Hi,

The first essay is

Mary Tyler More by Erica Lies,

Questions 1: Lies compares Liz Lemon to several other female television characters, including Betty Suarez of the show Ugly betty. What is the key difference between Lemon and Suarez, in Lies’s view?

Q2:

Lies claims that a particular scene from a 30 Rock episode is “hilariously meta” (par. 2). What does the term “meta” mean? What qualities does it suggest? Can you point to other examples of a show, a story, a film, a play, or a song being “meta”?

Second essay is The Reality of Reality Television, by Mark Greif

Q1: While many critics of reality television emphazise its voyeurism,

Greif does not. What is the “more important thing to say about reality Tv” (Par. 17) according to him? What do such shows allow viewers to do “always”?

Q2: In his analysis of the show survivors, Greif writes: ” they had the republican ideal in their hands, and didn’t use it. It got confused with the economic or Darwinian model of competition, in which anti-representative stratagems are justified becuase one wins in the defeat and eradication of all others to gain a single jackpot” (Par. 25). What does this mean? How does it imply a relationship between our entertainment and our politics? Do you find it persuasive to “read” a television show in this way?