PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - What does 'being in the military' mean to you?
Old 9th Jan 2009, 10:13
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Phil_R
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Essex
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As to the TV show - you can only shoot what's in front of the cameras. Yes, you can creatively edit (anyone who hasn't worked in TV should watch this) but unless you're accusing them of computer generating welshwomen, they showed people who are in the RAF going to the disco because people who are in the RAF go to the disco, and there's nothing wrong with that.

This was not a hatchet job. This was feel-good fluff designed to let the audience think "oh look, they're just like us", demystifying the military and making it more approachable. This only works for a given audience - the one the show was aimed at, young people who go to nightclubs.

In a wider context, anyone who's featured on the news tends to react with disbelief at how bad the coverage is. They're not out to get you - it's always that bad, it's just that the problem is only obvious when they're talking about your specialist subject. TV loves the military at the moment because it's populist to cast them as underfunded, underequipped pawns of an unpopular government who are nonetheless brilliant at their job. Brits love underdogs. When TV stops loving the military, believe me, there will be no question about it.

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