Analyse af Russell Brands kommentar om London-optøjer

A nation’s citizens will sometimes through the history rebel. There can be many reasons for why the people will rebel. In some cases they are unhappy with their government or the entire regime. For example we saw during the French Revolution that the people rebelled because the normal citizens were cut off from all political power and this resulted in many riots. During the War of Independence in US we saw the people rebel because they were dissatisfied with the presence of the British. People have rebelled throughout the entire history and they have rebelled for a lot of things where some of them were important meanwhile some were less important. The English comedian, actor, musician and writer Russell Brand wrote a text called “Big Brother isn’t watching you”, where he comments of the riots that took place in London in 2011. In the comment he discusses these riots with a specific style and attitude towards the riots.

Russell Brand is presenting his comment with a use of different styles. He is using a very ironic tone to underline how unsatisfied he is with the politicians’ way of handling the riots situation which can be seen when he says “I’ve heard Theresa May(…) saying the behavior is “unjustifiable and “unacceptable”. Wow! Thanks guys! What a wonderful use of the planet’s fast-depleting oxygen resources.”(p. 8, line 49). By saying with a very sarcastic tone that it is a clever way to use the oxygen in the air he indirectly says that it is a waste of time to talk about how this is not okay and that it is not a solution to just talk about how it is unacceptable. By this he is also explaining that there is a need for action now but that the politicians are not taking action. Brand is making use of his ironic tone again when he mentions another politician: “I mean even David Cameron came back from his holiday. Eventually.” (p.8, l.25-26). Hereby Brand is arguing that the politicians aren’t taking this seriously which is shown due to the fact that David Cameron did not come home from his vacation even though he was needed because of the riots. Russell Brand explains that the politician should have come home from his holiday earlier so that he could handle the riots which he is mentioning indirectly when he says “eventually”. Brand is not only using an ironic tone but he is also making use of different styles throughout the text. Brand’s style is to be mixing formal with informal language which is shown when he says “No wonder they have their fucking hoods up” (p.9, l.90). The fact that he uses a curse word and this form of low style by using a short sentence is making the text a bit more down to earth and also a bit more understandable even though that he throughout the text chiefly is using high style and a bit more formal language which is necessary because he is above all an educated and probably a well respected writer. The quote also reflects that Brand is being very serious about these riots and the entire situation in general. This informal and also ironic style can in some ways reflect his attitude towards the riots.