Why Small Irish Eyes Need Big Hollywood

by Phelim McAleer

Everywhere they go Irish children endure politics disguised as education or entertainment.

The Irish Times is, like the New York Times, the country’s most influential newspaper. 

They recently teamed up with Irish government’s overseas aid department and produced an educational supplement for every Irish classroom. 

In the supplement Irish children are informed that “more natural disasters are happening now than in the past because the world’s climate is changing”. They are then invited to “hear about what happened to Vathyia when extreme weather affected where she lived.” (their emphasis)

Twelve year old Vathyia then gives a moving account of how her mother, sister and brother were killed in the 2004 tsunami.

 I had to read it a couple of times to be sure there was no mistake.

The Irish government and the country’s most influential newspaper were telling schoolchildren the tragic Asian Tsunami was caused by climate change. It seems no one is too young or too vulnerable to be misled for political reasons – even to the extent that earthquakes and Tsunamis are now being spuriously linked to climate change.

So children get this and so much more in the classroom, in newspapers and from their teachers and their government.

Which is why it is so important that that other great influence in their lives – the popular culture – tells the truth. However, in a land that created Bono, that could be difficult.

But most Irish children watch popular American TV shows and go to the cinema to see popular American movies.

But for too long they have been seeing more of the same. From” WALL-E” (consumption will destroy the planet) to “The Day the Earth Stood Still ” (Global Warming will destroy the planet) to the “Dukes of Hazard” movie (coal mining will destroy Hazard County). Children should be forgiven for believing that industry and progress are to be feared and not welcomed.

In the movies and TV shows the villain is always the businessman. (Don’t the makers of “Law and Order” ever get tired of people working out who the killer is in the first five minutes? Note to Producers – There really is no point in having all those dramatic plot twists if the killer is always, and I mean always, the richest person/biggest businessman on the show.)

Deep down Irish children and Irish adults know that their lives have been made better by industrial progress. They know that industry has created jobs that lifts millions out of poverty every year in some of the poorest regions of the world. They also know that their wealth has funded medical breakthroughs which extends life expectancy in the developed and developing world.

But who would condemn children, and eventually adults, for forgetting this if the government, the media and their movies and television shows constantly tell them the complete opposite?

Big Hollywood, by shining a light on how the entertainment industry distorts reality, may eventually bring change. The change may come because of the reasoned arguments by this websites writers or it is more likely to come because it will embarrass those in control and force them to produce original and interesting material that truly looks at who uses and misuses power in our society.

Then maybe Irish children will be able to watch entertaining movies and TV shows that reflect the reality of their lives


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Posted Jan 26th 2009 at 6:20 am in Media Criticism, Politics | 26 Comments