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20th-Century American Literature Videos 31 videos
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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.
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…
Full Transcript
- 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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