Farewell and good riddance to Little Britain?

Farewell and good riddance to Little Britain is an article published in the Guardian yesterday. It infers that "Little Britain" is an unpleasant, unfunny, elitist and nasty television show. I'm afraid I have to disagree. From a cultural perspective, firstly, I think that it is essential that a country can ponder its shortcomings and idiosyncrasies and can poke fun at itself. Being self-aware and self-critical, as a nation, is a positive trait which should be encouraged. Any self-confident and proud nation should be able to weather a little bit of criticism, from national and international sources. The problem is that, in a country which is very much an island in Europe in the cultural, social and linguistic sense, criticism is not taken well. Even when it comes from within the country. Accusations of classism abound in the piece and in any perceived attack on the British "working" classes in general, the class background of those making the jokes about/and or criticising the lower classes and the UK's "benefit culture" are always thoroughly scrutinised and their opinion shot down if they are not of the same background as those they are criticising. Which is a curious and baffling attitude. LB critiques all aspects on British society, as far as I can see. All class groups, ethnicities, sexualities etc. It would not only be misleading and incorrect to call the show racist or classist, it would require the viewer to ignore many of the sketches...

But back to the main point. In my opinion, "Little Britain" is an intelligent, timely and democratic satire. It mocks much of what is seen as intrinsically and uniquely British. And is does so in an equal manner. No part of modern British society is spared. And that includes groups which we have been taught it is impolite and politically incorrect to critique in the mainstream media and which are therefore not routinely mocked. The horrendous prevalence of over the top "politically correct" thought leads people to brand a comedy show like "Little Britain", which pokes fun at British people as a whole, homophobic, racist, classist and so on. It is easy to make a case for all of these accusations but the primary problem I have with the attack being made on LB is that it is not essentially being appreciated for what it is; comedy. It may be uncomfortable to watch, we may find it at times unpleasant and it may make us squirm. But that, to me, is the very point of the show. Why are we uncomfortable watching a scene in which a white British character mocks an Indian character's accent... Because we have been conditioned to believe that racism does not exist in politically correct, 21st century Britain and the insinuation that xenophobia and cultural ignorance continue to be rife in our society stirs up, not a desire to rectify this, but rather utter rejection of this notion. In short, having our flaws, as a society, pointed out, tends to infuriate and frustrate us.

The British public can undoubtedly be extremely prudish and reserved and doesn't take well to being criticised. Regardless of whether it's our often condescending attitude to other countries, foreign travel and our poor foreign language skills or our high rate of teenage pregnancy (see Vicky Pollard) being mocked. Yes, some of the sketches may be crass. But they get our attention, they highlight important issues and draw our attention to sociologically significant characteristics of our modern society. Having lived in several countries I find LB very interesting. Interesting in that it highlights very quintessentially British occurrences and traits. It could not be about another country. The article above on teenage pregnancy, compares teenage pregnancy rates in Holland (The teenage pregnancy rate in Holland is only one-fifth as high as that of the UK) and the UK and compares how sex education is taught in both countries. It concludes that "it is as much about changing attitudes and culture in the UK as it is about developing lesson plans". I would argue that, by exposing the less pleasant aspects of our society we can confront and improve them, rather than by burying our head in the sand and maintaining the same arrogant belief that the way we do things is the best way. LB may make us uncomfortable; it points out our flaws and shortcomings. But we should be able to laugh at ourselves and simultaneously use the understanding gained to rectify our mistakes, as a culture and as a society.

Good comedy makes us laugh and makes us think. It should challenge our preconceptions and push the limits. And LB certainly does all of that, in my opinion.