Predict a riot

The further away from an event the bigger the picture can get. Isn’t that why we get historical documentaries more than a couple of weeks after the occasion? Last summer this country was shaken by riots that happened around the country and went on for several days. Prime minister David Cameron stood in front of the cameras and issued a statement in which he clearly blamed the parents of the rioters. Who was setting them an example he asked? Who was teaching them right from wrong? Clearly not the parents of these ruffians, and that was why it had happened. Clearly. So…we’re back to blaming single mothers again, are we?

Blaming the parents for the woes of the children has long been a tradition of authorities –?be they politicians, media or simply other parents. My question is; when do they stop being children?

“‘Look at what we can make you think!’, the producer seemed to be shouting”

Alright, so I keep asking questions, but surely that’s the purpose of a good documentary, to provoke question-asking, not necessarily to simply supply answers. Wonderland: My Child The Rioter does just that. Interviewing various parent and offspring (I shy away from calling them children as they’re all over 18 as far as I can make out) combinations, the programme-makers cleverly release further information as their stories progress. Starting with an assessment by the families as to which crimes their individuals were accused of, their own descriptions of what went down and why it did, it then draws back further with questions concerning thier own circumstances, which really are the most telling – not least about the viewer. Personally, I didn’t realise quite how much I’d started forming my opinions of each family unit. There was the posh kid who seemed to just go along for the thrill of the party (Leigh), the scally whose parents said if he hadn’t been involved they’d have liked to know why not (Ryan), and the pretty blonde who was caught bang to rights by the newspapers snapping away at her coming in and out of a shop mid loot (Danielle). The evocative knee-jerk images and stories painted by the media at the time seemed to be bang to rights from this little collection. Even the rather pretty Brazilian boy from the most middle class single parent father simply sheepishly admitted he was ‘stupid’, while his astute-seeming father likened the rioters to city bankers who reasoned nothing was wrong until you got caught.

And then we found out a little more about these people – from their own testimonies. Again, it could simply be the way that they are being painted by an editing suite, but to turn them around so slyly and revealingly commented not only on the subjects but also the medium of documentary itself. ‘Look at what we can make you think!’, the producer seemed be to shouting. ‘Bear this in mind next time you judge the news.’
What came out was a story of early responsibility, too many choices without enough support to make any of them, a pursuit of criminal convictions in the face of public outcry, and a more highly politicised youth than I at least, really gave them credit for. As Ryan’s dad asks; “Rioting is not an article of happiness, is it?”. And Ryan himself doesn’t seem to think anything has gotten any better since then.

The question still remains: do you blame the parents? If you’re old enough to vote, join the army, in fact to be a parent yourself, can you really blame someone else for what you did? Would you think it alright if your parents took credit for all of your achievements as well as your mistakes? Surely a time comes, as is so tenderly shown by one set of parents in this film, when you simply have to draw a line under it and take responsibility for your own actions, good or bad.

Wonderland: My Child The Rioter, BBC2, Tuesday 31 January

Victoria Nangle