The Slap [DVD]

The book of "The Slap" by Christos Tsolkias has caused great controversy in Australia; dividing reading groups across the country for or against it. It hasn't generated much interest in the UK, though it was long-listed for the Man Booker in 2011, as well as winning the Commonwealth Writers Prize the previous year. The UK version of the book comes with a rave review from Colm Toibin, but I find myself agreeing with the review of the book in the LRB August 2010 by Melissa Denes [...] which said in essence that it had some great moments but also some really weak and crudely written moments. The TV series, in which the the brilliant and ridiculous underrated Tony Ayers played quite a significant role, is much better than the book, in the sense that it takes what is best in the story and turns this into gripping drama. The Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) has done a magnificent job of doing drama of HBO standard. What is this story about? Tsolkias holds up a mirror to bourgeois suburbia and finds a world of selfish self-obsessed narcissism. On reading the book my sister opined "But I don't know anyone as horrible as the people in his book!". The TV series has a little more subtlety (and it is interesting to note that in my view a much better film was made of Tsolkias first book; the book was "Loaded", the film "Head On"; the latter really excellent though barely known outside of Australia). Even though the TV version allows a bit more light and shade in its portrayal of the characters, this is still TV drama that packs a bloody beauty of a punch. Essentially it is about a dispute at a family barbecue in which one child, who is outrageously acting out with no boundaries set by his parents, is belted across the head by another parent at the barbecue. If you are a parent who has been to family gatherings and experienced the frisson of anxiety within yourself and amongst other parents about how their different children interact, argue, clash, then you will immediately relate to this material. In this case it gets a little more serious with the assult on the child going to court, and everyone having to line up for or against. What is so good about this drama is that it gets right inside something which could be thought of as a central feature of contemporary bourgeois family life; which is about the way people see themselves as decent and 'moral' people, while being essentially self-interested. The truth of their morality is shown in their reluctance to take moral stances that might undermine their own material interests, or to put it in more psycho-social terms, that that might undermine the carefully constructed fictions they have about themselves; which are themselves rationalisations of the 'rightness' of their position within the worlds of their professional, family and friendship circles. This is not drama that offers any redemption - that could be considered a weakness - though strangely enough it has a happy ending; maybe this is about people's capacity to forgive and to genuinely act on insights about what is authentic in relationships, rather than talking endlessly about these and doing nothing. If the show has any message it is about the way that in a world of narcissistic consumerism and the class interests that accompany that, it has become really hard for us to see what is authentic and not about our limitlessly narcissitic egos and libidos. To the extent that this story shows the youngest and the oldest chartacters seeing this, it could actually be described as optimistic.

...Maybe 'pleasure' is the wrong word, but I've been thoroughly gripped by this series, despite - or perhaps because of - the characters' deep dislikability. Everyone from the child at the centre of slapgate (by God, was he asking for it?) to the utter cad who administers the slap, and all points in between, is pretty ghastly but they're all superbly played by a brilliant cast, served with a superb script. Great stuff.

Ok, so I'm only 4 episodes in, but this series has me hooked! It plays like a thriller even though it is about a fairly ordinary subject, but as with all great drama the secret is the characterisation - which here is so well seen and played that it is a joy to watch - almost like watching a fly on the wall documentary. The characters are all flawed, which makes them so realistic and it makes for great debate with other viewers of the show. Should he or shouldn't he...?