Ben P over at MyDD has posted a primer on U.K. electoral politics that pretty much covers it all in just over 2,000 words. Read it, adopt a Monty Pythony accent, and you too can pass yourself off as a British wonk.
Until someone asks you about the Monster Raving Loony Party, or the schisms in the Marxist left, or…
Or, you could search EBay for those old Beta formatted tapes of Yes Minister!
Too true! Britain has done what no other English-speaking culture has, to my knowledge, come close to achieving: creating really good comedy about politics. (Not just political comedy, like 22 Minutes or The Daily Show, but comedic drama in a political setting.)
They’ve done it in film (Left, Right and Centre), television (Yes, Minister) and theatre (Feelgood).
Occasionally, we manage to get it right on this side of the pond — a Dave, The American President or… and here I’m stuck trying to think of a Canadian example that found both the mark and an audience. (I remain heartbroken that Snakes and Ladders never got another six episodes.)
But even most of those rare successes lack the feeling that they deal in anything more substantive than fantasy. (For one thing, Bob Rumson had a point: there’s a pretty big problem with the President sleeping with a lobbyist, even one as decent and principled as Sydney Ellen Wade.) And usually, the results fall much shorter — brave, if you can, the horrors of Speechless.
Why can’t we do what the British do? Is the problem artistic, or does it lie more with our politics?
By the way: The West Wing’s post-9-11 episode, Isaac and Ishmael, struck me as possibly the single best use of drama to explore an issue and even, dare I say it, educate its viewers. Not comedy, and barely a story, but amazing television.
Hey Rob–
Thanks for the tips, will look into some of your suggestions.