Review: Jade Goody – The Funeral
On Saturday, 4th April 2009, the whole of Britain and much of the western world mourned as Brave Jade Goody embarked upon her final journey. The arrival of this new Post-Jadean Era could well be described as the most historically significant event of the 21st Century.
One would have reasonably expected the BBC to have given full coverage to the event, along with a respectful commentary from David Dimbleby. However, the supposed ‘public service’ broadcaster chose not to even bother sending a helicopter to take aerial shots of the cortège passing through the streets, lined with thousands of mourners, all paying their final respects to a woman who came to signify everything that today’s Great Britain stands for.
Instead, the task of broadcasting this milestone event was left to Sky News, who did Brave Jade proud for four painstaking hours. The only criticism one could direct towards Sky is that the funeral wasn’t on one of their HD channels. This is clearly something that they should consider in the case of future celebrity deaths. For viewers who want to genuinely see the tears streaming down the mourners’ and spectators’ faces during the close-up shots, a higher resolution would have been ideal.
But that’s just a minor quibble. It’s important to bear in mind that it would have been so easy for Sky to have ignored the funeral in favour of other less newsworthy events, such as the New York immigration centre shootings, the global financial crisis, NATO’s decision to send 5,000 extra troops to Afghanistan or that innocent man who was killed by the police at the G20 protests in London. The great thing about Sky News is that they know their priorities. When David Beckham suffered a metatarsal fracture in 2002, they devoted several weeks and massive amounts of journalistic resources to the reportage of that monumentally important issue. It’s only fair that the passing of Brave Jade should be given similar precedence over lesser stories.
Viewers will also have appreciated the fact that, at one point, the attractive female newsreader was close to tears, her voice quivering with sadness as the big white coffin carrying Brave Jade’s remains was carried from the church. She may well hold her composure while reporting on stories of abuse, paedophilia, rape, murder and genocide, but at least she’s not afraid to show her sadness at the things that really matter.
I suppose, apart from the lack of any High Definition feed, the only real gripe I have is that they couldn’t bring the cameras inside the church. Quite selfishly, Jade’s family wanted to grieve in private, without having the global media’s cameras and boom microphones strewn all over the altar, impinging on their only private moment. Luckily, a massive screen was installed outside the church for the benefit of the many thousands of spectators. In a characteristic display of altruism, Sky News pointed their camera towards the screen for much of the ceremony, so we didn’t miss out on the beautiful, heartfelt eulogy given by Max Clifford, who earned several hundred thousand pounds during Brave Jade’s final, tragic months.
All in all, it was a fitting tribute for somebody who, in her short life, became the embodiment of everything wot makes Great Britain great.