2. It Perpetuates A Class Divide
This one kind of follows on from the previous page. I also think it's the most damaging thing about this program. I did film studies at university for three years so if I was to analyse the Jeremy Kyle Show, I could easily say that the guests who frequent it represent the working class and/or underclass of society, and the host represents the middle class. And not just the middle class, but a snobby kind of middle class. This is a man who has made a very successful career belittling working class people. He finds himself looking down at those who are worth less than him; people who are drinkers, drug takers or god forbid unemployed. When it comes to being unemployed, his usual response is to berate the individual (who he knows is unable to respond in the same rehearsed and articulate manner) and that they should "go and get a job!" Spoken like a man who hasn't experienced the job market in a long time! This is not helpful advice in the least bit (you can't just
get a job) and is always, unsurprisingly, followed by applause from the audience despite this phrase (and many others in his repertoire) having absolutely no affect or meaning. Remember when I said it's important to remember Jeremy Kyle is not your friend. This goes for class background too. By fronting this obnoxious show and verbally attacking his guests with his conservative clichés, he is encouraging his audience to side with him; that somehow being those 'other' people sat on the stage is cause for such deserved patronising tones. The saddest part is that most of his audience members and viewers are closer to his guests on the socio-economic scale than to him. He wants you to think you are better than them and your lives are infinitely more rewarding simply by proxy (more on this later). It's also interesting to note that Jeremy Kyle makes unemployed people feel small and insignificant on a program that airs when many unemployed viewers are around to watch it. Who's he insulting more: his guests or his TV audience?