I once had an idea for a pod/radio show where people go through what’s wrong with how their profession is portrayed. Politicians talking about the West Wing, journalists about the Newsroom, a few Guards ranting on the basic mistakes in your favourite cop show.
The idea began as a narrower part of a wider feature on comic book worlds, where I’d consider the DC or Marvel universes from the point of view of, for example, a lawyer talking about the legal system in Daredevil, or journalists checking out the journalism of Peter Parker and Lois Lane. Which editor would you rather work for, Perry White or Jonah J Jameson?
Trouble is, professions in mainstream fiction are fairly narrowly represented. Add to those above a few doctors, computer hackers and teachers, and you’ve covered most comic books and tv shows. And in comedy, the protagonist usually has a generic, vaguely defined office job. Apart from international spies and multibillionaire genius inventors of course, but there aren’t too many of those in my contacts list.
Still, it might make an interesting miniseries, or an occasional feature as part on a wider programme or pod, so I’m throwing it out into the world.
Lena Rose
