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

experience. The first regards impairment as tragedy to be triumphed over while the second
regards impairment as tragedy to be suffered.
The BBC press release quoted above continues by adding that:
185
Roly Keating (Head of BBC2) comments: "Beyond Boundaries is emotional,
thrilling and compelling TV... one of those rare programmes that genuinely
challenges the way we look at the world” (BBC, 2005: unpaged).
I find it difficult to regard Keating‟s comment as other than cynical. The central purpose of
Beyond Boundaries is to depict people arguing. The fact that the team happen to be disabled
is a variation on a format which gives it selling appeal, but to suggest it „genuinely
challenges the way we look at the world‟ is pushing things beyond credulity.
Noting that „basically the BBC‟s budget for disability programmes for the last two years has
been spent entirely on that‟ (l.2:482), Charles observes that:
...every stereotype is there… this whole thing of… I love the first clip…with the
visually-impaired guy… “There‟s either one of two ways… you can be either bitter
and complain… or you can get on with it…” (l.2:483)
Charles refers here to one of the video clips he has shown me, in which one of the Beyond
Boundaries participants has outlined to viewers his view of the two options open to disabled
people - either become bitter and twisted or triumph over your tragedy:
...it‟s the chip on your shoulder stereotype, isn‟t it… you know, if only you changed
your attitudes then the barriers would go away… (l.2:497ff.)
What Charles identifies as oppressive is that, while two options are held out as possibilities
here, both identify resolution in individual terms. Taylor and Harris argue that:
Reality TV, despite appearing as a naturalistic guise that does not have a meta-
narrative, performs its important ideological role by taming the potentially
transgressive (Taylor and Harris, 2008:163).
Through careful selection of its participants, as described in Sarah‟s comments, the
possibility has been eliminated that a transgressive view might be voiced. Viewers may