Peep Show Is Now a Utopian Fantasy (2022 article)

[Bill Carr]

A few excerpts from an excellent article written by James Grieg.

The point of Peep Show (2003-2015) is that both its protagonists, Mark Corrigan (David Mitchell) and Jeremy Usbourne (Robert Webb), are abject and despicable losers. Yet watching it recently for the first time in years, I felt a trace of envy. Jeremy is an unemployed slacker, and yet his life, while bleak, holds an unintentional allure.

Jeremy is, to some extent, inoculated from dependence on the state: he partly lives off money from his mother, who, in Telfer's words, 'coddles and shields him from the pressures of adulthood.' He also mooches off his flatmate Mark, who 'shelters him, feeds him, bails him out of awkward situations, both emotionally and financially, and indulges him throughout the series.'

But it is mentioned in the series that he has been signing on for years, and I was curious to know whether changes in Britain's benefits system have effectively rendered this impossible. 'In the past, it was relatively easy to stay on unemployment benefits for very long periods without a lot of hassle from the state,' Tom O'Grady, author of The Transformation of British Welfare Policy, told me. 'In the early to mid-1980s, there really weren't a lot of conditions placed on the unemployed in return for benefits, and it was something that was used by "creatives" to fund a more artistic lifestyle.'

You can see this represented in a number of cultural products of the time: take Wham's 'Wham Rap', for example. It proudly proclaims: 'Hey Jerk, you work. This boy's got better things to do... I'm a soul boy, I'm a dole boy; take pleasure in leisure, I believe in joy!'

FULL ARTICLE:
https://tribunemag.co.uk/2022/10/how-peep-show-became-utopian-fantasy 

[Bill Carr]

If you read even a random sample of biogs by British artists produced by 'Gen. X', you find that at some point many of them chose to sign on so that they could devote their time towards their music career. UB40 are the best-known example of that.

There's another Peep Show episode that seems to be prescient. (Spoiler alert for anyone who hasn't seen it - it's from the eighth series.)

Jez takes a crash course in life coaching, fails it, but still ends up getting a phoney certificate from Mark. There are now similar life coaching courses available online that don't last very long and "qualify" people to coach others.

How grimly predictable.  

[Miguel Wilkins]

from Viz

[Bill Carr]

from Viz

Yabsolutely!