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Christina Applegate's Emmy’s appearance moves audience to tears

Christina Applegate has moved audiences to tears after making a courageous appearance at the Emmy Awards. Applegate announced at the beginning of 2023 that she would be taking a step back from acting after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), with the disease making a drastic impact on her life. Now, the 52-year-old took to the stage, supported by a cane, at the Peacock Theatre in downtown Los Angeles on Monday night, with the crowd rising to their feet in a round of applause. Applegate immediately began to tear up as she leaned on host Anthony Anderson for support, telling the audience, “I’m gonna cry more than I’ve been crying.” <iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jOJNgHgKnFs?si=Y8K-e2H8gFq1Pr0u" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> Keeping her sense of humour, she said to the sea of celebrity faces, “Thank you so much! Oh my God! You’re totally shaming me (and my) disability by standing up.” Applegate presented the award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, with the award going to Ayo Edebiri for her role in The Bear. The heartfelt moment of the standing ovation was shared on X, with fans saying, “She deserves that ovation and more.” The iconic actress has been candid about her battle with MS since she was first diagnosed in 2021, keeping her fans updated as her illness progressed. In 2023, Applegate told Vanity Fair that her work on the hit Netflix TV show Dead To Me would be her last as an actor, saying “I can’t even imagine going to set right now.” “I’m probably not going to work on-camera again,” Applegate said at the time, adding that while she loved her cast and crew, working had been a “struggle.” Image credits: Getty Images

Caring

"This is insane": Woman's intense hotel safety routine divides audiences

A woman has gone viral for the elaborate routine she undergoes every time she checks into a new hotel room. Victoria posted a TikTok of her intense seven-step routine that she undertakes when staying in a hotel, with the video quickly racking up over 14 million views. In the now-viral clip, Victoria starts off by putting the “Do Not Disturb” sign on the doorknob and locking it from the inside. Then, she blocks the peephole with a tissue, jams a washcloth into the deadbolt to "close the gap" and rolls up a bath towel behind the handle to stop anyone opening the door. She also positioned an ironing board against the door to stop it from being able to open, and then used a clothes hanger to clip everything together. After going through the seven step routine, Victoria's comment section was flooded with messages as the video prompted a mixed response. "By the time I do all that, it's morning again," one user wrote, while another simply said, "This is insane." While many of the comments were quick to judge how extensive the safety routine is, others shared their own different security preferences. "I take two portable locks, and a mini camera that links to my phone for when I'm out," one said. However, one person pointed out that Victoria's set-up was a bit of a hazard, saying, "And now imagine trying to get out of that in the dark in a fire in the middle of the night." Another said they had "never stayed in hotels where I felt so unsafe," adding, "Is it an American thing? I am genuinely curious." Image credits: TikTok

Travel Trouble

Country music star's "racist" song divides audience

A popular country music star has been forced to defend his new song and accompanying music video, after many condemned the track for being racist. Jason Aldean's song, titled Try That in a Small Town, soared to number one on the country music charts in the US, before been pulled by Country Music Television after claims it promoted gun violence, vigilantism and lynching: a form of execution frequently committed against African-Americans. The singer, who is known for his conservative views, defended the song, saying it was about, “the feeling of community that I had growing up in where we took care of our neighbours, regardless of difference of background or beliefs”. He also slammed the furore against the song, saying saying the accusations against the track that it is “pro lynching” are “not only meritless but dangerous”. Singer Sheryl Crow called out Aldean posting on Twitter, “There’s nothing small town or American about promoting violence,” and called the song “lame” for its controversial themes. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> .<a href="https://twitter.com/Jason_Aldean?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Jason_Aldean</a> I’m from a small town. Even people in small towns are sick of violence.There’s nothing small-town or American about promoting violence. You should know that better than anyone having survived a mass shooting. This is not American or small town-like. It’s just lame <a href="https://t.co/cuOtUO9xjr">https://t.co/cuOtUO9xjr</a> — Sheryl Crow (@SherylCrow) <a href="https://twitter.com/SherylCrow/status/1681485292425867264?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 19, 2023</a></blockquote> The music video for the song prompted a new wave of backlash, as it was filmed outside the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee, which is a site that African American man was lynched. A writer for entertainment industry magazine <a title="variety.com" href="https://variety.com/2023/music/opinion/jason-aldean-try-that-in-a-small-town-worst-country-song-video-column-1235673177/">Variety</a> said it was “the most contemptible country song of the decade” which traded on the “implicit moral superiority of having a limited number of neighbours”. “For Aldean, it’s about how tiny burgs are under the imminent threat of attack from lawless urban marauders who will have to be kept at bay by any means necessary – meaning, pretty explicitly, vigilantism,” wrote its music critic Chris William. He went on to say the video was “dangerous” because it “conflates the act of protesting with violent crime”. In the wake of the criticism, Aldean hit back on his social media accounts, saying people had gone "too far" with their interpretation of the song. He wrote on Twitter, “There is not a single lyric in the song that references race or points to it – and there isn’t a single clip that isn’t real news footage – and while I can try and respect others to have their own interpretation of a song with music – this one goes too far.” “My political views have never been something I’ve hidden from. And I know that a lot of us in this country don’t agree on how we get back to a sense of normalcy, where we go at least a day without a headline that keeps us up at night, but the desire for it to – that’s what the song is about.” Image credits: Getty Images

