THE EXECUTION OF GARY GLITTER

[Eric Plumrose]

Set in an alternative Britain in which the death penalty has been re-introduced, apparently.

Anyone able to sit through this? Did it transcend the crass wish-fulfilment of the title and the first few minutes?

[Peter Wolf]

Just about to watch........

[Mike Gloady]

Vile.

I wasn't sure whether to be insulted on my OWN behalf (painted as a limp-wristed do-gooder (what kind of INSULT is that? (so many BRACKETS!))) or on the behalf of those (misguiding in my view) who want to see it's return (who were portrayed as moronic chavs who just want to "string 'em up").

The portrayal of Glitter was pretty good.  Chilling and chimed perfectly with my memories of him, both in interviews and on the news following the breaking of the first child-abuse story.  He seemed, at all times, to be playing the role of Gary Glitter, pop star - rather than being "himself".  Totally unbelievable plot-wise, of course.  It'll never happen.  Something for which, I'm strangely proud of this country for. 

Channel Four, home of the most sensible television news in this country, is fairly schitzophrenic - on one hand putting out decent documentaries and current affairs content and half-decent drama and comedy, on the other hand making sub-Channel Five shock-docs like this bilge and bloody Big Brother.  I fondly remember the days when they had a target demographic, these days they're prepared to do ANYTHING to get people to watch. 

[Peter Wolf]

I somehow managed to sit through the entire thing but i cant say that i enjoyed watching.

It was a televised trial which is what i was expecting but what it failed to do is explore the topic and the arguments for and against it which was what i expected although it will raise points that could be debated but it didnt seem to want to do that in itself.It failed to explain exactly why the death penalty was introduced other than specifically to execute a long list of child sex offenders and its introduction seemed to be because of a sustained campaign by the gutter press and its readership and if this happened for real then it would be the worst example of a govt kowtowing to the lowest common denominator tabloid fed great british public who get off on this type of thing.


Camera shots of banal and mundane street scenes where Joe public is sitting in cafes reading a tabloid with a headline of "Glitter Hangs".

Tabloid filth and commentators like Gary Bushell add comments throughout but they dont say anything.

The hanging itself just became a tabloid led cheap and nasty media circus complete with ugly baying mob of seemingly unemployed members of the public who have nothing better to do than hang around outside the place of execution shouting.The media campaign also included jingles downloaded onto youtube and then uploaded onto mobiles until eventually the media manipulate the public into a frenzy.You could also buy t shirts and hanging ropes and all kinds of other rubbish.

This drama has no real intellectual value at all and it doesnt really make any real statements that are for or against capital punishment but the whole thing has an underlying bias towards capital punishment with a claim that 54 percent support it as a result of a survey which is spurious to say the least.

Democracy/mob rule at its finest with that alleged 54 percent in favor of it.I dont know because i havent been asked to take part in a poll and polls are always suspect.

I doubt wether the sentence of capital punishment would be used against those who commit treason as this was not touched on.

Its lowbrow lowest common denominator dumbed down tabloid culture bought to the screen.

TV Drama for Morons and actually quite depressing and dispiriting to watch when i think of what comprises of a very large slice of the UK populace and its symptomatic of the culture i unfortunately find myself living in.

[Mike Gloady]

I was agog.  I couldn't look away.  Somehow it managed to insult EVERYONE'S intelligence while itself being the most insipid, biased and moronic shite I've seen in YEARS.

54% want capital punishment to return?

54% of respondents who answered a survey on The Sun's website perhaps.  I think the British public are a bit smarter than that.  And I bet even THEN teh question was cached in terms of "If guilt were unquestionable...."  I think, as a victim, familes of murdered/raped/abused people can be excused thier calls for capital punishment to return, but we'd be stupid if we were to base policy on such attitudes.  The law is meant to be dispassionate.

My cousin was murdered, in her early 30s by her husband.  Said man casually sat down to write his "confession" while she slowly bled to death from over 30 stab wounds in the other room.  Only once he'd gotten his "story" straight did he call the cops to "confess".  His sentence?  6 years.  Yeah, I'm outraged at the short sentence, and he's currently wandering the countryside with a freshly minted identity.  Just because THAT'S wrong, it doesn't mean that we should hop past a fair custodial sentence to death.

[Jim_Campbell]

Actually, I think pretty much every opinion poll that ever gets done on the subject comes back with a majority in favour of reinstating hanging. The real problem with democracy is that you have to let the stupid people vote as well.

I can't remember who it was that observed that one should consider how stupid the average person is, and then the fact that by definition half of everyone is more stupid than that.

Didn't watch the Glitter thing myself, but I did watch the splendid documentary that was on before it!

Cheers

Jim

[Peter Wolf]

I guess the results of polls depend on who it is who is being polled.

[Christov]

Watching this right now, and I'm not sure what to make of it.

It's interesting to say the least, but something just seems... off.

[TordelBack]

Didn't watch it because, honestly, that there's two things I do not want to spend time thinking about.  I've got work to do, family and friends to attend to, a Shardlake book to finish, and levels of Advance Wars solo campaign to get 'S' ratings on.

[Christov]

Finally finished watching it.

It's an eerie and well crafted drama, but there is still something so wrong about it. Regardless, it was a little upsetting and created sympathy for a man (well, a fictional representation of) I never thought I'd have any for.

[Devons Daddy]

i live in a country with the death penalty.

here, he would have been in jail for LIFE! as in till he dies,
i have not seen the drama, which seems to be a fair premise for a show.
but in the end. i would suggest you dont forget one small fact,

how old where the children involved? then trust that a snatch squad finds him,
to offer him some accomadation in SE Asian Jail.

i detroyed my GG cds, and refuse to listen to his music.

[Peter Wolf]

I found the end scenes to be distasteful and unnecessary.

Was it really necessary to show Gary Glitter being tormented by the mob outside and then show him pleading for his life when he seemed to be unaware or misunderstand the finality of his predicament ?

It could have ended without those scenes and they were just there to indulge and titillate the audience who were watching who are the tabloid readers and supporters of capital punishment.

[Richmond Clements]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2009/nov/07/charlie-brooker-screenburn-gary-glitter

[House of Usher]

i detroyed my GG cds, and refuse to listen to his music.

That'll punish him.

I never had any Gary Glitter CDs to destroy, so I felt left out. So I went out and bought some so I could bring them home and destroy them, then I felt I'd done my bit. You know, for the kids.

[COMMANDO FORCES]

I did have his autobiography and once he was found guilty that went into the bin. I think that taught him a valuable lesson as well