Heightism and The Village

The BBC have launched a major drama, penned by Peter Moffat , it charts the life of a boy called Bert Middleton from 1914 to the present day.

BBC - The Village

Only one episode has been aired so far but it included an interesting incident about height and masculinity.

Bert attends his local rural school which is run by two male teachers. One, the taller of the teachers, is portrayed as being friendly and understanding towards the boys and the needs of the villagers. The other, the shorter male, is shown as inflicting sadistic punishments on the children, having no real understanding of their needs and generally being a bitter twisted individual.

During the course of the first episode war is declared. The Shorter teacher goes to sign up at his first opportunity.

He is measured for his height, declared to be 'under' and dismissed without an explanation. His shock and hurt at being rejected are apparent. Bert is a witness to all of this and at his next meeting with the teacher, simply smirks at him.

The shorter teacher, though unaware Bert has seen his rejection, remains furious and later refuses to let Bert go and watch the newly accepted recruits march out of the village.

He is clearly ashamed of what has happened. He pretends that he never attempted to sign up and tells the taller teacher that he didn't sign up because he didn't think it would be right to abandon the school.

It was an interesting portrayal of the effects of heightism. In some ways it was sympathetic. It was good to see how hurtful it was for a man to be denied the opportunity to serve his country simply because he didn't 'measure up'. I do wish however that he were not shown as being afflicted with that dreaded fictional disease the Napoleon Complex. The order of events in the drama made it almost seem as though the insult was a punishment for the characters actions, a chance to smirk at him as Bert did.