Author Topic: Property is Theft But Kidnapping's Fine  (Read 2392 times)

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Offline Deborah

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Property is Theft But Kidnapping's Fine
« on: February 20, 2006, 02:11:00 PM »
Property is theft but kidnapping's fine
LOUISA PEARSON
Brat Camp, Channel 4
Lefties, BBC3

In rural Utah, no-one can hear you scream. It sounds like the pitch for a horror movie but instead it was a factual statement made close to the start of Brat Camp. As well as offering efficient sound-proofing, we were told that the backwoods of Utah offer little opportunity for door-slamming, swearing, drinking, taking drugs or any other activities a wayward teenager might want to participate in.

Three thousand British families nominated their daughters to take part in Brat Camp, the show which removes problem teens from their home and dumps them in the wilderness to see just how clever they feel now. But isn't rebellion part of growing up, you might ask? Well, yes, but the seven girls chosen for Brat Camp really did seem to have overstepped the mark.

Take pink-haired Georgie. With a mouth like a navvy and punch to match, she seemed more at home in a police cell than in her mum's suburban semi. Then there was Danii. She'd run away from home 80 times in the last year, seemingly so the police would find her and act as a taxi service to get her home. They were brats all right, but before you could say "I blame the parents" we were introduced to the loving, sane, well-to-do mothers and fathers who'd somehow managed to raise demon offspring. It cracked the "nature or nurture" debate wide open.

When the parents expressed relief rather than loss after waving their daughters off at the airport, you knew that the folks at the Aspen Achievement Academy were in for a treat. As expected, they literally had to get some of the girls in an arm lock to persuade them to put on their nice new outdoorsy uniforms.

Like all the other reality shows, this one makes fascinating anthropological viewing, even if it does elicit feelings at guilt at finding entertainment in some one else's misery. But after half an hour of listening to the brats whine, I found myself pondering the merits of reintroducing conscription. The Utah academy counsellors however, are a more tolerant bunch. Their secret weapon is a softly spoken Buddhist called Norman who fights anger with understanding and within 24 hours had averted a jailbreak and created an atmosphere of calm.

The not-so-magnificent seven aren't going to be turned into perfect young ladies overnight, but with potentially months of wilderness life to come, personality changes seem a foregone conclusion. Using a tough-love strategy Brat Camp really seems to offer a light at the end of the tunnel. I wonder if they can expect calls from the 2,993 families whose daughters didn't get picked?

Why don't the Brat Camp girls have respect for the law, their parents or themselves? One answer is to point firmly backwards at the era that produced an electric guitar-playing Prime Minister and made free love and drug-taking the done thing, even in Blighty. But if the respectable, middle-aged interviewees in Lefties were anything to go by, that theory is flawed. This documentary looked back at the lives of the political activists and squatters who resided in Villa Road, London in the 1970s.

Earmarked by the council for demolition, this street instead became home to passing Marxists, feminists, psychotherapists and lots of other folk, most of them Oxbridge graduates rejecting family money in favour of living the hippy lifestyle and working towards all sort so utopian ideals. But while Lefties provided a good helping of social history, it would have been nice to hear the other side of the story - the feelings of the council, the neighbours and police who interacted with the squatters on a regular basis.

Talking about their 1970s personas, few of the interviewees seemed embarrassed, just a bit sad that the revolution had never materialised. Most of them sheepishly admitted that eventually they had traded in the communal lifestyle for a nuclear family and were no longer actively pursuing the demise of capitalism. Still, they'd been rebels with a cause, something the Brat Campers can only dream about.

This article: http://news.scotsman.com/features.cfm?id=201972006

Last updated: 09-Feb-06 01:08 GMT
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
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Hidden Lake Academy, after operating 12 years unlicensed will now be monitored by the state. Access information on the Federal Class Action lawsuit against HLA here: http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?t=17700

Offline Anonymous

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Property is Theft But Kidnapping's Fine
« Reply #1 on: February 20, 2006, 02:20:00 PM »
Why don't we collect all the articles written on the various Utah programs, paying particular attention to the recent deaths and abuse allegations, and send them to the television station under the title "Be Careful What You Wish For".
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »