Clarkson

[bunn]

I have to admit, I'd assumed that Jeremy Clarkson had long ago jumped his own personal shark, and had been playing an Ali G -style character based on himself on Top Gear for many years.   I'm rather saddened that recent events suggest that he was actually taking himself seriously.

Although I've not signed it myself*, I am amused by the fact that the petition to bring back Clarkson was set up on change.org.  Judging by the emails I get from change.org, they take themselves rather seriously, and their userbase profile has probably just changed in ways they were really not expecting...

Also, The Stig delivering the petition to the BBC  in a tank (or is it a self-propelled gun as I saw some gun nerd complaining somewhere?) was an inspired piece of theatre that I can only appreciate.

* because, amusing though Clarkson and petition both are, when it comes down to it, if he really thumped someone vastly poorer and less influential than himself, or even threatened to do so, that's pretty abysmal behaviour and I'm not sure an online petition to allow him 'freedom to fracas' is in any way an appropriate response. 

Comments

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I think it's raised a stir because Top Gear's popularity (and vast profits) are based at least partly on Clarkson's -what's the word - defiant? deliberately confrontational? opinionated? persona (which I had assumed was at least partly a deliberate construct).

And there have been a series of escalating confrontations - not just with the BBC, but also, people sort of expect him to be confrontational, and so they have started reading confrontation in to things he does, even if he doesn't do them, if that makes sense. So recently he was run out of Argentina by stone-throwing crowds who seem to have read something into the numberplate on his car that was not intended, for example.

So, there is this feeling of heightening tension around him, and mobs love tension and drama...?

It's difficult to imagine the show continuing with its current formula without him, I think it would need quite a bit of reengineering.

If the Machievellian theory is correct, then my 'constructed personality' theory must be right too, because that definitely doesn't sound like the kind of thing a TV Clarkson would engineer.

[purplecat]

inamac says that Clarkson writes rather differently for his journalistic stuff than he acts on Top Gear which suggests that even if the persona is not entirely constructed that it is performed with an awareness of the audience. But I can easily imagine that its reached a point where a good proportion of the audience are waiting for him to top the previous outrageous thing and that kind of dynamic often ultimately ends up badly. My mum was telling me some garbled story about him being run out of the Northern US bible belt for driving a car with a banner promoting homosexuality - is that some iteration of the same story or a different incident? Stone throwing was involved there as well IIRC>

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

It was actually Hammond's car that had the "Man Love Rules" slogan painted along the side. They were taking the piss out of conservative attitudes in the bible belt, and the local hicks didn't like it.

[purplecat]

That's what Mum said, though words like "genuinely frightening" and "run out of town" featured in the story. I wonder if she was conflating the two incidents.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

That was a different incident, and much less serious - the Argentinian thing was much more recent and rather more alarming, in that the angry mobs were coordinated and working together in different places to intercept the whole production team, and even stormed the hotel where the presenters were staying. They had to abandon the cars they were using and fly out.

The Argentinians thought that his car numberplate H982 FKL was a reference to the Falklands war. Have to admit, it's quite a coincidence if unintentional.

[purplecat]

it's quite a coincidence if unintentional.

It's always possible that someone involved in acquiring the car thought it was funny and arranged it even if Clarkson was in blissful ignorance.