Voting Democracy off the Island and A Moral Never-Never Land-Identifying with Tony Soprano - Essay Example

English Essay Francine Prose’s ‘Voting Democracy off the Island’ and James Harold’s ‘A Moral Never-Never Land-Identifying with Tony Soprano’ Introduction On her ‘Voting Democracy off the Island’ article, Francine elaborates on the continuing growth of popularity of the reality TV shows that are on almost all stations. Moreover, she takes note of the current trends that producers apply and exploit, such as using ordinary people and amateur actors to make it more believable especially through the different contests and competitions that lead to elimination or other consequences (Breakthrough Writer 1). On the other hand, winning or excelling in these competitions had adverse rewards such as moneys or expensive things such as cars. Based on her argument, Prose puts it out that most of the viewers are fans of such shows that the frequent watching has slowly started to affect the morals and values. Naturally, most of the scenes used in the reality shows are examples of day-to-day occurrences such as interviews and the directors turn them into ruthless competitions where the different contestants do exacting things to make sure they emerge at the top. Furthermore, Francine also argues that perceptions from the multiple reality television programs affect people’s real-life discernment of aspects such as leadership and legislations. This emanates from the secrecy and deceitfulness expressed to the extent that people such as the American citizens are not shocked when their government does the same (Breakthrough Writer 1). Francine’s argument puts it out that this is why people are not offended or concerned with the government withholding essential information on nuclear weapons, terrorist attack threats etc. Prose’s conclusion in her article is that despite the fact that most people disagree, programs based on real-life affect the human nature in a negative way, even when they are not aware of it. Contrary to Francine Prose, James Harold explores the idea of TV shows affecting the morals in the article ‘A Moral Never-Never Land-Identifying with Tony Soprano’ by evaluating how most people think movies or programs affect them and what really happens. He uses ‘The Sopranos’ as the main example to explain his notion on the idea of TV affecting people’s morals and values; moreover, he claims that this show makes bad personalities seem acceptable and liked by the society. Certainly, when people relate themselves to Tony Soprano during times of despair and happiness they tend to imitate him in their everyday events, especially those that are similar to those in ‘The Sopranos’. According to Harold, people tend to focus more on anti-hero values that sway them more than the hero’s values; relatively, most people support the notion that this affects someone’s mortality. However, despite the different notions Harold does not agree that it is wrong to watch such television shows and uses the example of Tony Soprano to explain why. The anti-hero in ‘The Sopranos’ gets a lot of influence from people that do not advocate for crime depicting the moral element of the show. Additionally, Tony Soprano visits the psychiatrist regularly, as a way of dealing with the moral significances of faults in his doings showing that despite the many crimes committed this is not right. Furthermore, the psychiatrist ‘continually reminds us as an audience of the dangers of seeing things exclusively from Tony’s point of view, and her character provides an alternative point of view on Tony’s life and actions’ (Breakthrough Writer 1). Decisively, the discussion part of this paper evaluates Francine Prose and James Harold’s perceptions and arguments for a better understanding; however, the greater part of it bases on Harold’s argument to come up with a possible reply for Francine on the issue. Discussion According to Harold, most of the shows like ‘The Sopranos’ combine both the sensitive and revolting aspects of life but most of the people are quick to judge such programs because of the repulsive parts that are full of insults, violence and erotic scenes. Considerably, it is true that most of these programs, through keen observation, have both sides of life but those given most attention are the repulsive and inconsiderate scenes where many producers persist on violence, erotic scenes to make sure that the audience do not miss any of the details. This is relatable because today if all the movies focused on sympathy and emotions very few people would watch them. Francine Prose is fixated on making people believe that watching reality TV shows negatively affects their moral and values. Based on Harold’s notion, Prose only reviews the nature of these shows focusing on the negative outcome; moreover, the people in the reality shows are not acting or portraying behavior focused on script. The response of Harold would be no different from his judgment on Plato and Tolstoy’s argument. Prose should not discourage people from watching reality TV shows because people become what they choose; moreover, anyone old enough to understand these programs has the capability of identifying between good and bad. Substantially, there are different effects of watching reality TV shows and any other show, some are negative and others are positive depending on the nature of a particular show. It is a person’s choice on whether they take the competition as revolting or as fun and exciting; essentially, there are no reality shows that advocate for the kind of violence seen in movies and the values and morality of a person should not base on this. Definitely, the interpretation of a person is all that matters because opinions differ. Conclusion Decisively, some of the reality TV shows depict most of the things that Francine claims i.e. egotism, deceitful competition, irrational lies and callousness, all of which apply for the sake of the participants winning. For such competition, this is understandable because most of the people see them as once-in-a-lifetime opportunities and just as much as people are aware that there is a lot of acting in movies, such shows should not face judgment based on such aspects. Moreover, the only way to winning any competition is by going that extra mile or putting more effort and it is not necessary that a person be deceitful but let’s face it, most of the modern reality shows promote this to give the highest level of entertainment. Comparatively, both Harold and Prose’s arguments are rational but Harold is more decisive because he encourages people to make their own choices in relation to morals and values. Works Cited Breakthrough Writer, Francine Prose’s ‘Voting Democracy off the Island’ and James Harold’s ‘A Moral Never-Never Land-Identifying with Tony Soprano: HercuLodge. 2014. Web, November 19, 2014, http://herculodge.typepad.com/breakthrough_writer/signs-of-life-lessons-2/ Read More