Struggle Street (SBS Doco on Mount Druitt)

I was just going to mention this!

Story on the 7:30 report about it right now. Residents are outraged and the Mayor is sick and tired of the stereotypes.
 
On Jonesy and Amanda today their sound engineer showed that SBS had dubbed fake fart noises etc onto the audio to make it more comedic.

While I am sure theres two sides to the story, the family shown has a son with brain damage and a daughter with epilipsy and they are the object of laughter and humiliation for 3 tv shows?
 
DaveM said:
While I am sure theres two sides to the story, the family shown has a son with brain damage and a daughter with epilipsy and they are the object of laughter and humiliation for 3 tv shows?
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Wow, that is sad! Wasn't aware.
 
It's all a big kerfuffle. Any publicity is good publicity. The types portrayed in the show are a dying breed. True bogans have metamorphed into some thing more sophisticated, more style (like myself). Ooh the cops just pulled up.
 
Watched the first 20 mins, what a steaming pile of dogs turd of a show.

Some of the worst production value and narrative I have seen come out of SBS in a long time
 
DaveM said:
Watched the first 20 mins, what a steaming pile of dogs turd of a show.

Some of the worst production value and narrative I have seen come out of SBS in a long time
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It was on in the background but I am sure I saw "A Current Affair" do a "report" saying that SBS were just playing to stereotypes and sensationalizing the story, I think they actually used the words "no journalistic integrity".

I think media watch will have some fun with that!

This is akin to StarofDavid questioning the sanity of well .......anybody really.
 
I didn't watch it, and to be honest didn't know anything about it until my newsfeed went into overdrive tonight.

My family moved to Lethbridge Park when I was 11. Both my sister and I attended Chifley College.

Yes there is/was plenty of "bogans", teenage mums (I know many), graffiti/trashed homes and drug users. The year I moved to Melbourne a friend of mine was killed in a drive by shooting for dealing drugs, another died last year of a drug overdose and there was a drug raid on our old street - a friend from primary school lived there. It's incredibly sad and there is definitely issues there.

BUT, the majority are good people. They just happen to live in an area with a huge stereotype hanging over its head.

There's a good portion on Centrelink, and some do abuse this privilege or think it's their "right". Again, this is the small portion. The majority use benefits to help when things have gone south, or to help subsidise their wages if they don't earn enough.

I don't think it's fair to single out one area, what about the areas which are deemed more desirable? They'd still have the same problems and people struggling to get by.

Again, I didn't watch it so I may be way off the mark about how everyone was portrayed, but I did spend a good 7 years there and I came out okay.

Edit - yes, I've been fortunate enough to have great parents that didn't fall into this stereotype. Many of my friends and their families did though, and I was a turd of a teenager (wasn't I Mum?) :p so I could've easily fallen into the stereotype.
 
Lil Skater said:
Edit - yes, I've been fortunate enough to have great parents that didn't fall into this stereotype. Many of my friends and their families did though, and I was a turd of a teenager (wasn't I Mum?) :p so I could've easily fallen into the stereotype.
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OMG! Turd just doesn't cut it. :eek:

We tried our best to keep you around people with similar values to our own, but it's really hard to do with a strong willed teen! Thank goodness you skated & were kept busy a lot of the time. It's a lot harder to get into trouble when you are with your parents for many hours each week training in sport, as well as keeping down a couple of casual jobs. :D

We didn't see that show either, however we were watching the article on it in A Current Affair & our older daughter said that the woman in the article was a customer of hers, when she worked at the local Go Lo. She said that she was definitely a Bogan, but seemed to be kind hearted.

Yes, there are some issues in the area, but the majority of people are good people, and not at all how I think they will be perceived in this show, which seems to focus on the bottom feeders.
 
I tuned in late, but watched a big chunk of it.

Like all these things, the promos were made to suck people in. What was unexpected, was that the program showed people with a lot of forbearance and forgiveness.
 
I watched a bit of it, made me feel a bit depressed, so I flipped over to sbs2 which was showing the Re-animator...that was an improvement :D
 
depreciator said:
I tuned in late, but watched a big chunk of it.

Like all these things, the promos were made to suck people in. What was unexpected, was that the program showed people with a lot of forbearance and forgiveness.
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Exactly. The promos did what they were supposed to do. The actual show was quite good. It didn't make fun of the people involved, it showed their lives and struggles. It was tough to watch at times, but there's nothing wrong with that.

It told their stories, without resorting to clich?s or making fun of the subjects. Or turning it into some type of 'right or wrong, good v bad' tabloid debate.

No wonder ACA couldn't understand it.
 
I haven't seen it, got the recording may watch it later but not expecting much..

I heard on the radio this morning that it's been cut short and SBS has given in to protests, they may only show the first 1 or 2 episodes.

It's been in the paper the last few days, so probably a good idea.
 
dan c said:
Exactly. The promos did what they were supposed to do. The actual show was quite good. It didn't make fun of the people involved, it showed their lives and struggles. It was tough to watch at times, but there's nothing wrong with that.

It told their stories, without resorting to clich?s or making fun of the subjects. Or turning it into some type of 'right or wrong, good v bad' tabloid debate.

No wonder ACA couldn't understand it.
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I watched it online, only because of this thread. Well, that was an hour that I will never get back.

Having spend several years living in this area, I can tell you now, that this is not a true representation of a cross sections of the residents. From what I recall, you had:

The single aboriginal male living in the bush with his dogs.

The young homeless girl, and the single mother.

And lastly the family.

I think the man living in the bush came out looking like a loser. He is not typical in the area.

The single mother & the young girl, well, it wasn't too bad. It showed that there is support available for people who need it, and I've never heard of the school that the young girl was going to, so after looking it up, that's a good thing too, as it is somewhere that those that don't 'fit' into a normal school can go & get a bit of an education, and do something with themselves if they are only willing to give it a go. I also know that one of the high schools used to have a daycare facility so that some of the single mothers could keep up their schooling.

And the family! OMG! A train wreck! This isn't typical either. It would have been more uplifting to show a more normal family, but of course, that isn't good entertainment. People want to see all of the drama etc, & then they think that this is how all families behave, which is most definitely NOT the case.

I think it would have been good to show a more normal family, working & not getting benefits. If they are low income earners, then it would have still fitted into their title of 'Struggle Street', but would have been more realistic of the area.

I'm happy for them to show the bad, but show the good too, because there are a lot of normal, good people in the area, just getting on with their lives, they are not druggies, or loonies, or criminals, just ordinary, everyday people.
 
skater said:
I'm happy for them to show the bad, but show the good too, because there are a lot of normal, good people in the area, just getting on with their lives, they are not druggies, or loonies, or criminals, just ordinary, everyday people.
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Not too many people watch TV to see ordinary, every day people.
 
cimbom said:
Not too many people watch TV to see ordinary, every day people.
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I know that, but show a balance. Show the train wrecks, but then balance it out with the normal......or the abnormal, in the other direction. You know....someone who grew up in the area, maybe even from a 'train wreck' of a family, but is now wealthy & maybe even giving back to the area. There's a lot of money in the area as well as the welfare recipients, so let the public know the real story.

They could run something like this: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/ne...richer-residents/story-fni0cx4q-1227342644572

Spoiler alert, it does feature Nathan Birch, who isn't a Mt Druitt resident, nor has he ever been, so I'm told, but it also has a couple of others as well. As I was saying, some of these type stories might be interesting TV, without the train wreck, and show that it's not just about the bottom feeders.
 
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