]

27 posts in & no-one's trotted out my fave DP trivia , the name he gave his cancer....

rupert

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0693259/bio

No man is more responsible for polluting the press and, in turn, polluting political life. (On Rupert Murdoch)

[johnb]

A couple of short excerpts are available on youtube, but the entire 75 minutes are unavailable in this country, courtesy Channel 4, it says when you click on it.

Luckily I have a recording of it.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

27 posts in & no-one's trotted out my fave DP trivia , the name he gave his cancer....