ShmoopTube

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos

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?

Author:

Author / Collins - Suzanne Collins

Language:

English Language

Subjects:

Tags:

Form / Novel

Common Core Standards:

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.

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.
Full Transcript