What kind of damn fool cuts Mary Beard?
What a disgusting bunch of sexist philistines we are.
Professor Mary Beard has accused a US broadcaster of editing her own episodes of Civilisations to make them more anodyne, saying her on-screen appearances as a “slightly creaky old lady with long grey hair” had been cut.
Prof Beard, who hosts two episodes of Civilisations for the BBC in Britain, said the American edits of the show had seen her central arguments erased, her on-screen contributions reduced, and an episode on religion re-edited to focus more closely on Christianity.
This isn’t Fox, either, it’s goddam PBS.
Prof Beard said: “Really hope that friends in USA realise that my Civilisations episodes on PBS are very different from original BBC versions, have been drastically changed.
“The originals were far from ‘anodyne’ I promise.”
Saying the experience had left her grateful for the BBC’s treatment of Civilisations episodes, she told the Telegraph: “Whether people liked them or not, my BBC episodes were at least what I wanted to say!”
The BBC and PBS versions were made by the same production company, but the two broadcasters were each responsible for their final chosen edits.
And PBS decided to give us much less Mary Beard.
While the British version had three hosts, Prof Beard, David Olusoga and Simon Schama, lead their own programmes, the American edits see them join a number of “contributors” to each show including expert “talking heads” and narration from actor Liev Schreiber.
Ugh. I hate those expert talking heads PBS is so keen on.
Asked on Twitter why the changes were made, Prof Beard wrote: “I wish I knew .. to make it better for an American audience, people say…???? I am rather sad about it. Hope people will look at the originals when they are available.”
Questioned on whether she had approved edits, she said: “Put it this way, if that’s how I had wanted to make the programme, I would have done it that way!”
Dammit PBS.
You guys keep doing this. Years ago one of David Attenborough’s documentaries was “made suitable for American audiences” by being overdubbed by an American actress. Perfectly nice voice, etc, but it was clear that some of the time reproducing Attenborough’s script she had no idea what she what she was talking about.
The whole idea of this Civilisations series, in contrast / challenge to Kenneth Clark’s Civilisation, and this new one is brilliant, is that it is three very different world class scholars looking at the whole concept from different angles. They draw upon their own scholarship and that of others but each episode clearly has an author. Clark’s was full of good stuff but was very much European, male and civilisation as a single straight line,
I beg you – be brave and wait for the BBC version! You will get a very enjoyable, full strength experience for adults.
I am impressed that Mary Beard is being so laid back about this. I would be spitting blood.
I only know Beard from Meet the Romans, but she was so personable I can’t imagine wanting to edit her down. For example, here’s a snippet of her being interviewed about that show. It’s clear her enthusiasm is not a “persona”, but the real person.
Seriously? I love David Attenborough’s voice, and most the American audiences I know respond well to an English accent. The presence of the accent usually suggests higher culture, higher breeding, higher intelligence to a lot of people.
Oh. I think I just figured it out. Many Americans are immediately turned off by “educated elite”. That explains it. My friends, on the other hand, mostly happen to be “coastal elites” – even though we live as far from the coast as it is possible to live without being closer to the other coast. Many of the people around here can’t even figure out why education is a good thing for a college professor to have…(Seriously. That was a statement made by, get this, a person teaching in a local college – more education is not a necessary or good thing for the professors).
#2: That last bit sounds like envy to me.
Rrr – I suspect it is, at least in part. But there is a strong percentage (I think it’s up to slightly over half) of the people in this country that tell pollsters that they believe colleges are bad for the country. ????
@iknklast: I grew up a nerd in a blue-collar neighborhood. If I had a dollar for every time I heard “Where’d ya learn that? Out of a BOOK or somethin’?” I might not be rich, but I’d be drinking better wine. Ironically, some of the very same kids who said it in group settings would come to me privately to ask if I knew something or had an opinion about a subject that piqued their interest.
PieterB – that makes me think of my family. My sister used to go around saying her husband was the “scientist in the family”. (He has one anatomy & physiology class; I have a Ph.D. in Biology and published research). Then, one day, he calls me because his daughter left her science book at school, and he can’t figure out how to help her with her homework. So he called me for answers to questions in the 4th grade science his daughter was doing. Hahahaha. Promptly forgotten and once more back to arrogant belittling of my credentials, the arrogant inflating of his own, and the conviction that education and experience do not matter, and are in fact a detriment in gaining knowledge.
Denial of knowledge gets me steamed. On more occasions than I’d like to think of, I’ve had people in my circle ask me a specific question, then complain when I’ve given them an answer based on academic training and professional experience. The complaint is always, “Why can’t you pretend not to know the answer? You make me feel dumb for not knowing.” Note, it’s not how I answer the question (I try really hard not to damage people feelings and come across condescending). It’s always the fact that I know the answer and they didn’t.
I like discovering something I don’t know. Many people seem very threatened by it.
@iknklast, if you don’t mind saying, where are you? I’m a recent transplant from Los Angeles to the Iowa City area, where at least because of the University, there’s considerable diversity and respect for book-learnin’, not to mention a large fraction of Iowa’s Democrats.
The US has a long history of ‘modifying’ imported movies and TV. Even when they’re in English subtitles are sometimes added.
I hope ‘Civilisations’ doesn’t have any of the dreaded ‘re-inactments’,
Rob @8
Well, apparently the ‘tall poppy reflex’ isn’t confined to Oz.
PieterB, I am not far from you in space, but very far from your area in attitude. I am in rural Nebraska.
RJW @ 10. No, no it is certainly not.