Week 9
Reflection of Case Study Panel Review
After the panel review on Friday, I feel that I possibly did not get as much feedback on the project as I would have liked. This maybe is because of the project being a little off, what a usual final project would be, or that I covered any potential feedback from the questions I asked in the session. Although I would have liked more, I will assume that it is more than the project is in a good place. The one thing I do need to do now is narrow down the issues I want to translate and ideate my solutions. I hope to have this done by week 11. As I do the rest of my interviews this week, I will hopefully have a very clear picture by then.
Self-absorbance and the apocalypse (DEAD SET MINI-SERIES)
This week's first media choice is Dead Set, based on a zombie apocalypse within the Big Brother house. Generally, this is a straightforward zombie infestation mini-series, that happens to be based around a once-popular reality series.
What is different, is the cultural issues placed within the series. Patrick Goad (Andy Nyman) becomes a key character in the social commentary in the series. He has no respect for the contestants in the house, his view is these people just want to become famous and rich, quick, through the reality show. His view is these people are lazy and don't deserve any rewards for participating in what was once a social experiment. Ironically, he is also happy to, himself, reap the benefits of the show in his capacity as the show's producer. Patrick, as a character, represents a man who only believes in his own self-interest. We see at the start, his biggest fear starts with not an outbreak happening, but as the news spreads the fear that his show might be replaced by the news. Pre-outbreak and post-outbreak he bullies all around him, He eventually, through manipulating one of the surviving housemates, Joplin (Kevin Eldon) into helping him to escape the compound, with no regard for the consequence of the other survivers, which, eventually,. sees the other survivers become turned.
Although Patrick is portrayed as the "almost" villain character in the series, we see the other survivors also act in self-interest or are more concerned over their status. Joplin, who is the older member of the Big Brother house, something that seemed part of the diversity of the series, displays some odd behaviour, one of which being, when presented with the opportunity to abuse trust on spying on another contestant, Veronica, in the shower. Although, Veronica, is aware of Joplins vourisms, and refers to him as a creep, she is almost not bothered by his actions also. Another example of self-absorbance is when three of the survivers go out to find medical supplies, Marky sees he is on the cover of heat. Instead of worrying about the threat of the zombies, is more concerned with how the public perceive him. This is one of the more blatant cases of self-absortion in the series.
Space (Adam Deacan) is possibly the most level headed person in the group, He shows forward thinking with instances of closing the gate as well as working collaboratively with the other housemates. Even when facing his fate of becoming a zombie, he is still working to try and save whoever else is left. Space, races a situation of racism as two police see him when he is out collecting the aforementioned supplies. While on his knees with both officers pointing their guns at him, it is only when they realise he is on Big Brother that they ease off, not before telling him he's the "almost" black one.
This is a quite modern example of people, in the United Kingdom might respond to an outbreak. Like in Army of the Dead with Mikey Guzman killing zombies for likes on social media, would we see people more concerned with how they are perceived as others other the need for survival. It is also worth noting that others may act against the interest of a group to make sure they survive.