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The Lottery 33396 Views


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Description:

Three words: The Hunger Games . Wait, one more word: "scapegoat." Wait—oh, just watch the video already.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:04

The Lottery, a la Shmoop. Who doesn’t want to be famous these days?

00:11

But… have we been turning Fame into some kind of twisted spectator sport.

00:19

In Shirley Jackson’s short story,,“The Lottery” a couple of Old Men put everyone’s

00:23

name in a box…

00:24

…and then draw the name of one unlucky person…

00:27

…who becomes famous for a second…

00:30

…before the townsfolk stone her.

00:33

Has this come true for us in the digital age? Let’s noodle…

00:38

Well, we do have our own version of Old Men to pull some unlucky person’s name from

00:43

a box.

00:53

Care for an example of one of the lucky ones? How about everybody’s favorite: Snooki!

01:04

Instead of drawing a name and throwing a stone at the unlucky victim…

01:07

…we have a very similar moment of fleeting fame for the Reality TV star…

01:15

…until the Late Night TV shows pounce. Then it’s all downhill.

01:27

Are we acting just like the Townsfolk in “The Lottery” when we help spread the latest

01:31

celebrity gossip? Do our posts in the digital world cause as

01:35

much pain and anguish as the Townsfolk’s stones?

01:40

Are we sentencing these people to failure before they even have a chance?

01:45

Do people just go along with whatever is trendy?

01:54

Judging from the way we recycle celebrities, it seems that way.

01:58

Doesn’t poor Snooki have feelings, too?

02:00

Many people want to be famous…

02:01

…but at what cost?

02:03

Shmoop Amongst Yourselves.

02:04

YouTube blurb:

02:05

Who doesn’t want to be famous? Plucked out of obscurity in front of an adoring crowd…who

02:07

will then throw stones, or Tweets, at you, until you’re nothing but a pile of slobbering

02:12

oatmeal? Is this what we’ve come to? An internet driven version of “The Lottery”?

02:16

Hide those bows and arrows. Just in case.

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