If burn-outs, pulling bongs, fist fights and neighbourly hurling of abuse from one’s porch are your idea of entertainment, then you’ll no doubt be tuning into SBS’s controversial documentary ‘Struggle Street’. Dubbed an unfair and insulting ‘reality TV-style’ representation of Sydney’s West-burbia – is it that far off the mark? Come for a walk down Struggle Street and let’s take a look…
Image from SBS/YouTube Screenshot
Struggle Street is a three-part series that has caused uproar across the Western suburbs of Sydney as it claims to document the lives of people ‘doing it tough’ in areas like Mt Druitt. Residents – unsurprisingly – have dubbed the doco ‘poverty porn’, despite agreeing to appear in the series. The series is an off-shoot of England’s Benefits St, filmed in Birmingham, which sparked the same controversy in the UK – but went on to become Channel 4’s most-watched show in more than a decade. So what’s all the local commotion about?
Image from SBS/YouTube Screenshot
Struggle Street starts with a slick, sunny, tanned view of Sydney beaches, the harbour and the ‘good life’ of being a Sydney-sider, then takes us quickly West into poverty, grime, crime and well, bogans – quite the purposeful juxtaposition. Struggle Street tells the stories of a number of different Mr Druitt characters – namely a group of ‘garbos’, Tristan – a young man who suffers from brain damage after being involved in a motorcycle accident that killed his friend, and another who works with children. These ‘characters’ were followed around during production for hours on end, and despite agreeing to appear in the documentary, residents are frothing at the mouth claiming to have been misled into being part of something that misrepresents them and their community. And with comments like “Mt Druitt is where they dump all the losers, that’s what we get told” (spoken by a woman in the documentary) – it’s little wonder!
Peta Kennedy appearing on A Current Affair: Image courtesy of Channel 9 Screenshot
Peta and Ashley Kennedy told A Current Affair that the final cut of hours and hours of filming was only a tiny portion of the footage that SBS captured in the making of Struggle Street. Peta and Ashley claim they’re unfairly represented by the selective editing saying, ” I’m just so gutted by it because my husband is not like that. They’ve been showing him in front of our house farting, putting that on national air.” This particular promo clip has been taken off air by SBS, but some, including the one above are still in circulation at the time of publication of this article.
Image from SBS/YouTube Screenshot
Image from SBS/YouTube Screenshot
Blacktown City Council is leading the charge against the airing of the documentary and SBS with a petition calling for the series to be suspend. The Council claims; “The release of promotional material has left many of the participants shocked, with a documentary they were told would take a positive look at their struggles instead appearing to mock, degrade, insult and exaggerate their hardships.” According to this petition, participants were not given permission to view the footage before it aired, nor given copies of their release forms and some of the scenes that they requested not to be included in the documentary – were included. Blacktown City Council also claims that some of the participants have already suffered insults, abuse, bullying and the like before the series has even gone to air.
Struggle Street will conclude on SBS ONE next Wednesday 13 May from 8:30pm.
What are your thoughts on Struggle Street? Does it seem like a fair representation or sensational ‘reality TV’? Tell us your thoughts below…
