TV: The Contestant
This jaw-dropping Storyville documentary tells the true story of Tomoaki Hamatsu, a Japanese comedian who spent 15 months in a small room, naked, starving and alone, unaware he was being broadcast to millions of people on TV.
Armando was both riveted and appalled.
“The fact that this happened, that a whole country was watching this. I mean, it’s beyond The Truman Show. He was going madder and madder.”
Armando also delves into the nature of reality television, which, I think it’s fair to say, he isn’t the biggest fan of.
“The whole business of reality television, I have a problem with because, isn’t this using other people for our sport? Isn’t this an exploitation? There’s a show where you don’t know if it’s a cake or not. I mean, that’s where we’ve ended up.”
However, Armando reveals what reality show he does love, while Helen tells us all the Japanese word for banana.
Watch The Contestant on BBC iPlayer.
Book: Shamanism, The Timeless Religion by Manvir Singh
What is shamanism? Do shamans still exert influence and are they relevant today? In this critically lauded book, anthropologist Manvir Singh investigates shamanism in all its forms and contends that it has far more connections to modern life, and modern spirituality, than we might think. Helen was impressed with his findings…
“Manvir Singh is… really interested in the fact that across lots and lots of cultures, not just traditional cultures, you find shaman-like figures,” she says. “He coins this really good word, which is xenized: making foreign. He talks about the fact that [shamans] make themselves strange and alien. They tend to live apart from the village. And he’s really interested in all the ways in which people invoke the supernatural by sort of making themselves other.”
And Helen also thinks there is a possible connection between shamanism and political language.
“I found this book completely fascinating because I think there is a real yearning. There are obviously these deep desires within us for other people to tell us insights. And what are the things about those other people and the way that they speak that make us more likely to listen to them. Totally applies to politics, just as much as it does to your shamans.”
Hear Helen’s further thoughts on Shamanism here.
For more great cultural tips, plus the usual deep dive on the intricacies of political language, listen to Strong Message Here every Thursday on BBC Sounds.