Music

Interactive cinema: how films could alter plotlines in real time by responding to viewers’ emotions

Most films offer exactly the same viewing experience. You sit down, the film starts, the plot unfolds and you follow what’s happening on screen until the story concludes. It’s a linear experience. My new film, <a href="http://www.albinomosquito.com/before-we-disappear/">Before We Disappear</a> – about a pair of climate activists who seek revenge on corporate perpetrators of global warming – seeks to alter that viewing experience. What makes my film different is that it adapts the story to fit the viewer’s emotional response. Through the use of a computer camera and software, the film effectively watches the audience as they view footage of climate disasters. Viewers are implicitly asked to choose a side. I chose to use this technology to make a film about the climate crisis to get people to really think about what they are willing to sacrifice for a survivable future. Storytelling has always been interactive: traditional oral storytellers would interact and respond to their listeners. For almost a century, film directors have been <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interactive_cinema">experimenting with interactivity</a> – the past decade has seen an explosion of interactive content. Streaming services give viewers the opportunity to choose their own adventure. However, letting the viewer control the action has long posed a challenge: it’s at odds with narrative immersion, where the viewer is drawn into the world created by the story. One of the most prominent recent experiments in interactive film, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Mirror:_Bandersnatch">Netflix’s Bandersnatch</a>, clearly illustrates this. Here the action stops to ask the user what to do next – breaking the flow of the story and actively involving the viewer. Solving this issue of breaking the immersive experience remains a key question for artists exploring interactive film. The films I create and direct take a different route, leveraging non-conscious control to influence a film as the audience watches. My previous <a href="http://braincontrolledmovie.co.uk/">brain-controlled</a> films, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7853742/">The Moment (2018)</a> and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8072006/">The Disadvantages of Time Travel (2014)</a>, used brain computer interfaces (BCIs). These systems use computers to <a href="https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/980302/scanners-exploring-the-control-of-adaptive-films-using-brain-computer-interaction">analyse electrical signals from the brain</a>, allowing people to effectively control a device with their minds. Using this data from the brain, audiences <a href="https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/index.php/output/1468705/from-directors-cut-to-users-cut-to-watch-a-brain-controlled-film-is-to-edit-it">create a non-conscious edit</a> of the film in real time – reinforcing the films’ respective stories of science-fiction dystopia and a wandering, daydreaming mind. However, the BCI interface requires specialised equipment. For Before We Disappear, I wanted to use a technology more readily available to audiences, that could allow films to be shared over the internet. <h2>Controlling the narrative</h2> Before We Disappear uses an ordinary computer camera to read emotional cues and instruct the real-time edit of the film. To make this work, we needed a good understanding of how people react to films. We ran several <a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3290607.3312814">studies</a> <a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3290605.3300378">exploring the emotions</a> filmmakers intend to evoke and how viewers visually present emotion when watching. By using computer vision and machine learning techniques from our partner <a href="https://www.blueskeye.com/">BlueSkeye AI</a>, we analysed viewers’ facial emotions and reactions to film clips and developed several algorithms to leverage that data to control a narrative. While we observed that audiences tend not to extensively emote when watching a film, BlueSkeye’s face and emotion analysis tools are sensitive enough to pick up enough small variations and emotional cues to adapt the film to viewer reactions. The analysis software measures facial muscle movement along with the strength of emotional arousal – essentially how emotional a viewer feels in a particular moment. The software also evaluates the positivity or negativity of the emotion – something we call “<a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00261/full">valence</a>”. We are experimenting with various algorithms where this arousal and valence data contributes to real-time edit decisions, which causes the story to reconfigure itself. The first scene acts as a baseline, which the next scene is measured against. Depending on the response, the narrative will become one of around 500 possible edits. In Before We Disappear, I use a non-linear narrative which offers the audience different endings and emotional journeys. <h2>Emotional journey</h2> I see interactive technology as a way of expanding the filmmaker’s toolkit, to further tell a story and allow the film to adapt to an individual viewer, challenging and distributing the power of the director. However, emotional responses could be misused or have unforeseen consequences. It is not hard to imagine an online system showing only content eliciting positive emotions from the user. This could be used to create an echo chamber – where people only see content that matches the preferences they already have. Or it could be used for propaganda. We saw in the Cambridge Analytica scandal how <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook%E2%80%93Cambridge_Analytica_data_scandal">large amounts of personal information</a> were collected from Facebook and used for political advertising. Our <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/348325526_Brain-controlled_cinematic_interactions">research</a> aims to generate conversation about how users’ emotion data can be used responsibly with informed consent, while allowing users to control their own personal information. In our system, the data is analysed on the users’ device, rather than, say, the cloud. <h2>Big business, big responsibility</h2> Non-conscious interaction is big business. Platforms such as <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/algorithms-take-over-youtube-s-recommendations-highlight-human-problem-n867596">TikTok</a> and <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/algorithms-take-over-youtube-s-recommendations-highlight-human-problem-n867596">YouTube</a> use analysis of users’ past interactions on the platforms to influence the new content they see there. Users are not always aware of what personal information is being created or stored, nor can they influence what algorithms will present to them next. It’s important to create a system where audiences’ data is not stored. Video of the viewer or facial expression data should not be uploaded or analysed anywhere but on the player device. We plan to release the film as an interactive app, incorporating an awareness of potential abuse of the user’s data, and safeguarding any personal data on the device used to watch it. Adaptive films offer an alternative to traditional “choose-your-own-adventure” storytelling. When the story can change based on the audiences’ unconscious responses rather than intentional interaction, their focus can be kept in the story. This means they can enjoy a more personalised experience of the film. Turns out the old traditions of storytelling may still have much to teach us in the 21st century. This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/interactive-cinema-how-films-could-alter-plotlines-in-real-time-by-responding-to-viewers-emotions-200145" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. Images: Getty

