Thursday, 30 August 2012

"Go back to where you came from" performances





This week’s topic on performances highlights the character an individual performance front stage an audience he or she would prefer a specific reaction from. It’s the “front”, as Goffman terms it, that the individual asserts in order to deviate from the natural behaviour or persona beneath.
As most of you have heard SBS aired its second season of, “Go Back To Where You Came From”. The show places 6 Australians with strong views on the topic of Asylum Seekers on the journey a refugee takes when seeking asylum. Former radio “Shock Jock” Michael Smith is one of the six participants. Michael’s views on the topic are firm in that Asylum Seekers should be turned away if they are seeking refuge via boat.
If you skip the video to 38:40 Michael is seen comforting a small 8 year girl who has never been in a motor vehicle before. He’s holding her exclaiming how frightened she is etc etc. Later on when he finds where the little girl and her family have been transferred in the camp we hear him in shock and awe stating, “this place is so desolate”, “these poor people”. At 49:35 Michael is broken down after spending the day with a 13 year old orphaned boy in the refugee camp who has no one to care for him, no foster care nothing. After this encounter Michael composes himself for the camera and states, “My opinion hasn’t altered in the hard facts of it”. He returns to his performance of his “shock jock” self. Later fellow participant Imogen Bailey states, “it’s touching to see that he’s actually starting to show us I think the real him and the him that is a father but it’s the bull shit side, the performer that I hope for the rest of the journey he’ll leave behind.”
Michael Smith’s front of the “Shock Jock” is what’s consistently performed for audiences. However when confronted with the harsh reality of children with no food shelter or care is fatherly side emerges which brings out his backstage.