{"id":378,"date":"2019-02-13T02:09:18","date_gmt":"2019-02-13T07:09:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/death19\/?p=378"},"modified":"2019-02-13T02:09:18","modified_gmt":"2019-02-13T07:09:18","slug":"why-is-dead-set-dead-set-on-using-big-brother","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/death19\/2019\/02\/13\/why-is-dead-set-dead-set-on-using-big-brother\/","title":{"rendered":"Why is Dead Set Dead Set on Using Big Brother?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dead Set<\/em> is an extremely effective piece of zombie driven postmodern horror. One of the show’s strongest aspect is its characters in that every single character plays their role in the narrative extremely effectively. In this post I will ponder what effect these character archetypes play and how their being part of a Big Brother <\/em>season changes and affects the story.<\/p>\n

The first thing that I find the Big Brother <\/em>backdrop being effective in is the fact that the real show establishes cast archetypes. Typically in reality shows they attempt to cast people who fit a specific profile hoping that the individual personas will play out in specific ways that make for good television drama and compelling story. Dead Set <\/em>capitalizes on this same premise as their cast is equally made up of the archetypes but the setting of Big Brother <\/em>allows this to be more natural. From the creepy perverted Joplin, douche stud Marky, flamboyantly gay Grayson, down to earth Space, attractively naive Pippa, kindhearted Angel and beautifully strong Veronica, the show is made up of stereotypical personalities. Throw in the disgustingly self-centered Patrick and flawed heroine Kelly and the show is all set for a perfect storm. The characters get to act in very stereotypical ways defined by their basic characteristics. This allows a predictive story yet a compelling one as it is one that has been repeated so many times over the years in vastly different mediums.<\/p>\n

The most interesting aspect that Big Brother <\/em>has on the impact of Dead Set <\/em>however is in the characters who have no relation to the show. It is in Riq as well as Alex where the true heart of the story lies. It is these two characters who honestly acted fully with pure hearts throughout the show with care for their fellow humans and never crossed boundaries such as killing or mutilation of live people. Together the two work together solely for survival and it is a great tragedy when Riq is forced to kill Alex after a bite but even then both handle the situation with absolute class. They show complete respect and adoration for one another that is truly touching and they are both true heroes worth rooting for.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile all of the other characters are all fallible in their own ways and nearly all cross boundaries in their efforts to survive. Almost all of the cast members at one point or another vote to kill another person in effort to save themselves. The worst offender is of course Patrick who is a completely despicable human showing zero remorse for his actions towards others but even the “main” protagonist Kelly shoots multiple people and lest us not forget cheated on her boyfriend. A common trope of Zombie apocalypse situations is where the line between good and evil becomes quite blurred in the nature of survival. The question of what is allowed to be morally done in an effort to see the next day leads even the heroes of stories to cross the line. I find it very intriguing that the characters in Dead Set <\/em>who engage in such behavior that crosses the line are all essentially members or creators of the reality show Big Brother<\/em>. In the same way that reality show manipulates events to create heroes and villains for their audience, the lines of reality are too crossed in the apocalyptic world where good and evil is not as clear cut as it seems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dead Set is an extremely effective piece of zombie driven postmodern horror. One of the show’s strongest aspect is its characters in that every single character plays their role in the narrative extremely effectively. In this post I will ponder what effect these character archetypes play and how their being part of a Big Brother …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":221,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-group-c"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paB9Ga-66","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/death19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/death19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/death19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/death19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/221"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/death19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=378"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/death19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":379,"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/death19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378\/revisions\/379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/death19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/death19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/death19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}