This article was originally published in The Dundee Courier on 21 October 2017.
GEORGE MICHAEL:
FREEDOM:
Monday, Channel 4
CHRIS PACKHAM:
ASPERGER’S AND ME:
Tuesday, BBC Two
The
celebrity curse of 2016 struck one final tragic blow on Christmas Day, when
George Michael died.
Only
the day before he’d been putting the finishing touches to an autobiographical
documentary. GEORGE MICHAEL: FREEDOM
now stands as an elegy.
It
focused on the period when, after dissolving Wham, he became one of the biggest
pop idols on the planet.
George
was very private, but always candid in interviews. This final testament was no
exception. He discussed losing his first true love to HIV, his mother to
cancer, his high-profile battles with the industry, and his persistent feelings
of insecurity and loneliness.
Celebrities
whining about the pressures of mega-fame can often stick in one’s craw, but George’s
innate likeability tempered the blatant hubris of producing this tribute to his
own talent and artistic integrity.
The
film also felt like a tacit admission that his imperial phase as a solo artist
ended in the mid-1990s, after his failed court case with Sony. I suspect,
sadly, that George knew he was a spent creative force during the final 20 years
of his life.
He
always somehow managed to come across as a normal person, even while wearing
shades indoors. His public cries for help – getting arrested in that LA toilet,
most famously - made him look fallibly human. George always laughed them off,
which made us like him even more.
His
reputation within the industry was illustrated by contributions from an impressive
roster of famous friends and fans such as Mary J Blige, Ricky Gervais
(delivering his standard “ironic” homophobe crap), Elton John, Nile Rodgers,
Stevie Wonder and, somewhat incongruously, Liam Gallagher, who outed himself as
an endearingly sincere fan of the Listen
Without Prejudice album.
This
fitting tribute reminded me that George possessed a strong, pure, soulful voice
– his powerful rendition of Somebody to
Love at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert gains extra resonance with the
knowledge that his terminally ill lover was in the audience that night.
It
also highlighted his gift for writing introspective soul-pop nuggets with mass
appeal, and that he was, pop star ego and all, a nice, honest guy. How many feted global
superstars can you say that about?
The
candour continued in CHRIS PACKHAM:
ASPERGER’S AND ME, in which the wildlife presenter opened up about his
condition for the first time in public.
Packham
has been hiding his condition for most of his life. As a high-functioning
autistic person, he’s managed to sustain a successful 30-year career. Nevertheless,
he regards himself as disabled. He’s seriously considered killing himself on
three occasions.
Packham
experiences the world in an intensely hyper-real way. He exhausts himself with
his obsessive grasshopper mind, although his encyclopaedic knowledge of the
natural world is the source of his success.
He
prefers the company of animals, hence why he lives with his dog in the middle
of nowhere. His partner, who lives miles away, admitted that his inability to
relate to people is very challenging. Nevertheless, they’ve been together for
ten years. He’s also proud of his bond with his stepdaughter. Autism has myriad
complexities.
While
raking over his life story, he investigated some controversial and alarming new American
therapies aimed at stripping away autistic traits. They involved electrodes and
extreme behavioural modifications for children.
Packham
was understandably angered by the notion of “curing” autism. After all, it
defines the lives of everyone who has it. It’s who they are. They have a
valuable role to play in society, so shouldn’t we adapt to their needs instead
of forcing them to change?
This
thoughtful programme concluded that it did. I agree.
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