A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of - Etheses - Queen Margaret ...

Unsurprisingly, I reject Ouellette and Hay‟s analysis. While popular cultural texts such as
Reality TV programmes and celebrity magazines may be used creatively in everyday life, I
would contend that, rather than being empowering, this involves self-adjustment, learning to
cope and making the best of things within capitalist structures. It involves an acceptance of
alienating social relations.
Lola offers further insight into this matter:
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...we live in that kind of age anyway where, you think about it, there‟s an obsession
with celebrity, isn‟t there… and there‟s an obsession with peering and prying into
other people‟s lives … and maybe that‟s a strange facet of that obsession that then
reinforces … erm … a lot of these issues for disabled people anyway … erm …
maybe it‟s a sign of the … the flipside, almost … because when you think of how
obsessed we are or how obsessed society is with … erm … you know, celebrities
being physically perfect and waiting to see … erm … you know, if something goes
wrong with that or they develop a flaw or a spot on their arse or whatever it may be
… erm … and I can‟t help feeling that disabled people are somehow … that we‟re
like the polarization of that … (2:681ff.)
While the social roles given to celebrities and disabled people are perceived as vastly
different, Lola suggests that both groups perform similar functions in terms of focussing the
public gaze on individuals.
Doumentaries
Charles talked about what he described as:
a new breed of documentaries that are very popular… whereby they‟ll focus on one
disabled person… or maybe sometimes two, but normally just one… for an hour...
(l.2:590ff.)
Participants‟ perspectives appear to diverge on the purpose and value of contemporary
disability documentaries, ranging from fairly positive to disgusted. One view regards these
programmes as relatively factual, objective and socially useful. As Anne says:
I think some of the documentaries they make are actually… depending on the
documentary maker… fairly well-observed… and there‟s a series on at the moment
called Extraordinary People… which seems to be focussing on people with very,
very rare conditions… such as conjoined twins, et cetera… which has always been a