Blog 8 Hunger Games

Where do I even begin? The novel Hunger Games along with the attached readings quite frankly sicken me, but at the same time, make me oddly curious. I did not like what was going on in Hunger Games and I didn't agree with it, but for some reason, I couldn't stop my fingers from turning the pages. I wasn't really happy to read about people dying but I was excited to see who would win. I think this does not go along with the fact that every human has an innate nature to be savage but it goes along with the fact that humans are competitive. It is a game after all, a horrible savage game but a game. I think people get so caught up in the game that they forget about what is really going on. They get trapped in the story. I don't think the people within the novel the characters watching the games realize that the kids dying are actually dying, if you don't know the people within the games and you are not affected, it’s the same as reality or even non-reality TV. You can view it as real or as fake as you want to. If this was a TV show and no actual harm was happening to the people, you have to admit that it would probably be a very exciting series. I think that's what the citizens would have had to force themselves to think in order to get through watching it every year. They would have had to force themselves to not think about the contestants as real people, but people in a game, characters. I think what is worse is that every person is required to watch the Hunger Games and all to remind them that the capital is in charge and to remind/prevent them from rebelling. I had a hard time predicting what was going to happen in this book, usually it’s pretty easy in a novel to predict what is going to happen next, but I couldn't in this one. The book kept throwing me for a loop. I thought that that she would end up killing him but she doesn't. Then at the end I thought she was going to kill him since they said there could only be one tribute but am yet thrown for another twist when she pulls the stunt with the berries, I never could have predicted that in a million years. I really liked the novel as a whole, which really makes me feel guilty inside, that I would like a book that describes kids fighting each other to the death. I think it goes back to what Gabler said that we like to "peer through the keyhole," we are so caught up in the plot because these things don't happen to us. It is interesting to us to see how other governments operate, and these things actually to me make our government seem pretty nice right about now. Also as Americans like drama and competitiveness and this novel has both. Yes it could be that we like it because we are savage Americans but I don't think that, that is why I personally like the novel, I think it has to do with the thing that attract us to reality TV. The fact that no one knows what is going to happen next and we really want to watch and find out.

Blog#7

I feel the what Gabler says is a generalization for example he says “Watching these programs is a way of safely exercising mischievousness in a society that allows few opportunities to do so.” In the show that I watched they did nothing mischievous but it is considered a reality TV show. I don’t think that in this show there is any one who is the hostage. The show I picked to watch was “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.” It is a show in which a group of designers take a family that does things for the community in some way, has a rundown home and can’t afford to fix it and they tear it down and build a new one. At the beginning of the show they give you a sad sob story about the family and if it isn’t really that bad the people make things seem worse and prod the family until they cry. The show you the run down home and describe the horrible conditions they have to live in. You can’t help but keep watching to find out that things do get better. Yes I enjoyed watching the TV show. The fact that they take families who are average and build them an entire new house for free is what makes the show alluring. Also the fact that they turn nothing into something makes it alluring. What keeps you interested is that they give you hints of what is going on but you don’t get to see the rooms they created for each family member until the end of the show. In this episode it was a family who started a boxing arena to give underprivileged kids something to do, they even adopted one of them. However their house and their gym was rundown and was need of repair. They transformed both of them and gave the family a new start. The person in charge is TY Pennington. The family that is run down are the characters in the show. My part as the viewer is to be interested in the show and want to watch it again, it also is to feel sad for the family in the beginning and feel happy for the family in the end.

In this show you can determine what is going to happen next because, the set up is always the same and the things they film are usually the same the only thing that changes is the family. Since the show I picked to watch does not seem to match Gabler’s opinion I find what he says to be a generalization because if he is going to write about Reality TV and us being voyeurs personally I feel that it should be true of all Reality Programming and as I have figured out this is not always the case.