The Real Life Hunger Games

Survivor, Big Brother, American Idol, the list continues of reality "game" TV shows that are on the television today. The comparison of these shows to the Hunger Games to an easy comparison. The contestants on these reality shows are "fighting for their lives," although it is a very different concept than the contestants in the Hunger Games. On these shows the contestants fight for their careers, or for a cash prize that would change their lives, where as in the Hunger Games the contestants are literally fighting for their lives. It puts into perspective what is truly important to people in our society today, the fact that people view fighting for a singing career as their lives.

Say What!!!???

In his 2000 article, "Behind the Curtain of TV Voyeurism," Gabler explains voyeurism as a type of sick privilege that American consumers have when watching reality TV because is gives them the right or opportunity to look into someone else's life for 40 minutes (gotta take out the time for commercials). We as the consumer play a huge role in how successful these reality TV shows are. For the shows that are strictly just following people around, if they don't have the number of viewers watching the show, then the show won't stay on. I think this is where the extremity of some shows comes into play. Each show has to be able to top their competition so they constantly try to do more shocking and outrageous things on their shows. We as fans continue to feed these shows and keep them on the air. 
So for my reality TV homework assignment I chose to watch a section from Big Brother season 8 (yes, I'm a Big Brother addict, I admit it). I've attached one of the more notable scenes from the show, its a scene where two of the female contestants, Danielle and Jen, who fought all of the time during the show, verbally argue in the kitchen of the house, then Danielle's "boyfriend" on the show, Nick, and her dad, Dick, also get involved and fight with Jen. I chose this clip because it shows exactly what the producers of the show want to happen because it creates interest. Let's be honest, nobody wants to see 12 people in a house sleeping and eating everyday, they want to see fighting, arguing...basically excitement. I personally love Big Brother, I think the concept of putting 12 to 15 people in a house together for months on end and seeing what happens is a really awesome idea. Plus, the added bonuses of drama and competition make the show better. The viewers role is three different things, the first is they are part of the group that watches every week which helps keep the show on the air because they have enough interest. Secondly, at certain points during the show they ask for the viewers to vote on different things to affect life in the house, such as what the "have-nots"
 will eat for the week. The last interaction is that for really hard core fans (not me) they can pay something like $25 to get 24 hour video feeds of the house and watch the people on the show whenever they want. So at the end of the day, is reality TV voyeuristic? Duh but are we as a public complaining?