Ross Barton (Michael Parr)

[sarah c]

Promoting violence, whether real or fictional, large-scale or small scale, or anything in-between, in the news or on TV, especially if it is unnecessary, is not usually a good idea or answer to problems in a village, town, city or country. That seems to cover everything from Emmerdale village to Paris city, from one extreme to the other. This is the connection I was trying to explain before. There are other ways of telling a story or solving real-life problems than by using violence.

I've given my ideas, others will have theirs. They may be the same, they may be different. That's what a having balanced discussion is all about. Agreeing to disagree is part of doing that.

but that is a bit like saying lets not show what happened in Paris? because its unnecessary? so we just get the fluffy bit of the news where a kitten falls into a waste basket but is ok??!!

the world isn't fluffy, and where I agree it doesn't need to be hard-core, gore, blood and guts, the shows we watch, and soaps in particular are about 'life', so we would be pretty condemning if they were all about Ashley cuddling a kitten and lambs being bottle fed on the farm and everyone loves everyone?

[sarah c]

and I would rather see Jai take cocaine and his life start to fall apart than the off-screen 'inference' that Jai 'did some drugs' and then is all ok again with no fall out?

surely better to know - take drugs, price to pay, rather than take drugs back to normal tomorrow?

[Telly Watcher]

Promoting violence, whether real or fictional, large-scale or small scale, or anything in-between, in the news or on TV, especially if it is unnecessary, is not usually a good idea or answer to problems in a village, town, city or country. That seems to cover everything from Emmerdale village to Paris city, from one extreme to the other. This is the connection I was trying to explain before. There are other ways of telling a story or solving real-life problems than by using violence

Depicting violence isn't promoting it though, anymore than Jai being shown snorting cocaine is promoting drug use.
I am wondering what violent act in real life would you have used agains Mike Parr if the Paris attacks hadn't happened when they did?
There simply is no connection between Mike Parr and international terrorism that I can see.
And to be honest, I don't want my entertainment infantilised in order to protect the weak-willed and the moronic.
More Ross please

I think there's some misunderstanding here. This discussion really needs a face-to-face, more interactive place than this slow, old-style message board.

When I wrote "Promoting violence,...", I meant "Being involved in, encouraging, using or showing support for violence,"... is not usually a good idea or answer to problems in a village, town, city or country.". The promotors are any people who do this. It works on every scale, everywhere, in civilised society. In the example I gave it was the terrorists and the violent soap character who are the extremes as examples of self-destructive behaviour. It just happened that the Paris attacks were in the news that day so I used that as a large-scale example but any violent people would have worked too. Through their actions, the promotors become associated with violence so when we see them again the image is already set and we know what to expect if we wait around long enough. This is why promotors make such poor role models and are poor examples for others to copy.

[Telly Watcher]

but that is a bit like saying lets not show what happened in Paris? because its unnecessary? so we just get the fluffy bit of the news where a kitten falls into a waste basket but is ok??!!
the world isn't fluffy, and where I agree it doesn't need to be hard-core, gore, blood and guts, the shows we watch, and soaps in particular are about 'life', so we would be pretty condemning if they were all about Ashley cuddling a kitten and lambs being bottle fed on the farm and everyone loves everyone?

I didn't write about not showing violence on TV. There's maybe a right time and place for everything when it's shown properly and in context. Showing the Paris attacks on TV is good TV because it informs about the situation and it also shows how the good guys are responding (as a lesson) and how the bad guys are ending (another lesson). We get to see fall out, comeuppance, problems solved, everything sorted, when things are done properly. For the terrorists they get dealt with, that's real life and believable. When this doesn't happen in soapworld then we are really being conned with some cheap bangs and flashes, no sensible storyline and no character development. This is what has been happening with Ross Barton for the past 3 months or so, him just being in wacky pointless scenes of crimes and violence with no real reason for starting them and no satisfying end for Ross Barton or for us TV viewers. Ross Barton comes across as an almost complete outsider and misfit in Emmerdale. The only character who gets anything sensible out of him or seems to like him is Debbie, but he's even managed to involve her in mad scenes before now. The criminal storylines have come across as being unbelievable and wacky. I really wouldn't have written these but done something more along the lines of what was done with the character before August 2015 when the image was much more positive then.

