Louis Theroux

Darkglasses · 25-03-2015 1:40am

Felt awful for this guy. His mother's denial and overall attitude seemed like a terrible influence.

Mallagio · 25-03-2015 1:44am

Darkglasses wrote: »

Felt awful for this guy. His mother's denial and overall attitude seemed like a terrible influence.

He should have been kept in, even Louis asked the main Psychiatrist was she in doubt of letting him go after he started to act very strange just prior to being "released".

BaZmO* · 25-03-2015 9:23am

Mallagio wrote: »

He should have been kept in, even Louis asked the main Psychiatrist was she in doubt of letting him go after he started to act very strange just prior to being "released".

The main psychiatrist didn't seem all that together herself tbf.

That guys mother's attitude wasn't that helpful. Saying that her son wasn't a nut wasn't great. Don't think he should've been allowed to watch those videos either.

aphex™ · 26-03-2015 7:22pm

Louis is working on a Scientology feature film with the bbc, info here.

Hope it works out better than the last time the BBC dabbled with scientology.

Mallagio · 27-03-2015 12:40am

aphex™ wrote: »

Louis is working on a Scientology feature film with the bbc, info here.

Hope it works out better than the last time the BBC dabbled with scientology.

This will be a must see

kn · 30-03-2015 5:48pm

Thought the Louis programmes on the Ohio NGRI was really slow viewing myself.

Darkglasses · 30-03-2015 8:20pm

That was a hard one to watch for me, obviously Dean's case in particular. Does make me so thankful for how lucky I have it though I suppose.

I do slightly miss the quirky, jolly, friendly old Louis who did specials about Wrestling and UFOlogists. We see a lot less of that these days.

adox · 01-04-2015 6:11pm

I thought it was some of his best work to date. He does seem to be going down the road of more serious subject matters compared to his earlier work, but he still approaches things differently than most.

He really is(or appears on screen to be) a very gifted interviewer and has that knack of getting people to talk to him.

My name is URL · 01-04-2015 6:24pm

aphex™ wrote: »

Louis is working on a Scientology feature film with the bbc, info here.

Hope it works out better than the last time the BBC dabbled with scientology.

If you haven't seen the recent HBO Scientology documentary 'Going Clear' I'd advise watching it. They hired 200 lawyers before airing it simply to deal with the impending backlash from the cult.

Mallagio · 01-04-2015 8:28pm

For me it has to be his most important work to date, By Reason of Insanity obviously wasn't his usual tongue-in-cheek, but it touched on an very awful side of what a human can go through.

Sometimes I feel he doesn't always keep neutral like he should, but in this two-part docu he deployed it perfectly.

Dean's case was beyond shocking, his poor mother spoke as best she could on the shocker.

Riveting yet shocking.

Thank God for the BBC Player, I'd have been very upset to not have watched the second part.

Basq · 02-04-2015 10:33am

Some more new Louis this weekend!

Louis Theroux: Transgender Kids
BBC2 London
9:00pm-10:00pm (1 hour )
Sun 5 Apr

Louis travels to San Francisco, where pioneering medical professionals are helping children who say they were born in the wrong body to transition from one sex to the other. At the Child and Adolescent Gender Centre at UCSF Hospital, he meets youngsters who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria and who are undergoing medical interventions, from puberty blockers to hormone-replacement therapy and ultimately gender-reassignment surgery. Louis spends time with the clinic's patients and their families as they negotiate their way along this life-changing and emotional journey

Mallagio · 02-04-2015 12:42pm

Basq wrote: »

Some more new Louis this weekend!

Hopefully it's another stormer

FouxDaFaFa · 03-04-2015 1:08am

Just finished watching the second part of By Reason Of Insanity and I think it's some of the best stuff Louis has ever done.

Absolutely phenomenal.

There's so much ambiguity and difficulty, especially with religion and mental illness. You're working with people to cure them of delusions and hallucinations but have to make accomodations for this one "imaginary" being that it's okay to believe in because such a large swathe of the population believes the same and are not consdiered mentally ill.

Dean's case was particularly interesting, if nauseating. His mother is a better human than I could ever hope to be. His introspection about whether he was actually mentally ill or just a "monster" was so raw. It's the kind of thing you might ask yourself when you see something on the news, so to see the person responsible voice those same thoughts about themselves was just...it was like he'd cut open a vein.

I can appreciate why some people would miss the "old" Louis but I think he's matured great interview skills that he's always had into something that lets him explore things incredibly deeply. I'm looking forward to the transgender doc and his scientology doc especially.

Darkglasses · 03-04-2015 1:32am

The only thing I'd say about his transgender doc is that it's kind of a well-trodden path at this point. Not quite a breakthrough topic like the NGRI one is.

I suppose I could say the same for the Scientology one, but I have no doubts that that one will be a real classic too. I should really just wait and see

krustydoyle · 05-04-2015 9:12pm

This is f**king nuts but compelling viewing

Hande hoche! · 05-04-2015 9:34pm

The age of some of the kids is a bit disturbing.