Movies

Trevor Noah brought a new perspective to TV satire - as well as a whole new audience

After seven years of hosting <a href="https://www.cc.com/shows/the-daily-show-with-trevor-noah" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Daily Show on Comedy Central</a>, a hit comedy show produced in the US but with global reach, South African born comedian Trevor Noah has announced <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2022/09/29/entertainment/trevor-noah-daily-show/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">plans to leave</a> and focus on his stand-up comedy. During his tenure as host of the political satire series, which he took over from the revered <a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/jon-stewart/?sh=35f2ad793fbc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jon Stewart</a>, Noah has offered important takes on issues in the US – and the world. Considering that the late-night television satire scene in the US remains <a href="https://theconversation.com/trevor-noah-is-leaving-the-daily-show-how-did-he-fare-191699" target="_blank" rel="noopener">populated by white men</a>, Noah has offered unique “black” African insights into issues that affect black Americans. He has also been lucid in talking about issues that have an effect on Africa and Africans. Noah’s knowledge of Africa and African politics has helped him demonstrate that there are few differences between America, lauded as one of the greatest democracies in the world, and global south countries that Trump once called “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcMFmoTCdcU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shithole</a>” states. Noah’s approach attracted more African Americans than was the case during Stewart’s tenure. A 2017 study <a href="https://decider.com/2017/10/16/trevor-noah-tds-nielsen-ratings-analysis/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">by Nielsen Media Research</a> showed that during Stewart’s final season, 84.5% of the viewers were white. Noah lost 40% of the white viewers and gained 16% more black viewers than his predecessor. He spoke with great clarity on issues such as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/black-lives-matter-protests-are-shaping-how-people-understand-racial-inequality-178254" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Black Lives Matter</a> protests against racism, discrimination and racial inequity experienced by black people, the turbulent Trump presidency, the rise in white supremacy and the global COVID pandemic. By commenting on these different issues, he was able to bring home the inequalities that continue to be seen and experienced in the US. Noah has defied the odds, offered a youthful, “black” perspective and drawn in a new audience. He will be a hard act to follow - which is what people said of his predecessor. <h2>Noah’s particular past</h2> Growing up and coming of age in South Africa has undoubtedly shaped Noah’s worldview. In his book <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29780253-born-a-crime" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Born a Crime</a> (2016), and in his numerous stand-up comedy shows, he set out what it meant growing up in apartheid South Africa, with its white-minority rule and policies of racial segregation. Because his father was white and his mother black, he could not have a normal childhood in which he could grow up in the same home as both his parents. It was legally impossible. the <a href="https://omalley.nelsonmandela.org/omalley/index.php/site/q/03lv01538/04lv01828/05lv01829/06lv01884.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Immorality Act</a> prohibited sex between people of different races. Noah drew on his experiences in South Africa in his role as chief anchor of The Daily Show. In particular he was able to show the striking parallels between present day America and apartheid-era South Africa. He explains this reality in one of the <a href="https://www.ccn.com/trevor-noah-frightening-us-south-africa/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">episodes</a> of the show at the height of the global coronavirus pandemic: <blockquote> Living in this period in America, as much as I hate to say it, a lot of the things that I’m seeing are similar to what we experienced in South Africa. Mass unemployment, a government that doesn’t seem to have the best interests of the people at heart. People who are getting angrier and angrier. </blockquote> He explained in another <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FPrJxTvgdQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">episode</a> of the show during the run-up to the 2016 US elections that <blockquote> as an African, there’s just something familiar about Trump that makes me feel at home. </blockquote> He went on to talk about striking resemblances between former US president Donald Trump and several former African presidents such as Jacob Zuma of South Africa, Idi Amin of Uganda and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. <h2>Comedy and political satire</h2> I argue in a <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-81969-9_3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">book chapter</a> on political satire that the comic offers important ways of criticising those in power. During his tenure at The Daily Show, Noah has used comedy and satire to discuss diverse pressing contemporary issues, in the US and globally. As he has <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2020-08-27/daily-show-trevor-noah-emmys-2020" target="_blank" rel="noopener">explained</a>: <blockquote> I believe in the importance of jokes. I will never lose that. I always tell people, ‘Jokes are what made me’. That’s how I see the world. </blockquote> Before joining The Daily Show, Noah was an established stand-up comedian. In South Africa, he was known for satirising Jacob Zuma during his presidency for corruption and his role in state capture. Comedy has allowed him to deal with difficult subjects in a lighthearted way. He has <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2022/09/29/entertainment/trevor-noah-daily-show/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stated</a> that: <blockquote> I’ve loved trying to find a way to make people laugh, even when the stories are particularly s—, even on the worst days. </blockquote> Noah has infused the comic into his anchoring of The Daily Show and managed to tackle controversial topics in a cheerful yet hard-hitting way. <h2>Poking holes in American exceptionalism</h2> Being a foreigner in the US, Noah has the necessary distance to offer sobering analyses of current affairs in that country. Through his examination of the Trump presidency and the Black Lives Matter movement, he has shown that the idea of America being “exceptional” is an illusion. At the height of the Black Lives Matter protests in the US, he took to The Daily Show to give a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb4Bg8mu2aM" target="_blank" rel="noopener">grim yet poignant monologue</a> about race in the US. Noah traced the chain of events that went beyond the killing of George Floyd, a black man who was suffocated to death on the side of a road by a group of white policemen, to show the precarity of black lives in contemporary America. The monologue is sharp, knowledgeable and nuanced in its explanation of what was happening in the US. He grounded it on historical events to show that nothing was new. The US was not exceptional. The US democracy was as imperfect as that of the many countries that it had preached to for many years. It has taken a late-night host from outside the US to point to the failings of the US and its democracy. <h2>Late night TV without Noah</h2> The late-night circuit will be different without Noah, the only black and African host of a late-night show in the US. Because of his intimate knowledge of global popular culture, he has had a youthful viewership. His peers do not have the same perspective or viewership. If Noah replacing Stewart was seen as a daunting exercise, filling the shoes of Noah might prove to be even more challenging. This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/trevor-noah-brought-a-new-perspective-to-tv-satire-as-well-as-a-whole-new-audience-191800" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. Image: Facebook

