Current Affairs Intertexual
... sleeping with a minor. It was obvious to the audience that Mary Kay was being presented as the perpetrator and her ‘victim’ being her student, at the time, Vili Fualaau. This was constructed by the direct and bias view the producer and interviewer took on this issue. The fact that the questions which were asked to Mary Kay were very personal, direct and worded in such a way it was almost as if they were attacking her. “I'm trying very hard to find out what happened next. One day he kisses you on the lips. Right? And then it goes from that to this very intimate sexual relationship. What was the incident that turned it into that?” Questions such as these were asked in a very cynical manner. When Mary Kay replied, such questions were thrown at her, “Did you feel disgusted with yourself?” “When you were in prison, your children were now growing up without a mother. How did you feel about that?” Questions as these are asked hoping that the perpetrator, Mary Kay, would break down and give into the interviewer and audience watching. Another reason is so that the audience look down upon Mary Kay and view her as a perpetrator, for reasons such as leaving her children without a mother while she served seven years in prison due to her younger love. Although these things may not be morally acceptable, we are silenced from Villi’s point of view on the issue, or anyone else’s for that matter. Therefore this is an unbalanced view on the topical issue, leaving Mary Kay as the perpetrator and Villi as her victim. The reason why Vili’s side of the story was silenced, was most probably due to the fact that he did not see himself as a victim as he had feelings for this woman and after seven years of imprisonment he still does. As this does not coincide with what the television programme is trying to present to the audience, they have convientely failed to give Villi a voice. A Current Affair is also another current affair programme, which discusses many issues, which occur in our world today. Through viewing this programme it is evident to see that most affairs shown, have done little more than construct people as perpetrators and victims. One example of this when a woman named Paula spoke exclusively with A Current Affair, about being betrayed by the person she hoped to spend the rest of her life with, her husband, and including several doctors had failed to inform her about her husbands condition, AIDS. It is clearly obvious that Paula is presented as the victim and her ex-husband and doctors are the perpetrators. The highly emotive language, create the emotion of sympathy towards Paula. The segment starts of with the line “She’s fragile, she’s withdrawn, and she’s very scared.” This emotive language assists in positioning the audience and by using it as an opening line, we are able to see which side of the story is being presented and supported. Although AIDS is indeed a very serious issue without a do...