Lessons from Peep Show – By @CocoShellim
By Coco Shellim
Lessons from Peep Show
Peep show seems to be the show which I always return to when I’m feeling down. A comfort blanket of awkward British cynical humour. I think the comforting inducing feeling has a lot to do with the way the show is filmed. The script writers came up with POV perspective after watching a Channel 4 fly on the wall documentary about the model Caprice. They were fascinated, not by its subject, but by the way it was filmed. Caprice had a tiny camera fitted to her sunglasses allowing the viewers to see exactly how she saw the world. Giving the viewers the most intimate view of her world. In Peep show they pushed the concept further by allowing the viewers hear the character’s inner thoughts as well.
The story follows two main characters, Marc and Jeremy through their lives. You hear their conversations whilst also hearing their thoughts, showing the stark opposites of that people say and what they really think.
Marc and Jeremy are about as opposite characters as you can get; Marc is an uptight loan manager, does everything by the book sort of man. Jeremy is a failed musician who somehow manages to get away with doing fuck all, supported by Marc. Although they are both opposite characters you inevitably see part of yourself in both of them, they are both impossible not to like.
You feel close to the characters watching them squirm though ridiculous and awkward situations whilst also hearing their thought plans of what to do next.
Hearing them work out their decisions and justify the stupid ideas to themselves, is like hearing a window into your own mind, at times. But mostly I think it’s a comforting show because ultimately it probably makes you feel a bit better about yourself. How sad is that? When you watch them make their stupid decisions, it makes your own bad decisions feel more manageable. Watching Jez bum around lets you feel a bit better about lying on the sofa binge watching and eating. Watching Mark freak about everything makes all your own anxious over thought, thoughts a little less crazy.
Sadly Peep show had to come to an end. By the end it was two forty year olds living the life of 20 year olds and even Jez said ‘it was almost too tragic to be funny’.
So if you’re feeling a bit pathetic and sorry for yourself give it a watch, guaranteed to make you laugh and maybe even let you feel a bit less pathetic for thirty minutes. At least you’re not hiding in the church at your own wedding, only to be found out by a small bladder and a leaking ceiling.
