My Two Cents: Overexposure

I’ll be running posts like this every once in a while whenever I’ve got opinions to give on SOTF. You may not agree with ’em, you may not think what I’m saying is reasonable. If you’re super offended, I reckon you can take it to court, not that I care.

Topic today is overexposure. I’ve heard the rumors – they’re doing more seasons each year. And when I look at the data, yeah, they might be. They were only doing four back in the day, and now they’re doing an average of five a year. 2016 they did seven, but if I remember correctly, they were right to cut it back.

See, I can understand the execs’ mentality. More seasons, more money. Easy. Here’s the problem.

Remember people complainin’ about showboats? Camera muggers? Mindless sex appeal? I’m talking to the more analysis-prone of you out there, not the preteens and teenagers that are perfectly fine with watching it for the drama and the gore. And that’s fine, far as I see it, but if you’re one of those people, I will warn you it gets old fast after the first few seasons of that.

Overexposure does that to people. See, here’s the thing. SOTF-TV is in a way a reflection of our society; look at how well endorsed and popular it is. But there’s a necessary dissonance. We aren’t endorsing murder and chaos in our everyday lives, and we shouldn’t. We watch SOTF-TV for more than the blood. To overexpose SOTF to the point where people start thinking it’s a normal thing, I reckon that’s a big problem. It doesn’t lend itself to natural reactions anymore. It warps the moral code, gives people the idea to plan their SOTF “story” before they even get grabbed. Kids start talking to the cameras like they’re actors, or showing off their… assets. Fame corrupts, after all.

Look.

If we so badly want the naturalistic approach to it, make gettin’ put on SOTF a surprise. It’s why they grab kids randomly. It’s why they never say beforehand.

So we shouldn’t overexpose the show – for the sake of the show itself.

Introduction and Season 65 Recap

Hello, world.

I reckon most of you, those who are reading this, that is, don’t know who I am. The name’s Charlie Gretland. The rest is easy enough to explain – I am a college student from California, junior currently, and I waste most of my time watching SOTF-TV. I’m majoring in history, possibly looking for a teaching degree, but my true passion’s music. I play the keyboard, guitar and harmonica.

Now that that’s over, we can get to the meat of the matter, yeah?

Yeah.

SOTF-TV’s what I’m talking about. Season Sixty-Five, which just finished recently. It’s the off-season now, and no doubt the fansites out there are blogging about all the merchandising they’re doing. I’m gonna stay away from that, and just give my take on the season.

Overall, worth the hype. Said it before and I’ll say it again. It moved a decent pace from the start to the end, though I’d say it slowed near the end. People didn’t want to up and kill their friends and I reckon that’s respectable. Part of the show. Things that were an awful shame: teams dying, Dahnke in general, and that Fielding kid’s death.

I’d have liked to see a team make it to the end. As it was, Renee and Mae got offed right before the end. Shame, though I can’t say that I was a fan of Mae and the way she played to the audience. If there was a team that I’d have preferred to emerge victorious, it’d have been White rather than Gold. Mason won anyway, so I guess that’s moot.

I dislike Dahnke. Let’s move on.

Fielding’s death was unfortunate, and they need to hire better interns, or fire whoever was watching the detonators. Let’s be honest here: there are lives at stake. Give ’em a fighting chance.

Now that I’m done whinin’, let’s move on to the good.

Alexis Allwell. The Allwell girl’s consistently underrated, and I’m talking seriously here. I don’t care that she came in third, or as I’ve heard some people put it, a couple of places too high. She was a girl who knew her stuff, knew when to ditch and when to commit. She picked Mason and Shawn, and they were the best allies she could thrown her lot in with.  She was never gonna win, but hell if she didn’t make it close by just being smart. If you say she wasn’t interesting, you’re entitled to your opinion, but I wonder if you’ve perhaps been watching too many contestants play to the audience. I picked her out of everyone here because I pretty much haven’t heard anyone goin’ on about her. Reckon I should be the one to get on my soapbox and go for it.

Teams. It wouldn’t be a proper recap without touchin’ on the thing that was the cornerstone of the season. I mean, you had Orange, who were trying to get together and play the game. You had White, with internal dissent that eventually ended in that Walker kid getting shot. You had the Gold Team, who I imagine spurred fanservice to even greater heights. Urgh. Regardless. Teams were the new thing, and I don’t think they jumped the shark this time.

To conclude, Sixty-Five’s definitely worth watching. I know a few of us bloggers were going on about doom and gloom after Sixty, but I reckon they’d be won back over if they’d just watch Sixty-Five.

Now if they’d only get rid of Dahnke, eh?