[Telly Watcher]

and I would rather see Jai take cocaine and his life start to fall apart than the off-screen 'inference' that Jai 'did some drugs' and then is all ok again with no fall out?
surely better to know - take drugs, price to pay, rather than take drugs back to normal tomorrow?

I agree with you on this. There are a number of really good storylines either starting soon or running right now. These include,

Jai's drugs addiction
Diane's medical illness
Ashley's dementia
Bernice's relationship and open marriage with Lawrence
Chas's medical illness and its consequences for Aaron and Gordon

They all have the same things in common. One character has a problem. The effects and consequences of it are shown, both for the character and the other villagers. There will be a solution and an end, maybe happy, maybe sad, maybe some comeuppance when impacts are negative for the character or those around him. There will maybe be long-term permanent changes for the character and the other villagers. So there will be progress and we TV viewers will go through everything as it happens and we see the actions and changes taking
place. We'll even learn something ourselves along the way about the issue being shown.

For some reason, Ross Barton doesn't get storylines of any quality like this. I wish I knew why.

[Telly Watcher]

I was reading the comments here this forum earlier and I finally realised why I've thought differently about Ross Barton since he "came back from the dead" in August 2015.

What Ross Barton has been doing since then are things which I would never have set up for him as a storyliner. I would have set up some sort of stable personal relationship for him, maybe he could do some minor criminal activities to feed his family and pay the bills, etc, but I would have shown him with some fixable flaws. This is how Ross Barton was shown before and it worked brilliantly. There wouldn't have been any idiotic Itchy and Scratchy cartoon scenes such as those we've seen of late and which fell flat and were forgotten about the moment the episode ended. The latest crime-of-the-week isolated storylines have become very boring and disposable TV viewing. No follow-through, no consequences, just gratuitous and pointless threats and violence which are seen so often now as to be empty and "normal". Where Ross Barton really fails for me is that his character has little or no proper social interaction in the village, has presently has no real direction in life or any signs of improvement for now. All he has is association with these pantomime villain scenes which I think is a poor joke or unbelievable OTT TV. One action stunt over in minutes is nothing compared to a well thought out storyline between multiple characters which has direction and consequences for others now and long-term. The standard school phrase is "Could do better".

[rossfan]

do we know when Ross will be back from Ireland?

[JessicaMad]

do we know when Ross will be back from Ireland?

Not sure. Ross told Andy that Cain had sent him to "look at some motors". I can't imagine that would take more than 3 days. Presumably, this is covering for Mike's 3 week holiday. I think he'll be back on screen this time next week,

[JessicaMad]

do we know when Ross will be back from Ireland?

Not sure. Ross told Andy that Cain had sent him to "look at some motors". I can't imagine that would take more than 3 days, but then again it's only a quick plot device, they never work out realistically. Presumably, this is covering for Mike's 3 week holiday. I think he'll be back on screen this time next week,

[alcapo11]

I was reading the comments here this forum earlier and I finally realised why I've thought differently about Ross Barton since he "came back from the dead" in August 2015.

What Ross Barton has been doing since then are things which I would never have set up for him as a storyliner. I would have set up some sort of stable personal relationship for him, maybe he could do some minor criminal activities to feed his family and pay the bills, etc, but I would have shown him with some fixable flaws. This is how Ross Barton was shown before and it worked brilliantly. There wouldn't have been any idiotic Itchy and Scratchy cartoon scenes such as those we've seen of late and which fell flat and were forgotten about the moment the episode ended. The latest crime-of-the-week isolated storylines have become very boring and disposable TV viewing. No follow-through, no consequences, just gratuitous and pointless threats and violence which are seen so often now as to be empty and "normal". Where Ross Barton really fails for me is that his character has little or no proper social interaction in the village, has presently has no real direction in life or any signs of improvement for now. All he has is association with these pantomime villain scenes which I think is a poor joke or unbelievable OTT TV. One action stunt over in minutes is nothing compared to a well thought out storyline between multiple characters which has direction and consequences for others now and long-term. The standard school phrase is "Could do better".

I agree with the bit about Ross having no social interaction with many people. He needs to be given a mate and have more scenes with Finn, maybe this stuff with Aaron coming up could lead to a friendship.