Did anyone else take a dim view of Louis Theroux's interview of German Greer

[vincettenoir]

I enjoyed listening to this on BBC Sounds because I find Germaine Greer fascinating.

I also usually like Louis' interviews and he often gets the best out of people.

But I just felt like Louis was just racing from topic to topic just trying to get her to say controversial or indiscreet things, not exploring anything in any depth. There was potential for a much more interesting interview than the one he got.

Also she is an 86 year old woman living in a care home and it was a real low when he asked her about what she thought of WAP. She handled it well enough and she is pretty unshockable but I just found it so ill-judged.

What did others think of it?

I’m literally listening to this right now, and yes I agree, he’s all over the place. She’s still sharp as a tack despite her grand age. The structure of the interview seems weird under the circumstances. I wish he’d just go into detail into some of these topics rather that skating around so many topics.

Yeah, she was making really interesting points about the endometriosis and women's' health but she was steered away from that and onto the headline grabbing stuff.

I’ve never liked Louis Theroux. He always seems to go for the sensationalist angles to the point of humiliating his subjects.

What is WAP?

Louis is a bit of a disappointment in many ways. Used to be such an interesting and unbiased interviewer. Increasingly seems to have an agenda.

WAP is a song by Cardi B. Stands for wet-ass pussy.

He was asking about it like it was some significant event in feminism and sex-positivity, which I don't think anyone believes it is. Pretty cheap move of his imho.

There is another thread on this, if you are interested.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5023192-germain-on-louis?page=2&reply=133600267

Ooh thank you.

I haven't listened to it, but read about iton the other thread. I have always disliked Theroux's interview style tbh.

Normally I like him and I don’t like her, but in this interview I felt like he had contempt for her and wanted to humiliate her.

I wouldn't watch or listen to Louis Theroux at all, voluntarily. In modern parlance, he gives me the 'ick'. Pity to waste an interview with Germaine Greer on him. He says he has a high tolerance of 'awkwardness'. I don't think I do. Probably my loss.

I think he's very skilful, but I think the future won't look back kindly at him. There's a lot of manipulation in his interviews with ordinary people and a lack of informed consent - many of them don't understand how he's going to portray them.

In his Tracy Ullman episode he mentions GG being cancelled and Tracy very obviously disagress with him, but she doesn't elaborate.

I don't understand the fuss with Louis Theroux. He's obviously just a man with family contacts and a bit of family money who used them to make shite for the BBC.

Though I'd consider him less odious than Stephen Fry.

I agree. There’s a falseness to his interactions with people that I don’t like.

I agree too. His “oh so clever” faux disingenuous curiosity is awful imho!

Yes, the faux innocence. The viewers can see it's fake, but his 'subjects' cannot.
To be fair, I think he's actually bringing out the truth, but it's still not a truth that the participants have really consented to showing.

To be fair, he's made some fascinating documentaries about subjects we rarely see eg when he took part in a porno, when he joined swingers and polyamorous people. In the latter two, there were clearly spouses who were just going along with it not genuinely willingly and he made them look like complete fools.

I think you’ve hit the nail on the head there, about him making them look like fools. That seems to be his raison d’etre in most of his interviews and that’s why I dislike him. Even though they obviously are fools in many instances!

I always find it hard to get over the fact that he got on so well with Jimmy Saville. Even though he went back and did a programme on how he was gaslit by him. It just seems a bit odd.

I normally really like his interviews, but i didn't like this one at all. I stopped listening after about 20 minutes. She's very old and it cruel.

Yes, because she is considered by a portion of people to be transphobic, he seemed to show her v little respect. But ultimately, she is a vulnerable woman with precarious health. This interview has made me see him in a different light. His tropes are a bit tired and I don’t know if I’ll see him in the same way again.

Yes, they often really are fools, but in a way that's even more reason not to take advantage of them because they don't realise how they'll appear.

I actually don't blame him for the Savile interview. He did manage to show how totally weird Savile was (his obsession with his mother) without coming out and saying he's a pervert, which would have got him sued for libel without proof.

I adore Germaine Greer, one of my all time heroes. I often replay her “I don’t care” interview to cheer me up. I’m sick to death of Louis Theroux. His approach to interviewing was entertaining 20 years ago but he’s completely stale now imo and very uninteresting.

He's had his day. Greer will outlive him easily in cultural memory.

He has tackled some interesting topics in the past.

I get you but they are on the record as becoming friends and that's what stands out to me as odd. I see his second documentary as damage control to the Louis Theroux brand, clever of him really.