BURNUP - eco thriller on BBC2 this Weds & Fr at 9PM

Joules · Post by **Joules** » 26 Jul 2008, 10:14

Aurora wrote:
If any of you think that this third rate drama will have any effect on the way the sheeple view our forthcoming energy problem, I feel sorry for you.

I disagree. I think there are many more levels of consciousness/awareness/whatever you want to call it out there than you give credit to: I can only cite one example at the moment, but I think my wife, who is notoriously dismissive of the whole Peak Oil thing, was much more interested in the subject once she saw her beloved Rupert (the charming but naive CEO of Arrow Oil) getting even more fired-up about the potential consequences of Peak Oil than even I do. I think there is a distinct possibility that the program could tip the balance for some of the 'marginal' viewers. Messages are not always about the message itself; sometimes it's about the delivery.

burn up · Post by **burn up** » 26 Jul 2008, 14:06

Hi, I heard about this Peak Oil thing recently as it was mentioned in a couple of newspaper articles. Anyway, I decided to watch Burn Up and after it finished thought I'd google Burn Up and Peak Oil to find out more. This thread came up so I've been looking around your site and I will definitely try and get hold of The end of suburbia. Thanks!

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 26 Jul 2008, 14:19

Welcome aboard.

So that's at least one success to chalk up for the film

Joules · Post by **Joules** » 26 Jul 2008, 17:16

Told you

Kieran · Post by **Kieran** » 26 Jul 2008, 17:54

Didn't see Burn Up myself, all BBC drama seems to be crap these days so didn't bother. Jeremy Leggett in the Guardian has a bit to say about it:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree ... matechange
Jeremy Leggett: Burn Up makes our climate crisis into a drama | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

mobbsey · Post by **mobbsey** » 26 Jul 2008, 21:40

Vortex wrote:A researcher spoke to several climate change & PO pundits and wrote down any factoids that he/she could understand.

Does anyone remember "If... the oil runs out". In just one hour (even with Sandra Dickinson) they got the peak oil issue over and wonderfully illustrated what it meant for ordinary people. Even the whole geology, supply and price inflation thing in seamlessly.

I think they were just trying to do "Dallas" with Peak Oil.

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 27 Jul 2008, 21:57

I do remember If...the lights go out, and it was rather good. But like others on this thread say, not everybody warms to documentaries: yer more "people-centred" and/or basic types identify with characters, and how the crisis plays out with them, than with the abstract of the crisis itself. Depends what your drivers are: ideas, or people.

Post by **clv101** » 27 Jul 2008, 22:56

Joules wrote:
Aurora wrote:
If any of you think that this third rate drama will have any effect on the way the sheeple view our forthcoming energy problem, I feel sorry for you.

I disagree. I think there are many more levels of consciousness/awareness/whatever you want to call it out there than you give credit to: I can only cite one example at the moment, but I think my wife, who is notoriously dismissive of the whole Peak Oil thing, was much more interested in the subject once she saw her beloved Rupert (the charming but naive CEO of Arrow Oil) getting even more fired-up about the potential consequences of Peak Oil than even I do. I think there is a distinct possibility that the program could tip the balance for some of the 'marginal' viewers. Messages are not always about the message itself; sometimes it's about the delivery.

I'm with Joules. It's things like this that effect the way the general public think about things, more so than individual newspaper articles. Will this programme really change anything? Course not, but it's a baby step towards pop culture awareness.

Adam1 · Post by **Adam1** » 27 Jul 2008, 23:38

I am just forcing myself to watch the last 20 minutes of this complete load of rubbish.

I don't think I've ever felt less able to suspend disbelief or feel so little for any of the characters in a drama. The script and the acting were dismal.

I don't think anyone new to peak oil would be any the wiser about what it is or what it means having seen this nonsense.

All the conspiratorial stuff in the story just makes campaigners on peak oil sound like conspiracy theorists.

All in all, it would have been better it if hadn't been made: it's done more harm than good and it was crap drama.

Post by **mikepepler** » 29 Jul 2008, 08:03

Maybe I'm not very discerning in my taste, but I enjoyed it.

Anything that raises a little awareness on oil and our dependence on it can't be a bad thing, even if it's not presented the way we might like.

Post by **clv101** » 29 Jul 2008, 08:16

mikepepler wrote:Anything that raises a little awareness on oil and our dependence on it can't be a bad thing, even if it's not presented the way we might like.

Exactly. I think people are being too critical towards this programme. I don't for a moment believe it's done more harm than good.

Adam1 · Post by **Adam1** » 29 Jul 2008, 10:12

clv101 wrote:
mikepepler wrote:Anything that raises a little awareness on oil and our dependence on it can't be a bad thing, even if it's not presented the way we might like.
Exactly. I think people are being too critical towards this programme. I don't for a moment believe it's done more harm than good.

With any topic, you have a spectrum. On one end, you have high-quality information: nuanced, logically rigorous, well referenced: where the appeal to the cerebral and the emotional chime. On the other, you have simplistic, unreferenced material that presses emotional buttons but is poor brain food. If the former is akin to light, sweet crude; the latter is akin to tar sands.

I'd put this programme firmly on the "tar sands" end of the scale. Do we really want to go down the tar sands route?

Post by **clv101** » 29 Jul 2008, 10:18

For sure it was "simplistic, unreferenced material that presses emotional buttons but is poor brain food" - and like the front page of The Sun, it's hugely important for influencing how the country thinks.

The Oil Drum, ASPO etc is not going to raise public awareness of this issue directly, all ‘we’ can hope to do is to influence the writers of programmes like this. It’s programmes like this that get to the mainstream.

eatyourveg · Post by **eatyourveg** » 29 Jul 2008, 10:54

clv101 wrote:For sure it was "simplistic, unreferenced material that presses emotional buttons but is poor brain food" - and like the front page of The Sun, it's hugely important for influencing how the country thinks.

The Oil Drum, ASPO etc is not going to raise public awareness of this issue directly, all ‘we’ can hope to do is to influence the writers of programmes like this. It’s programmes like this that get to the mainstream.

Chris, I am doing my bit for the Oil Drum, can I have a badge or something

?

http://www.thebestof.co.uk/okehampton/events/137256

Adam1 · Post by **Adam1** » 29 Jul 2008, 11:18

clv101 wrote:For sure it was "simplistic, unreferenced material that presses emotional buttons but is poor brain food" - and like the front page of The Sun, it's hugely important for influencing how the country thinks.

That would be fine, if Burn Up had appeared on a Sky channel that is viewed by Sun readers, but it was shown on BBC2, which is supposed to be a bit higher brow than The Sun. Many non-Sun reading viewers will have been left with the idea that peak oil and climate change is about conspiracy shadowy intrigue by the oil companies. Many from a more arts background would have been put off by the crappy artistry of the programme - the daft lines, the ridiculous plot, the scenic or deserted but improbable locations - what was it with all those shots at the top of tower blocks?

clv101 wrote:The Oil Drum, ASPO etc is not going to raise public awareness of this issue directly, all ‘we’ can hope to do is to influence the writers of programmes like this. It’s programmes like this that get to the mainstream.

It would be interesting to find out what information the producers and writers of "Burn Up" were exposed to or influenced by when they knocked up this piece.

All of that said, the programme had a lot of viewers. There are lots of mostly positive comments on it here.