Bridgerton – how period dramas made audiences hate the corset

When you think of a corset, you might imagine period drama dames sucking in as they cling onto a bedpost as a feisty lady’s maid aggressively laces them in. Nextflix’s hot Regency inspired drama Bridgerton features similar such tortuous scenes. In the run up to the show’s second season, Simone Ashley, who plays the new heroine Kate Sharma, complained to Glamour Magazine about the <a href="https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/simone-ashley-bridgerton-interview-2022">horrors of wearing a corset</a>. She claimed that her corset caused her “a lot of pain” and “changed her body”. In the first season, Prudence Featherington (played by Bessie Carter) was tight-laced into a corset. Prudence’s mother urges her daughter on: “I was able to squeeze my waist into the size of an orange-and-a-half when I was Prudence’s age”. Rather unnecessary, when regency gowns fall from an under-bust empire line, which obscures the waist. Unlike their later Victorian counterparts, regency corsets focused on enhancing a lady’s assets, not shrinking her waist. This scene is ubiquitous in period dramas, from Elizabeth Swan fainting in Pirates of the Caribbean, to Rose DeWitt Bukater unable to breath in Titanic, and, of course, Mammy’s iconic line, “Just hold on, and suck in!”, as Scarlet O’Hara clings to a bedpost in Gone with the Wind. It may be on screen shorthand for the restricted lives of historical women, but it stems from a fundamental misunderstanding of historical corsets and women alike. After centuries of women (and some men) wearing corsets to support and shape the body, it was Victorian men who <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNwTqanp0Aw">taught us to hate corsets</a>. Corset-related health issues were a myth, constructed by doctors, to promote their own patriarchal perspectives. So, you might be surprised to hear that period dramas are perpetuating Victorian misogyny. <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FZ7r2OVu1ss?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> Medicine, misogyny, and the corset The list of medical complaints that 19th-century doctors attributed to the corset seem unending. Constipation, pregnancy complications, breast cancer, postpartum infection and tuberculosis were all blamed on the corset. One Victorian doctor, Benjamin Orange Flower, author of the 1892 pamphlet <a href="https://archive.org/details/fashionsslaves00flow">Fashion’s Slaves</a>, claimed that “if women will continue this destructive habit, the race must inevitably deteriorate”. As science has developed, the medical root of these illnesses has been identified, and the corset’s culpability disproved. The corset offers an example of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/nov/13/the-female-problem-male-bias-in-medical-trials">gender bias within medical research</a>. The many ailments of <a href="https://brightonmuseums.org.uk/discover/2016/04/22/inside-georges-breeches-the-health-of-george-iv/">George IV</a>, one of the many men to wear a corset in the 19th century, were never blamed on his corset wearing. Some corsets were even specifically designed to be healthy and supportive. Lingerie company Gossards published <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Corsets_from_a_Surgical_Viewpoint.html?id=hztGtwAACAAJ&redir_esc=y">Corsets from a Surgical Perspective</a> in 1909, which promoted the flexibility and supportive possibilities of the corset, which could “preserve the lines demanded by fashion, but without discomfort or injury”. <img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/04/file-20220330-5868-a1x92v.jpg" alt="Regency stays sought to shape women’s breasts by separating and lifting them. V&A" width="754" height="1005" /> Regency stays sought to shape women’s breasts by separating and lifting them. Image: <a href="https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O138889/stays-unknown/?carousel-image=2010EE8174">V&A</a> But the hourglass shape of the late 19th-century period was not what women of the regency desired. They were only interested in their breasts, as <a href="https://www.yalebooks.co.uk/display.asp?K=9780300218725">Hilary Davidson has shown</a>. Breasts needed to be lifted and separated into two round orbs. Regency corsets (or “stays” as they were known) were often <a href="https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O138889/stays-unknown/">short, always soft, and never heavily boned</a>. Their purpose was bust support, never restriction. I wonder what regency women would have thought of modern bras with straps that pinch and underwire that rubs. Historical corsets were ingenious, light and bendy. Whalebone (which is baleen from the mouth of a whale, and is not actual bone) is wonderfully flexible, and moulds to the body beneath it – and many corsets were simply reinforced with cotton cording. Corsets reduced back pain from bad posture and <a href="https://museum.maidstone.gov.uk/staff-pick-pregnancy-corset/">had expanding portions for pregnancy</a>. Historical myth making The problem then in the depiction of corsets in period dramas is not “historical accuracy”, an idea <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=br_tGCadJPE">widely debunked by historians</a>, including Bridgerton’s own <a href="https://www.historyextra.com/period/modern/period-dramas-should-not-be-judged-on-historical-accuracy-say-historians/">historical advisor</a>. Bridgerton’s costumes are joyously reminiscent of designer <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/80018036">George Halley</a>’s highly embellished and brightly coloured empire line fashion designs from the 1960s. Bridgerton’s costumes are historically inspired fantasy. Bridgerton is to Regency England what Game of Thrones is to the Wars of the Roses, and there is nothing wrong with that. It is a fantastical reimagining, creatively inspired by the past. The idea that its costumes should be “historically accurate”, or that such an aspiration is even possible, is not what is at stake here. <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qYNCws-a6CQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> This is an issue of historical fallacy. Women of the past had agency over their bodies and how they were dressed. They were clever about how they achieved the fashionable proportions, padding out the <a href="https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O354882/bustle-pad-unknown/">hips</a> and <a href="https://risdmuseum.org/art-design/collection/bust-improver-6003412">bust</a>, rather than reducing the waist. Like the show’s famed dressmaker, Madame Delacroix, many of the professionals dressing them were themselves women. We strip away that agency and ingenuity when we assume historical women were passive dolls, dressed up and cinched in by a patriarchal society. For historical women, corsets were a support garment, which allowed them to follow the fashionable silhouette without having to diet, exercise, or have cosmetic surgery. It would be a refreshing change to see period dramas embrace this feminist history of the corset, instead of falling back on a misogynistic stereotype.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180267/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/serena-dyer-1127384">Serena Dyer</a>, Lecturer in History of Design and Material Culture, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/de-montfort-university-1254">De Montfort University</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/bridgerton-how-period-dramas-made-audiences-hate-the-corset-180267">original article</a>. Image: @bridgertonnetflix (Instagram)

