Analyse af Russell Brands 'Big Brother Isn't Watching You'

Russell Brand, born in 1975 in the UK, writes in the commentary "Big Brother is not watching ", published on the Guardian's website, about his thoughts on the riots in London in the summer of 2011. Russell Brand does not live in England, but in Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, where he works as a comedian, actor, musician and writer. He is a well-known actor and has been in a number of popular movies.

Russell Brand is very determent to try and change the situation. Even though he does not live in the UK anymore, he still wants to help. “I’ve transplanted to Los Angeles by a combination of love and money […]You might think that it disqualifies me from commenting on matters in my homeland” he writes. His point is that he might have moved to the US, but he still cares for his homeland. He wants the riots to end and he wants to help the rioters.

He wants to find out, what makes the young people destroy their communities. He does not judge the rioters, and does not see them as the ones to blame. He blames a whole different part of society - the government.

His attitude to the riots is both good and bad. At first he has this positive attitude with a hint of fighting spirit. When I say fighting spirit I mean, his attitude indicates: “Let’s do something! Let’s change this, and make it work“, he wants to defeat this situation of chaos and hate. In all arguments, you have to find someone to blame. Russell Brand points “the bullet of guilt” towards the government. He is disappointed that the politicians do not take responsibility for the riots. They do not take care of the part of society who doesn’t vote at all. He wants the government to include them, and make them feel like they actually are a part of the society. He describes how he was a part of the Big Brother program, and he comperes the conflicts on the program to the conflicts in real life. When he said the quote: “ You cannot arouse the animal in man then expect it to be put aside at a moment’s notice” he wants to make it clear, that the producers and the government, cannot just put people aside when they are the or part of the reason that they started the conflict in the first place. Russell Brand is not trying to justify the riots; he is just trying to make them stop. He is frustrated because the government just pushes the problems to the side, instead of solving them.