Tourette De France - clever title, shame about the documentary
I recently watched this documentary on Channel 4, which featured teenagers with tourette's syndrome from Scotland, traveling to France with Keith Allen (Lilly Allen's dad as he's now known!) on a red double decker bus. The main point of the documentary was to discover more about the condition and find out how it affects the kids lives. However, I think it was just a chance for Keith to provoke their condition and laugh when they shouted 'BOMB' in high security areas.
Here's how Channel 4 describe the show on their website:
As well as debunking the myriad preconceptions about the syndrome, Keith Allen's Tourette de France looks at the humorous side of society's reaction to Tourettes. By turns funny and touching, it gives the viewer a rare insight into a group of normal, likeable, and occasionally mischievous teenagers who are managing to live fulfilling and rewarding lives, despite the bizarre hand that fate has dealt them.
The majority of this was true to say, however, I felt uncomfortable with Keith's voice over and the things the kids were shouting out were being highlighted with the word appearing in large white text on the screen. They showed examples of tourettes being used in comedies such as Deuce Bigalow and Not Another Teen Movie and how they use the condition to comic effect and generally not a true representation of how it affects people. However, they were contradicting themselves by also representing the kids behaviour on the journey in a comical way; unfortunately, I wasn't laughing.
They were accompanied by John Davidson, the star of a well known documentary made in the eighties, John's Not Mad, which was made to make the public aware of the relatively unknown condition. He is a very interesting and charismatic person who helps with the charity in Scotland that supplied the money for the kids to go on the trip. I haven't seen the original documentary, but I have a feeling it was a lot more informative than this one. To be honest, I would have preferred to see the kids in their natural, day-to-day environment to see how they get on, and what their aspirations are for the future, rather than seeing them in stressful situations, being away from their families. I got the feeling it was more about Keith's feelings about them and his observations, rather than finding out more about the kids themselves. I know the condition is a lot more prevalent nowadays, mainly due to Pete being in Big Brother last year, but there are many different gradients of tourettes, which I would have liked to have discovered more about.
Here's how Channel 4 describe the show on their website:
As well as debunking the myriad preconceptions about the syndrome, Keith Allen's Tourette de France looks at the humorous side of society's reaction to Tourettes. By turns funny and touching, it gives the viewer a rare insight into a group of normal, likeable, and occasionally mischievous teenagers who are managing to live fulfilling and rewarding lives, despite the bizarre hand that fate has dealt them.
The majority of this was true to say, however, I felt uncomfortable with Keith's voice over and the things the kids were shouting out were being highlighted with the word appearing in large white text on the screen. They showed examples of tourettes being used in comedies such as Deuce Bigalow and Not Another Teen Movie and how they use the condition to comic effect and generally not a true representation of how it affects people. However, they were contradicting themselves by also representing the kids behaviour on the journey in a comical way; unfortunately, I wasn't laughing.
They were accompanied by John Davidson, the star of a well known documentary made in the eighties, John's Not Mad, which was made to make the public aware of the relatively unknown condition. He is a very interesting and charismatic person who helps with the charity in Scotland that supplied the money for the kids to go on the trip. I haven't seen the original documentary, but I have a feeling it was a lot more informative than this one. To be honest, I would have preferred to see the kids in their natural, day-to-day environment to see how they get on, and what their aspirations are for the future, rather than seeing them in stressful situations, being away from their families. I got the feeling it was more about Keith's feelings about them and his observations, rather than finding out more about the kids themselves. I know the condition is a lot more prevalent nowadays, mainly due to Pete being in Big Brother last year, but there are many different gradients of tourettes, which I would have liked to have discovered more about.
posted by Kate at
1:06 am
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