Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Random view of Sport Entertainment TV: USA vs Japan


Last Night I watch the premier of Wipeout, a reality game show that has people trying to complete crazy obstacles to win 50 thou. Basically it's a copy of Japan's Ninja Warrior or SASUKE, which you can see on G4.

After wasting 20 minutes, it occurred to me the how different the two shows are. Ninja Warrior takes the competition very seriously. Some of the contestants are either real athletes or Olympic winners. I don't think it's about the money for them, it's about honor and completing a task. Wipeout seemed to be about humiliating people. It was more about watching the heavy set person fall into the mud or the pool of water.

In Ninja Warrior, you see people fail, but you also see the contestants win. Wipeout, they mostly showcased the failure of the contestants. So with that in mind, I wonder if we in USA, encourage failure as a form of entertainment vs. other countries. I know it's crazy to take this seriously, but it was an interesting observation at the time.

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Viktor is a small town southern boy living in Los Angeles. You can find him on Twitter, writing about pop culture, politics, and comics. He’s the creator of the graphic novel StrangeLore and currently getting back into screenwriting.