Beauty & Style

‘An idealised Australian ethos’: why Bluey is an audience favourite, even for adults without kids

Bluey, the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-01/bluey-abc-kids-show-wins-international-emmys-childrens-award/12111308">Emmy award-winning</a> animated series about a family of anthropomorphized cattle dogs, has become a <a href="https://www.kidspot.com.au/lifestyle/entertainment/the-most-downloaded-show-on-the-abc-is-not-what-youd-expect/news-story/6c1fdef918c5890b23695538c8c136b2">ratings phenomenon</a> since it was first broadcast on the ABC in 2018. Bluey follows the eponymous six-year-old Blue Heeler, her younger sister, Bingo, and their playful parents, Bandit and Chilli. As part of our new research project, <a href="https://www.actcresearch.com/">Australian Children’s Television Cultures</a>, we are <a href="https://swinuw.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_2nLAOj9X5VUfPvw">surveying audiences</a> about how they interact with Australian children’s programming. From over 700 adult responses, Bluey was the TV program parents were most keen to watch with their children. Respondents celebrated its unambiguously Australian setting, irreverent humour, and family orientated themes at a time when other children’s content, such as the dead-eyed nursey rhymes of YouTube channel <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbCmjCuTUZos6Inko4u57UQ">Cocomelon</a>, seem to only offer generic, computer-generated distractions. Indeed, many adults without children said they watch Bluey. One respondent described Bluey, which is set in Brisbane, as “representative of an idealised Australian ethos — relaxed, curious, and hard-working”. Another, an early childhood educator, emphasised that “Australian children need Australian shows”. And as a parent explained, <blockquote> It’s nice for children to see familiar landmarks and have issues that are current to them, as opposed to Peppa Pig and needing to explain why we don’t have snow at Christmas". </blockquote> One aspect of Bluey audiences consider particularly relatable is the family dynamic, including the games Bluey and Bingo play with their resourceful parents. One locked-down Australian mother has even created “<a href="https://looseparts.com.au/bluey/">50 Days of Bluey</a>”, guidelines for home activities inspired by the show. <iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EuSpVc9z3Rk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> Bluey’s games include: “Daddy Robot” in which a “malfunctioning” Bandit teaches Bluey and Bingo the importance of tidying up; “Rug Island”, a kids-only oasis that the Heelers create in their backyard; and “Mount Mumandad”, in which Bluey and Bingo climb their exhausted parents after they have collapsed on the couch. Then there’s the humour: described by one respondent as full of Australian cultural nuances. As one parent noted, <blockquote> Bluey ‘gets’ parents perfectly … we enjoy watching it so we steer our kids towards it. </blockquote> <h2>Read on many levels</h2> The show can be read on multiple levels, which is why it can appeal to adults too. For instance, a recent Father’s Day episode saw Bluey’s dad, Bandit, discuss his conflicted feelings about getting a vasectomy with another dad. As Bandit explained, “I’m keen to get it done, but, Chilli, [his wife] she wants to keep her options open”. This adult moment in what is ostensibly a kids’ cartoon generated much discussion on social media. One fan tweeted <blockquote> I’m a grown man wondering if a cartoon dog family is going to have a baby. Weird life this is. </blockquote> From election day barbecues to Queenslander houses and backyards, early audience responses to our study agree Bluey offers a snapshot of Australia. However, many were quick to point out this snapshot doesn’t provide the full picture. Bluey has been <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/everyday/can-bluey-show-be-more-representative/100042084">gently criticised</a> for