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Lord of the Flies goes Reality Prime Time
By Wolfie | May 18, 2007
I don’t know if it’s just me, but I’m a little disturbed by this story.
I’m not a big fan of so-called reality TV; programmes like Big Brother, Castaway, Shipwrecked and all the others just leave me cold. Unfortunately, I seem to be in somewhat of a minority as they seem to be on all the time (except when they have to make way for soap operas). I don’t see the point in sitting around in my house watching a bunch of people sitting around in a house - I wouldn’t socialise with these people, why do I need to see them sleeping, eating, or doing any of the other things that the TV controllers like to serve up to us?
So, to read that a TV network in the US is planning to put a bunch of kids from 8 to 16 years old into a reality TV situation really does disturb me.
All of the reports I’ve seen are likening this to The Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a book in which a group of stranded children gradually turn into primitives, forming themselves into tribes and attacking each other with terrible consequences. So far, no commentator that I have read has asked the questions that are uppermost in my mind:
1. In a world where children are the target for so much abuse and mis-treatment, why are these 40 children being exploited in this way?
2. Why would any loving parent even consider allowing their child - whatever age he or she may be - to go through something like this? Surely you don’t want the fame or the money that badly?
3. Considering all the comparisons to Lord of the Flies, has anyone thought of the psychological damage that these children may suffer, trying to survive in a world where the normal boundaries and safety nets that they are used to have been removed.
4. If these children really are to be left to fend for themselves - as seems to be implied in the publicity that is circulating at the moment - how can the network condone this program?
To me - as an avid non-watcher of reality TV - this really does seem like a step too far and it’s about time we re-looked at the sort of society we are becoming if this sort of thing can even be considered.
Categories: Books, Life |
Tags: TV
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