Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Bonfire of the Vanities, French style
With little flame icons dotting maps of France and fire engulfing screens in media reports the world over, the flames having been sparked by what might have been a relatively innocuous incident were it not for the race-meets-poverty tinderbox in which it took place, it's hard not to be reminded of the Tom Wolfe novel, isn't it.
Since the first night of riots 21st century "new journalism" has cashed in, as have the real-life equivalents of the civil rights leaders portrayed in the book.
With the French riots running ever hotter, Australian TV today coincidentally showed a willing fist fight between suspected terror sympathisers (arrested by Australian police) and journalists outside a Melbourne court.
Reminded me of the scene in "Bonfire" where a cameraman mercilessly baits Sherman McCoy outside a court and then snaps a pic of his angry face, same being plastered all over the next day's front pages without reference to the actual context.
Except that in this case,
a) the fight with media itself being the story; and
b) cameras being on hand to show a wide angle of the incident,
Viewers were treated to a rare view of just how invasively close television cameras come to their targets. A swarm of them invaded the personal space of the Muslim youths as they walked away from the court, coming within inches of their faces and trailing them in that position.
Not that that excused the extremity and violence of the youths' reaction. Same can be said of what's going on in France.