a perceived lack of diversity. The show centres on a hetero-normative nuclear family in a world largely populated by able-bodied characters, with Anglo-Australian names and accents. As one respondent noted <blockquote> We’re definitely getting better [at reflecting Australian culture] with shows like Bluey, but as a gay man I would love to see more LGBT representation in kids’ shows. It would be nice as a kid to know you’re valid. </blockquote> Nevertheless, many of this study’s early participants felt that on the whole, kids’ TV was becoming more reflective of wider Australia. Children’s content praised for providing greater diversity of representation included Indigenous Australian-led shows Little J & Big Cuz and Jarjums. National babysitter Play School was celebrated for its continued commitment to featuring hosts from a variety of backgrounds, and the greater diversity in The Wiggles’ new line-up was applauded. <h2>Taking ‘bush wees’ global</h2> One respondent wondered if the humour and references in Bluey were “lost on audiences outside of Australia”. However, since the Walt Disney Company acquired the show’s international broadcasting rights in 2019, Bluey has been reaching a wide <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/jun/13/australias-bluey-goes-global-after-fetching-deal-with-disney">overseas audience</a>. While some small accommodations have been made for international viewers — “capsicums” became “peppers” in the UK and a gag with a pooping pony was cut for Disney Junior — the show has resisted being watered down. As such, it is taking bilbies and “bush wees” to global audiences. At a time when the commercial broadcaster quotas that previously protected local kids’ TV have been <a href="https://theconversation.com/cheese-n-crackers-concerns-deepen-for-the-future-of-australian-childrens-television-147183">scrapped</a> and international shows like Paw Patrol and Peppa Pig can be instantly summoned by tapping on a smart-phone, the local enthusiasm for Bluey is heartening. “I have friends in the US whose kids watch Bluey and they say their kids are talking in Aussie accents,” noted one respondent with pride. Said another: “Bluey will be forever iconic not just to kids but their parents, not just in Australia but all over the world”. Our research project, <a href="https://www.actcresearch.com/">Australian Children’s Television Cultures</a>, aims to better understand the role and responsibility of local Kids’ TV. You can participate in this research by clicking on the following <a href="https://swinuw.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_2nLAOj9X5VUfPvw">link</a>. You can also follow us on <a href="https://twitter.com/_ACTC_?s=20">Twitter</a>.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/168571/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/liam-burke-109751">Liam Burke</a>, Associate Professor and Cinema and Screen Studies Discipline Leader, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/swinburne-university-of-technology-767">Swinburne University of Technology</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/djoymi-baker-1269345">Djoymi Baker</a>, Lecturer in Cinema Studies, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/rmit-university-1063">RMIT University</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/jessica-balanzategui-814024">Jessica Balanzategui</a>, Senior Lecturer in Cinema and Screen Studies, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/swinburne-university-of-technology-767">Swinburne University of Technology</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/joanna-mcintyre-333903">Joanna McIntyre</a>, Lecturer in Media Studies, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/swinburne-university-of-technology-767">Swinburne University of Technology</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/an-idealised-australian-ethos-why-bluey-is-an-audience-favourite-even-for-adults-without-kids-168571">original article</a>. Image: ABC TV

