Comments on: Masterchef, and BBC food programmes http://www.leyton.org/2008/02/28/masterchef-and-bbc-food-programmes/ Thoughts. Comment. Opinion. Sat, 10 Jan 2009 03:17:08 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Chameleon http://www.leyton.org/2008/02/28/masterchef-and-bbc-food-programmes/#comment-23096 Chameleon Sat, 01 Mar 2008 08:49:58 +0000 http://www.leyton.org/diary/2008/02/28/masterchef-and-bbc-food-programmes/#comment-23096 <p>I haven't been following this series of Masterchef, but have done so in the past and completely agree that the reinvention of the format has improved its viewability beyond measure. I was similarly hooked on the series which Thomasina won (I was rooting for her). What, to my mind, makes it different from a reality TV show in the "Big Brother" mode is that the contestants are not invited to show off their worst possible attributes on camera in the hope of ingratiating themselves to a public salivating over excess. Instead of encouraging attention-seeking through bad behaviour, it concentrates on skill and a sort of Bildungsreise, as the challenges become more difficult and the remaining few discover new depths of resilience and talent. The emotional highs and lows are put on display true enough, but at least the participants are not held up for public ridicule. From that point of view, the programme possesses a broader appeal. As for an 18-year-old showing an interest in the competition as opposed to an education, read some of the opinion polls papers like the Daily Mail periodically proffer as evidence of the terminal decline of our society...fame is the prize to be striven after at all costs and Masterchef provides a lot of free exposure in front of a very wide audience, the perfect springboard for a later career in the media. Half of the battle is being "discovered". Masterchef hands publicity to you on a plate, as it were. Then there is the issue of academic versus other, more practical, talents. Another lament of the right-wing papers is the snobbery concerning academic achievement, consigning people with genuine ability, just not of a book-oriented nature, to the scrapheap because the middle-classes look down their noses at "trade", a nasty habit they picked up to differentiate themselves from the class below them. Please don't read into this that I am accusing you of snobbery, far from it, I have the great pleasure of having met you and can say with impunity that there is no trace of snobbery about you :) But what are we to do if nobody sees any merit in less esoteric pursuits? Having said that, if the girl in question were to make the grade as a chef and earn a Michelin star or two she would, in all honesty, be able to command an infinitely higher income than the legions of academics ensconced in their comfortable studies far removed from the hustle and bustle of the non-contemplative life...so perhaps their is some reward after all. For those at the top at any rate.</p> I haven’t been following this series of Masterchef, but have done so in the past and completely agree that the reinvention of the format has improved its viewability beyond measure. I was similarly hooked on the series which Thomasina won (I was rooting for her). What, to my mind, makes it different from a reality TV show in the “Big Brother” mode is that the contestants are not invited to show off their worst possible attributes on camera in the hope of ingratiating themselves to a public salivating over excess. Instead of encouraging attention-seeking through bad behaviour, it concentrates on skill and a sort of Bildungsreise, as the challenges become more difficult and the remaining few discover new depths of resilience and talent. The emotional highs and lows are put on display true enough, but at least the participants are not held up for public ridicule. From that point of view, the programme possesses a broader appeal.
As for an 18-year-old showing an interest in the competition as opposed to an education, read some of the opinion polls papers like the Daily Mail periodically proffer as evidence of the terminal decline of our society…fame is the prize to be striven after at all costs and Masterchef provides a lot of free exposure in front of a very wide audience, the perfect springboard for a later career in the media. Half of the battle is being “discovered”. Masterchef hands publicity to you on a plate, as it were.
Then there is the issue of academic versus other, more practical, talents. Another lament of the right-wing papers is the snobbery concerning academic achievement, consigning people with genuine ability, just not of a book-oriented nature, to the scrapheap because the middle-classes look down their noses at “trade”, a nasty habit they picked up to differentiate themselves from the class below them. Please don’t read into this that I am accusing you of snobbery, far from it, I have the great pleasure of having met you and can say with impunity that there is no trace of snobbery about you :) But what are we to do if nobody sees any merit in less esoteric pursuits?
Having said that, if the girl in question were to make the grade as a chef and earn a Michelin star or two she would, in all honesty, be able to command an infinitely higher income than the legions of academics ensconced in their comfortable studies far removed from the hustle and bustle of the non-contemplative life…so perhaps their is some reward after all. For those at the top at any rate.

]]> By: mrs k http://www.leyton.org/2008/02/28/masterchef-and-bbc-food-programmes/#comment-23088 mrs k Fri, 29 Feb 2008 01:05:46 +0000 http://www.leyton.org/diary/2008/02/28/masterchef-and-bbc-food-programmes/#comment-23088 <p>Surpise, surprise - James won.</p> <p>I wanted the other guy to win - liked his style more.</p> <p>As to Oxford, what is more satisfying than seeing empty places and happy faces. </p> <p>One can always pick up a degree even in your 80's. See OU stats.</p> Surpise, surprise - James won.

I wanted the other guy to win - liked his style more.

As to Oxford, what is more satisfying than seeing empty places and happy faces.

One can always pick up a degree even in your 80’s. See OU stats.

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