03-18-2006, 01:39 PM
Herr Mullen Wrote:There is no poverty in American television. No-one starves, no-one is homeless and looked upon with sympathy. If there's a homeless man, he will be there to be made fun of. "Homeless people are crazy. Homeless people think the government is listening to their teeth."
You REALLY need to check out 24. There's one point in the first season when a girl is trying to escape her captors in some slums and comes across a squatter giving another guy a blowjob for cash. He flips out at her because his trick runs off, but reluctantly ends up trying to help her. He gets caught, though, and beaten to holy hell (and most likely killed).
In short, 24 shows the murky underbelly of North American society quite a lot more than most other shows, that totally ignore its existance. It's kind of like: "Hey, look! Crooked politicians, drug dealers, terrorists that aren't arabs! Gay people! Pedophiles! Bad guys killing hostages left, right and center! Characters with lives, backstories, skeletons in their closets!" I rather love it.
Even though 24 is primetime, I don't know many people besides me who watch it. I think everyone should. There are a lot of little things in there that speak so loudly of human nature.