Reality Television and the Hunger Games

“The Beverly Hillbillies”

“The True Adventures of the Real Beverly Hillbillies”

U.S. Rep. Harold Rogers: “No one would dare propose creating a program focusing on stereotypes about African-Americans, Muslims or Jews .... Why then would it be OK to bash those of us living in rural America?”

Bradner on “Buckwild”

This show highlights a region impoverished by coal and gas industries, plagued by

educational, health care, environmental, economic and social challenges.

Why aren’t those things shown?

Bradner: Instead, the show highlights different ways of talking, different hairstyles, homes,

diets, and entertainment.

Bradner: We get this view (1) to insulate us from the region’s real needs (they are

happy), and (2) it makes us feel better about ourselves and our urban lives.

Is this the function of the broadcasting of the Hunger Games also?

Bradner: This will damage both the region and the cast by stereotyping them

Bradner: “The problem with a stereotype is usually not that it is completely inaccurate, but that it identifies a feature as relevant or important for irrelevant reasons and, in so doing, makes it difficult for the person or entity to break out of the stereotype and beyond it in observers’ eyes, which makes an authentic relationship with the stereotyped person or entity impossible.”

Cline: Reality television involves Schadenfreude (enjoying the suffering of others). Why must it be

real, instead of fictional?

Cline: Reality television typically is highly scripted and edited, and often confirms stereotypes so that

the story can go forward without character development.

Cline: The producers, advertisers, participants and viewers are all morally responsible to some degree here. It is a sign of our separation from others that

we can enjoy suffering without feeling empathy.

Do people have sympathy for tributes in the Hunger Games?

Do the Hunger Games corrupt the citizens of Panem?