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Someone pointed out on BBBM last night (I think I was Melinda Messenger, actually, who's doing very well for herself at the moment, gaw bless 'er) that Jade was completely different when her mum was in the house - quiet, restrained, sweet, conciliatory - something that Ganesh points out upthread. As soon as Jackieytovectorsigma was banished to The Hell Of Diminishing Media Returns, the real Jade - the one from five years ago - showed up again. Only this time she's rich, buff, and comes with a Kung Fu Sense Of Entitlement Grip as a consequence.
Where in the old days a slanging match like Stockgate would have made her burst into tears half way through, the remainder of the fight being conducted through a river of mucus and a face like a hippo in labour, now - abetted by the giggling gang of yes-girls on the sofa - she's able to rant for three times as long, twice as offensively, and thirty-seven times (I counted them) as self-righteously, and without any real input from the target of the abuse. This adds up to a grade on the McEnroe Scale of 4.7. I would post the graph, but there's no 'pics' warning in the thread's title.
There's the sense, though, that she felt compelled to apologise for her out-of-order mother (as she's probably been doing to a varying degree for most of the last ten years or so), to the extent that she fell into a role model role while Jackieytotheoutsideloo was in the house. Without her surrogate child to watch out for, she's reverted to type. It's also baffling to see such a veteran of reality TV, particularly this show, seemingly completely oblivious to the presence of the cameras. I can understand Jo or Danielle forgetting and letting slip an unguarded comment or twenty, but Jade's had camera's following her for about two thirds of the last five years. She must know the screaming fits aren't doing her image any good, even if she has no idea to what extent that's the case...
My other half pointed out that Stockgate reminded her specifically of being bullied at school, and it was then that I realised exactly what was making me uncomfortable, and conversely, why Jade felt so comfortable continuing with her shrieks. My memories of being bullied at school are to to with, not necessarily the actual bully, the abuse, the violence, but the sense of being alone and of being ganged up on. Seeing Jo and Danielle sitting giggling (sometimes behind a pillow, sometimes openly in front of Shilpa) while Jade's tirade continued, we were reminded of why it is that bullies are enabled to do what they do. Their peers validate their behaviour, and those that don't, don't take any steps to intervene to interrupt that validation.
To begin with, it didn't bother me that the others didn't intervene on Shilpa's behalf with Jo/Jade/Danielle/Jack - the 'white knight' reflex is a powerful one, but can be oppressive, especially when the apparent victim is able to stand up for herself, as Shilpa is clearly capable of doing. But after Stockgate, I think we could have done with more than Jermaine's physically standing between them and mumbling like a big beautiful hippy and Cleo's increasingly desperate attempts to remain the bridge between the two camps (have you noticed how no one even lets her complete a sentence in one of her conciliation attempts now, as if they've already finished it in their heads through familiarity?), and although I love Dirk to bits, his refusal to get anywhere near any of the altercations so far is typical of the emotional detachment he's displayed to date. H is just desperate to avoid confrontation, which is actually kind of sad/sweet, as it's clearly distressing him, but he clearly doesn't have the tools to actually express that distress to the participants - which might shed some light on his bond with Jacigotthekieyigotthesecret - possibly attaching himself to the one most likely to randomly kick off, so as not to be the target of said kicking? |
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