Caovyn Lineah · 05-04-2015 9:35pm

Am I alone in thinking that in some of these cases the parents are behind a lot of this?

krustydoyle · 05-04-2015 9:43pm

Hande hoche! wrote: »

The age of some of the kids is a bit disturbing.

For me, there's no way the kids can be 100% sure this is what they want.

And yes it's definitely disturbing when they are that young.

Caovyn Lineah · 05-04-2015 9:47pm

krustydoyle wrote: »

For me, there's no way the kids can be 100% sure this is what they want.

And yes it's definitely disturbing when they are that young.

The girl at the start is 5 and knew what transgender means, sorry but my 5 year old couldn't spell transgender, let alone know what it means. A lot of it in that case is down to the parents.

Akrasia · 05-04-2015 9:55pm

Caovyn Lineah wrote: »

The girl at the start is 5 and knew what transgender means, sorry but my 5 year old couldn't spell transgender, let alone know what it means. A lot of it in that case is down to the parents.

We know that there are transgender people, these people all had parents who knew them growing up and saw them struggling with their identity.

I don't know if there is a 'right' way to respond to these challenges, so I don't feel like we should judge these well meaning parents for trying their best to do what's best for their kids

Un Croissant · 05-04-2015 9:57pm

I kind of agree with a lot of what's being said on both sides. It's a difficult situation, most definitely.

Caovyn Lineah · 05-04-2015 9:58pm

Akrasia wrote: »

We know that there are transgender people, these people all had parents who knew them growing up and saw them struggling with their identity.

I don't know if there is a 'right' way to respond to these challenges, so I don't feel like we should judge these well meaning parents for trying their best to do what's best for their kids

I just think the divorced parents are doing it the right way, they are just letting the child decide without going down the route of hormone blockers etc.

Akrasia · 05-04-2015 10:10pm

Caovyn Lineah wrote: »

I just think the divorced parents are doing it the right way, they are just letting the child decide without going down the route of hormone blockers etc.

It's one of those things where there is a time limit. If puberty happens and the kid really is transgender, it makes their lives so much harder and subjects them to years of psychological tormen,, but if they take puberty blockers it buys time to allow the kids to mature and make a more informed choice...

Caovyn Lineah · 06-04-2015 10:54am

Akrasia wrote: »

It's one of those things where there is a time limit. If puberty happens and the kid really is transgender, it makes their lives so much harder and subjects them to years of psychological tormen,, but if they take puberty blockers it buys time to allow the kids to mature and make a more informed choice...

I completely understand that but what if its just a "phase" they are going through and taking those blockers completely destroys their life? Its a bit of a double edged sword. It was certainly one of the most interesting of Louis' documentaries though.

Links234 · 06-04-2015 3:14pm

Watched this last night, very good indeed. I thought it was going to be pretty difficult for me to watch, but Louis was just fantastic as usual.

Caovyn Lineah wrote: »

I completely understand that but what if its just a "phase" they are going through and taking those blockers completely destroys their life? Its a bit of a double edged sword. It was certainly one of the most interesting of Louis' documentaries though.

Well keep in mind that those blockers are completely reversible, even hormone treatments are largely reversible. You're weighing a hypothetical risk with a very real and well documented risk, transgender people have extraodrinary high levels of suicide, depression, and anxiety. Holding off on treatment will have a seriously negative effect, but the positives are there, here's a good example.

This is a seriously good talk, and gives you a good insight into how blockers work, and how things work:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtkJlqTCPNU

Darkglasses · 06-04-2015 7:31pm

Caovyn Lineah wrote: »

The girl at the start is 5 and knew what transgender means, sorry but my 5 year old couldn't spell transgender, let alone know what it means. A lot of it in that case is down to the parents.

I don't think that really means anything though. Most 5 year olds don't know what Cystic Fibrosis or some mental illnesses mean either, unless they have it themselves in which case they would have a fair idea.

Mallagio · 07-04-2015 10:48am

Wow that was a bizarre Louis Theroux this week.

cloudatlas · 08-04-2015 2:10pm

krustydoyle wrote: »

For me, there's no way the kids can be 100% sure this is what they want.

And yes it's definitely disturbing when they are that young.

I think it's madness to assume that if a child does not have the language to express what they are or know a specific word then that will some how stop them from feeling that way??

I don't think it's disturbing to discover who you are. Most kids work out social situations and how they feel through play and dressing up. I think disturbing is a hard word. No one is suggesting that the young kids take hormones and the parents have a very responsible attitude, contacting therapists, talking things through with their child.

Actually the child I thought was the most unhappy was Cole because his Dad had clearly put a stop to Crystal leaving the house.

Agent Coulson · 23-04-2015 6:27pm

This will be fun.

https://twitter.com/louistheroux/status/591240344051834880

Darkglasses · 23-04-2015 6:36pm

Agent Coulson wrote: »

This will be fun.

https://twitter.com/louistheroux/status/591240344051834880

Did you see the websites the Church made about the people who made Going Clear? It's extremely pathetic

http://whoispaulhaggis.com/

Louis Theroux

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