Over the last two days i kept hearing about a documentary BBC 3 aired; Tulisa, The price of fame. I felt compelled to watch it, having been one of those people who noticed Tulisa before the mainstream media did i wanted to see her side of whats been a fairly chaotic time for her. If you didn't know Tulisa before March last year, you did after it, The Sun on Sunday having provided an expose on how she had arranged a drug deal for them which led to being arrested, charged and facing a daunting court case.
I'm going to say this before i carry on, i'm not a Tulisa hater, when i first saw her she was in an early N Dubz music video that was incredibly raw, early work of a band before they gained any notoriety. Literally on the brink of the dawn of the Chav era and for me, Tulisa personified it, worse so, she was the kind of girl that people wanted to be because, her "front" was a tough, hard girl. I admired her hard work and determination though, clearly she wanted to be successful so when N-Dubz got air play on stations like Radio 1 i wasn't really surprised, i admit though, i was surprised when Simon Cowell gave her a two year stint on X Factor because for me, she did not fit the mold.
Another thing that i think should be said because it has always been clear is that Tulisa is not a person who censors herself, she is open about what she is, who she is and exactly where she came from. I think that is another quality people could admire about her.
So when i started watching the documentary i was un-surprised to see she maintained her raw honesty throughout, though for me, it still raised a huge amount of questions.
Firstly the morality of the "tabloid sting" that The Sun/The Sun on Sunday is notorious for, they already have a fairly shaky reputation on their techniques and stories over the years, boycotted in Liverpool, several employees arrested as part of investigations into phone hacking, The Sun is not a brand with a strong sense of morality. Within minutes of the documentary Tulisa had me convinced she had been completely entrapped by The Sun on Sundays reporter, Mazher Mahmood, who, if you are unaware, posed as a "fake sheikh" and offered her the world, he claims she set up a drug deal for him in which he purchased £820 of cocaine. (Can we talk about that i mean, can you go round buying drugs because you are undercover? Whats with that?). Is it really a standard of journalism to be proud of, targeting a particular person and pulling the stops out simply to coerce them into breaking the law, is this the kind of journalism we, as a nation actually want? Are celebs so utterly boring our reporters are having to create drama to write about?
Mazher Mahmood claims he is "proud of what he does" and that he does not, under any circumstances, entrap the people he targets, but the clue really is in the word, target.
And that word, entrapment, nobody was banding it around when Tulisa was first arrested, quite the opposite actually she was plastered and vilified on every front page, dropped from future prospects, endorsements frozen, but now the case has been thrown out of court by the judge suddenly everyone else has remembered the word, suddenly its absolutely entrapment.
I find something quite dirty in Mahmoods form of journalism, personally i don't find it anything to be proud of, his initial break came from exposing his own family and friends and though he has won awards for his journalism his career has also been marred by quite a few controversies, a sting into three potential muslim terrorists also fell apart in court, with the defendants found not guilty and Mahmood criticized for not checking the credibility of his story.He was reported to the police by former MP George Galloway for trying to implicate him in a wide variety of things including holocaust denying. He is currently on suspension from The Sun after the judge in Tulisas case questioned the integrity after Mahmood was discovered to have lied under oath. So really, is this "fake sheikh" who likes himself as an exposer of crime actually very trustworthy? Recent reports suggest 30 criminal cases which Mahmood has been involved in will be reviewed, so it appears out justice system actually, does not think Mahmood is a trustworthy man at all.
Its quite clear though that he is not a moral man, yes it must feel fabulous to expose cheating athletes on the front page but i'm sure, their wives do not feel quite as happy about the public humiliation Mahmood amplifies by reporting it.
Back to Tulisa and her price of fame, she sobbed her way through sixty minutes of the documentary, discussing how her career and reputation had been left in tatters by a series of mistakes and misunderstandings over the course of 3 years. Firstly, her sex tape, although i do feel sex tape isn't a clear term, if you've seen it, you'll know its more of a sex act tape. Regardless, its not the kind of thing you want put into a public forum unless its your chosen career and for Tulisa, who was carving out an image as the new Cheryl Cole on X Factor, it was a well timed, carefully orchestrated act leading to career suicide. That leads me to ask more questions, exactly when will we have a serious change in law about this kind of violation. Private photos and videos leaked onto the internet without the permission of those featured, its life destroying, at the moment, the law isn't very clear about what can be done on it. Radio One talked about it a few weeks ago where several, everyday people admitted to being shamed in this way by previous girlfriends and boyfriends and having no way to have it removed or stopped. Secondly, what leads anyone to reveal that kind of personal stuff, in Tulisas case, clearly her ex boyfriend knew a price would be paid for a slice of Tulisa pie, but in everyday situations, how has this become such a widespread form of vengeance?
Jan Moir wrote an article for the ever brilliant Daily Fail today on whether Tulisa, the self styled Female Boss should be accepting responsibility for the chaos of her last few years, in fact in her scathing commentary on Tulisas ordeal Jan Moir asks firstly "why do women allow it happen and take part" before then cementing i suppose, for the sake of her own integrity that Tulisas boyfriend is to blame and a large number of young girls are pressured into making such tapes and of course, those girls i suppose should bear no responsibility for the consequences, but Tulisa, apparently, should accept her share of the responsibility. The fact is, its something consented to in private, to be kept private and NOT made so widely public, there needs to be a change in the way we look at and deal with cases like that. It is a violation.
Jan Moir then questions whether Tulisas tumultuous life is her own fault, bad things keep happening to her after all, except they don't, because in these two cases that have threatened her livelihood she was targeted each time. That isn't bad luck Moir, thats having a shiny red target slapped on you simply for trying to better your own life.
Of course, the ever classy Moir also pulled out the kind of line that just solidifies how unseriously mental health can be taken, after talking about Tulisas confession that she contemplated suicide, Moir, with a heart full of love and understanding wrote this absolute gem "It was an early deployment of the trump suicide card, the traditional recourse for celebrities making their way back from a long and perilous journey to the dark side of fame". How delightful, truly, questioning the seriousness of a suicidal mindset is really the kind of top notch journalism everyone and their dog has come to expect from the Daily Fail.
I actually, don't doubt, having watched Tulisa break down in front of the camera several times, during the course of her ordeal that her mind did go to those dark places, i absolutely believe that, especially having seen her 2010 documentary, Tulisa: My Mum and Me, where she revealed her Mothers battles with mental health and how Tulisa often felt her own mindset was affected in the same way.
But of course a collapsed trial, lying reporter, scumbag ex-boyfriend will never really be enough to clear the name of a girl who worked hard to get where she is, because that, as demonstrated by Katie Price (who i wrote about here: http://thisisadebut.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/why-cant-we-be-nice-to-katie-price.html) is not enough for the public or the press. Tulisas name is permanently marred now, even an incredibly honest and open documentary still invoked responses like this on Twitter: "Are we supposed to feel sorry for her & believe her life is unbearable? What the fuckery is this?". Its the other side to the story, the one we forget about because blindly, we still put far to much faith in the integrity of these supposed journalists.
Yes, Tulisas made some mistakes, shes paying a fine for an assault and whilst, i can't condone any form of violence, again i do wonder what the other side to that story is, apparently the victim is someone else who helped Tulisas revenge porn stay in the public forum. I feel quite sorry for Tulisa now, in the same way i frequently do for Katie Price because clearly, having all the fame you could want, isn't always what you expect it do be, especially if you are a working class girl who just wants something better.
If you liked this article, try this one on for size; http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/28/tulisa-constostavlos-middle-class-media-chav
No comments:
Post a Comment