TO Diana Morgan, the mass public knew her as Kath, the advertising manager of the newspaper where Ricky Gervais works on the acclaimed series After Life. But everyone in Britain already knew her as the naïve, ill-informed and tactless journalist Philomena Cunk of The Earth according to Philomena Cunkthe BBC series that can be seen on Netflix.
The comic character has emerged from Charlie Brooker’s weekly cleaninga summary similar to Last week tonight with John Oliver -but from entertainment- it took on a life of its own a couple of years ago with the series Cunk on Britainwhich revised British history from the absurd.
This was followed by another miniseries and a film where he “reviewed” Shakespeare, always paired with Brooker – creator of Black mirror– as screenwriter and/or producer. Now the two have joined forces again. The Earth according to Philomena CunkNetflix miniseries that has five episodes in under half an hourideal for the marathon.
British humour
Cunk uses that typical dry British humor and undertakes a revisionism for the evolution of man and civilizationsfocusing on great inventions and political, artistic and social evolutionary leaps from prehistory to the present.
In the vein of Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat or Ali G, Philomena Cunk he tries to make all his interviewees uncomfortable -historians, anthropologists and specialists in various subjects- and the spectator, with silly, absurd and/or childish questions.
Thus, he can consult an expert on whether the Renaissance or song is more culturally significant. Lonely women by Beyonce; he is encouraged to ask if Beethoven was a good musician, or if the pyramids in Ancient Egypt were shaped like that to prevent homelessness; and weep to learn that Britain still has nuclear weapons.
confused specialists
The comedy of the show is based on the disbelief of specialists, who they are forced not to answer or to do so in an “asylum” tone.. And also in the innocence of the journalist herself, who links many of those answers to anecdotes that happened to her or a friend of hers.
The satire component becomes tangible from the presumption that some requests could be done by a real female pilot.
A -stupid?- question could be whether the experts consulted are accomplices or victims of Cunk’s ignorance. Brooker recently whitewashed yes. But she made it clear they do not know what will be asked of them and that they are asked to “basically treat her like a girl” to be more convincing.
A mockumentary it is always related to comedy. Could be more run through fiction, like The office OR What do we do in the shadowsor establish itself as a documentary with real people and situations but manipulated by a driver-conductor who takes it off that register.
The latter is the case with The land of Philomena Cunkan exhilarating walk through world history, the ideal excuse to discover a great comedian -in a scenario that isn’t to stand-, and a breath of absurd humor that doesn’t need to appeal to offense to be effective.
File
The Earth according to Philomena Cunk
Qualification: Well
Type: Comedy / Mockumentary. protagonists: Diana Morgan. Creator: Charlie Brooker. Problem: Five episodes available on Netflix.
Source: Clarin