How art museums are helping to heal their audiences

The COVID-19 pandemic saw a worldwide increase in depression, anxiety and other mental health issues. As a response to the global mental health problems, art galleries and museums are responding to the collective trauma with specialised art installations and programmes. The last 18 months has seen a drastic increase of museum-based healing initiatives, that are available online and in person. The Queens Museum in New York has launched La Ventanita/The Little Window, an online art therapy program for recent immigrants and students at local elementary schools. In Florida, the Tampa Museum of Art is expanding both in-person and virtual offerings in connections, a community art engagement program geared toward people with depression, memory loss, and PTSD. In the country of Doha, a medical research centre has teamed up with the National Museum of Qatar to design an art therapy program to help alleviate depression and anxiety in children. Another New York museum has developed an online “care package” with an option to meditate amid chanting monks in a virtual version of its shrine room. The programmes are not the first time art has been used to heal individuals of traumatic experiences. Some have previously been influenced by social change, such as the Black Lives Matter movement, to help those in mourning and those dealing with mental turmoil. Art has long been used to help people heal from trauma, as a means to discuss the relationship between art and health. In 2017, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts hired a full-time art therapist and permitted physicians to formally “prescribe” free access to their galleries, which drew in a lot of global attention. Art therapy originally arose in the 1940s and ’50s, as specialised exhibitions helped researchers in the mental health field study the brain’s response to art. Image credit: Shutterstock

Art

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire contestant loses $166K after audience gives wrong answer

