ShmoopTube
Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.
Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos
All American Literature Videos 200 videos
Modernism was the happy, optimistic bandwagon that every writer just had to jump on. Okay, so only half of that statement is true. But we want you...
You might be hearing a chorus of farewells if you recommend A Farewell to Arms as the next read for your Fabulously Feisty Feminist Book Club.
This video summarizes the play A Raisin in the Sun. It discusses the Youngers, members of an African-American family trying to better themselves wh...
The Hunger Games: Reality TV Gone Wrong 4575 Views
Share It!
Description:
It’s so upsetting when there's nothing good on TV. No celebrities dancing with trained professionals. No debonair bachelors handing out roses. No young children shooting arrows into their peers. Wait—what?
Transcript
- 00:05
The Hunger Games, a la Shmoop. Some people walk a thin line between fantasy
- 00:12
and reality. For some, that line is thinner than others.
- 00:16
Isn't that right, Mr. Sheen? But then there are those who lie somewhere
- 00:21
in the middle... ...viewers of reality television.
- 00:37
In The Hunger Games, reality TV is taken to a whole new level.
Full Transcript
- 00:42
Though it may seem to us like our society could never sink to such depths...
- 00:49
...we wonder... could it? We don't exactly have the most refined standards for entertainment
- 00:57
in this country. And when it comes to reality TV... come on--
- 01:12
you know you've watched the stuff. Maybe not hardcore reality programming, like
- 01:17
Mob Wives or Bridalplasty... But the simple truth is that there is some
- 01:24
sick part of us that likes to see someone suffer a complete breakdown.
- 01:28
Because hey, at least it isn't us! Of course, the flip side of that coin is that
- 01:37
we also have a chance to see someone succeed against nearly impossible odds.
- 01:42
We are also big fans of elimination-style competition. Look at any sport's playoff structure...
- 01:52
...or how the winners of a talent show are determined...
- 01:54
...or even how our presidential elections are decided.
- 02:01
It's riveting stuff... ...and it seems that an elimination-style
- 02:07
competition with life-or-death stakes might be right up our alley.
- 02:12
But could we really get over the idea of kids killing kids?
- 02:16
Even the spoiled ones, who could maybe benefit from a couple days in the arena?
- 02:24
Rome had a similar sport played in their Coliseum. Gladiator fights were the entertainment of
- 02:29
their day. ...but that was like thousands of years ago,
- 02:33
right? Well today, we do love many forms of competition
- 02:36
in the US.
- 02:38
...but it's doubtful we as a people would ever go back to those Roman times. Back when
- 02:41
we were willing to string up a bunch of young 'uns just to get our fix.
- 02:46
Right? What's your take? How brutal will reality
- 02:49
television get in the future? Shmoop amongst yourselves.
Related Videos
They say that honesty is the best policy, but Jack lies about his identity and still gets the girl. Does that mean we should all lie to get what we...
Ever wish you could remember everything that you ever studied? How about everything that everyone has ever studied? Yeah, pretty sure our brains ju...
Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man is an American classic. Hope you're not expecting any exciting shower scenes though. It's not that kind of book.
Do not go gentle into that good night. In fact, if it's past your curfew, don't go at all into that good night. You just stay in your good bed and...
