Private School GirlBoy
I just watched the latest episode of Ja’mie by Chris Lilley.
OMG, I can.not.believe.him.
After about three minutes you’ve completely forgotten that this horrid, new millennium version of a character from The Naughtiest Girl in the School, is not real, forgotten that this is not a doco. Or Big Brother. And that she is a bloke. I don’t find the show funny at all, it is more cringe-worthy than anything, and a even bit embarrassing, as I wonder how much of Ja’mie was me at school. Yet I can’t look away. Even though I want to. Would prefer it, even.
Perhaps the show is so startling because even though Ja’mie herself is OTT, the way Lilley portrays her is not extravagant or elaborate or even drag-queenish at all. The show is not that kind of entertainment, where we, the audience get a wink and a nod that lets us in on the joke. It is serious, or at least that is how I take it. Chris Lilley just happens to be portraying a girl, and I find it interesting and strange that he does it so convincingly.
I find the whole thing very uncomfortable, and I wonder how much of it is the gender issue, and how much is the disgust with the characters of Ja’mie and her girlfriends. I’d love to be able to separate the two. To be able to figure out what it is that I don’t like, or is it because it’s all manner of my biases and prejudices rolled into one? There is a lot of ugliness by the teens, with no redemption or resolution, as the adults appear oblivious to, and even enable, what is going on. And that ugliness is hard to see. Or unsee.
It’s a fascinating half hour. I love it when an actor is able to draw me into their world so convincingly, without my consent, and in this instance, wincing all the way. I don’t like the sensation. It makes my skin crawl and I feel like a cleansing shower afterwards, and yet I know I’ll be back for as long as Lilley makes me.
This is not the first time Chris Lilley has done this to me, and hopefully it won’t be the last.
Have you seen the show?
I’d love to know what you think.
That’s true, and then every now and then I see the shadow of his stubble and I shudder. I suspect he’s done that on purpose.
It isn’t funny, and it is nasty, and yet, I can’t look away. Which probably says more about me than the show itself….
Exactly Anna, it is stressful, but I don’t understand why. Is it because she is without redemption? Is it the thought of our shared pasts and students (mainly girls) who were a bit like her? Or is it because I’m now a Mum and I shudder to think that is that landscape we are sending our precious cargoes out to try and navigate? Or is it just the gender thing?
I think I’ve just run out of patience for unpleasantness in my old age. Because it’s not funny, it’s just voluntarily watching someone be shamelessly awful to other people for half an hour, with no consequences or self-awareness. Also it’s really just the same ‘joke’ over and over, which always bugs me.
I don’t think the gender thing is a factor – I forget Lilley is a man within the first few minutes.
The audience not being in on the joke is something I was trying to explain to my kids. I said to them that it was a boy playing a character who is a girl, but couldn’t seem to communicate to them that in the show, the character is just a girl, not a boy pretending to be a girl. Because as you say, it’s not drag at all.
I’ve only watched the first episode, but probably won’t watch any more. Because there’s no joke to Ja’ime, because she’s actually just a bitch with no levity, I found it stressful and tiresome. I much preferred her in We Can Be Heroes, where the juxtaposition of her and the other characters gave it some social context, instead of just being unpleasant.