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire in the UK saw an unlucky contestant lose £93,000 ($176,087 NZD) because he decided to side with the audience on a literature question. As Oliver Blake, 24, got closer towards the end of the game show, the questions increased in difficulty. He had already won £125,000 ($236,676 NZD) and could’ve walked away with the cash. However, Blake was interested in doubling his money to £250,000 ($473,317 NZD) and decided to stay and see what the question was. The tricky literature question said: "3 May. Bistritz. Left Munich at 8:35pm" are the opening words to which novel? <ol> <li>Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy</li> <li>Dracula</li> <li>Heart of Darkness</li> <li>Frankenstein</li> </ol> As the financial analyst had not read any of the four books that were the answers, he used his 50:50 lifeline that allowed him to remove two wrong answers. As the answers were removed, Blake still had no idea and decided to ask the audience for their thoughts. With UK host, Jeremy Clarkson, egging on the contestant by saying: “If you get it right you've got a quarter of a million and you're two questions from the big one.” It’s clear that tensions were high and Blake explained that: “I imagined many of them would have read at least one of the books and would known the answer.” With the audience voting in extremely highly favoured odds for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, that’s the answer that Blake went with – 81% of the audience voted in favour of that answer. He said: “I think let's go with... let's do it. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, final answer.” The audience, Blake and Clarkson waited with anticipation to see what answer was the correct one. As the audience groaned, the correct answer flashed across the screen: Dracula. Clarkson stated: “It's the wrong answer. What an absolute nightmare, it's Dracula.” However, the contestant took it in his stride as well, saying that “it’s something I now know”. As he walked off the stage, he went home with reduced winnings of £32,000 pounds ($60,589 NZD). Not a bad haul, but not as good as what he could have had. Did you know the correct answer? Let us know in the comments.

Mind

Ellen catches audience member stealing on her show

Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres has caught an audience member red-handed after she tried to take more items than instructed. On The Ellen DeGeneres Show this week, Ellen told audience members they could take one (and only one!) item from her show's gift shop. "I just wanted to see how honest my audience was," she said. "It turns out you're very, very honest. But we set up hidden cameras just to make sure." Although a majority of the audience members could abide by the one-item policy, Ellen caught a less-than-honest woman named Nancy, who thought nobody would notice as she stocked up on merchandise. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Cn3AgNC2TSk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> In the hidden camera footage, Nancy's friend asks her if she's taking "more stuff" and Nancy says, "Shhh. No. Shut up," as she grabs multiple souvenirs. Ellen decides to use the clip as a teaching moment. "I like that you liked the products so much that you wanted to bring one back for your sister," Ellen told Nancy in front of the studio audience. "You're the kind of person that when you go trick-or-treating and nobody's home you don't just take one piece of candy, you take the bowl." "Let that be a lesson to you," she told Nancy. "You think nobody's watching you, and you just need to be a good person…You go sit in that Ellen chair right now." Ellen drags a dunce chair on stage and makes Nancy sit in the corner. We're sure Nancy won't be stealing anymore!

82-year-old man shocks audience on America’s Got Talent

Meet 82-year-old John Hetlinger, a retired aerospace engineer who worked on the Hubble Space Telescope. When he retired, John discovered a love of karaoke and the heavy metal music genre. He shared this recently on America’s Got Talent, where he stunned the judges and audience with a rendition of Drowning Pool's “Bodies”. Fair warning, the music is not to everybody’s taste, but we absolutely love how everybody is in complete shock when the octogenarian starts singing (well let’s be honest, shouting). But it just goes to show you can’t judge a book by its cover! He may be of the older generation, but he still loves his heavy metal. Rock on! Related links: <a href="/news/news/2016/05/100-year-old-best-friends-unimpressed-with-todays-pop-culture/">100-year-old best friends unimpressed with today’s pop culture</a> <a href="/lifestyle/retirement-life/2016/05/91-year-old-shares-advice-for-staying-young-at-heart/">91-year-old shares advice for staying young at heart</a> <a href="/lifestyle/retirement-life/2016/05/105-year-old-volunteer-teacher/">105-year-old proves volunteering has no age limit</a>

News

98-year-old granny blows audience away with piano performance

During a recent appearance at the Grand Ole Opry, Nashiville, country music artist Josh Turner took a moment to give the stage to someone else. His wife’s 98-year-old grandmother, Lois Cunningham, was ready to take the spotlight. As she is helped into the chair of the piano, her grandson in law tells the audience “she’ll play when she is read”. Without a beat, she is. The nonagenarian performs “How Great Thou Art" on the piano and it's safe to say her talent blows the crowd away. Performing at the Nashville venue is a major accomplishment for any country star, and Turner's kind gift to his loved one shows that you're never too old to achieve your dreams. Be sure to watch till the end, Lois gets a standing ovation and she loves the crowd as much as they love her. Related links: <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/retirement-life/2015/12/how-to-mentally-prepare-yourself-for-retirement/">8 steps to mentally prepare yourself for retirement</a> <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/retirement-life/2015/12/reasons-to-volunteer-in-retirement/">5 reasons to volunteer in retirement</a> <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/retirement-life/2016/01/what-you-must-do-before-retirement/">The one thing you must do before retirement</a>

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