Media Diaries Week 2

The Man Who Squeezes Muscles - Searching For Purple Aki

Searching for Purple Aki is a short 18-minute documentary based programme released exclusively onto BBC iPlayer, produced by the BBC. I found it through browsing the site, and finding it on the front-page on Tuesday the 20th. It certainly has a target audience of the people within Liverpool, and close districts, as everything about the documentary is rooted to the area. Even within Liverpool, not many people would of heard of the legend that is 'Purple Aki', so the people most likely to watch it would be those from the Sefton and Wirral areas, as that is were Purple Aki was most prominent in stories. People with the most knowledge of him tend to be working-class people, with more 'upper-class' citizens knowing much less of him. The purpose of this documentary was to look into the mysterious man, and the bizarre stories and cases that he apparently carried with him. Some questioned if he was real, others say they had even seen him.

Personally I was quite shocked to see this documentary produced by the BBC, due to Purple Aki being a fairly local legend. I didn't think they would take the time to cover something like this, and it quite amused me to see it. Even though I have had prior knowledge of the man, hearing stories and seeing pictures of him, I never knew to what extent how strange he actually was. The 'wanting to squeeze muscles' was as bout as weird as i thought he could get. But watching through, I found out that he wasn't as harmless as first thought. Lots of people in the area would be intrigued by this programme due to it hitting so close to home. It also can clear up some of the stories about him, and whether or not he actually existed at all! It can affect people in different ways. The people who claim to of seen him and to have had close run-in encounters with Purple Aki can be possibly shooken up by seeing this documented. They can feel like touching on the subject is sensitive for them, whilst others on the other hand would laugh at the prospect of the man being researched, as he was primarily labeled as a 'weirdo' and frequently mocked.