Veronica Mars...and social psychology
Oct. 11th, 2006 12:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatVeronica Mars fascinated me tonight - and since it came after an hour of semi-boredom flipping between Friday Night Lights (which I suppose would grab your interest if you haven't seen this sort of thing before - families obsessed with high school football is neither new to me nor really all that interesting, if you think people went nutty over BTVS, you have not met a football fan. To this day, I despise The Broncos and The Cheifs. And to be honest, BTVS was more interesting to talk about, in short - so not my cup of tea), and Gilmore Girls, which was mildly better than last week. (More Lane and Paris, less Luke and his family.) Ghod I miss House. Really miss House.
But back to VM.
VM surprised me. I honestly thought it was going to do something completely different. It's rare that tv surprises me. Actually haven't been pleasantly surprised in quite a while. So, you'll understand that when it happens, I grin. The fact that it is happening via cultural media lately feels a tad pathetic, but hey, beggars can't be choosers - right?
First off it resolved that confusing Kendal Casbalancas/Liam Fitzpatrick case and furthered Keith Mars character in the process. I had a sinking feeling that case was going to drift on for a while.
Plus the resolution was not only classic noir, but quite funny in an ironic sort of way.
Second, it paralleled a sorority rush with a social psychology experiment - an experiment that I studied last year around this time and four page post on. You can find it here: http://shadowkat67.livejournal.com/2005/11/04/.
The experiment is a famous one - which British TV tried to replicate as a reality series a few years back - it's called the Zimbardo Prison Study. And having seen an actual film of Zimbardo's experiment done in the 1970s at Berkely. - I can tell you that they more or less replicated the experiment on Veronica Mars down to the letter. Was blown away. Also amused how they played it with Logan as prisoner and Wallace as guard. Neatly stating in the beginning how Wallace did not think he could torture anyone who stand by and watch others do it and Logan knew that he, Logan could. In the Wallace/Logan story - there's a jerk guard and a prisoner named Horshack. The guard reminded me of a young Chad Lowe - kept trying to place the actor. At any rate the focus is on those two with Wallace and Logan appearing to passively watch. As the story unfolds, we begin to realize that we are in the point of view of the jerk guard and Horshack. Not in Logan or Wallace's pov.
Logan executes a prison break. The guards bring them back. Logan also gets Horshack to provide the wrong information. But Wallace outsmarts Logan, by making Logan and the other prisoners think that time is up, they've won, before the clock actually ran out. In both cases - it is not until the end that the jerk guard and Horshack realize they aren't in charge or even aware that they are being used by the other participants, who've joined forces behind their backs to manipulate the game.
What's ingenious and made me sit bolt upright - is two things: 1) The writers demonstrate that to the participants it is a game. They don't care that they are torturing someone or are a complete jerk, it is just a game afterall. We are just playing roles. Much like people do on a football field crashing into one another. It's all in fun. In fact Horshack and the Jerky Guard are best pals at the end, when Wallace asks how he can stand him - Horshack replies, hey it was just a game, he's just playing a role. 2)When the teacher asks what the students learned, Logan streaks naked through the classroom - demonstrating, that the students saw it as a game. And learned they were capable of manipulating people, humilating someone, hurting them even with the justification that it is just a game. I'm just having fun.
What does this have to do with sorority Rush? Ah. Veronica Mars is hunting for a similar type of hazing or game playing inside the Kappa Theta Sorority. Convinced Mack's roommate was raped because of her participation in Rush. (They don't quite do Rush right in the show - but I let that go, every school does it differently anyway, so it's no big. I went through Rush and yes, I pledged a sorority, we did not live in them though. Was a member for three years, before I deactivated in disgust. Me and organized groups, unmixy things. ) What's interesting is that the writer does not do what we expect. The writer plays to the stereotype - what the anti-soriority sisters believe Rush and sororities are all about - and then demonstrates that this may not be true. At the end of the episode, it is not the soriority that is the villain, but Veronica and the student newspaper she is working for. This is not only in keeping with the noir genre, but it flips over the stereotype.
The soriority does not take advantage of Veronica, Veronica takes advantage of the soriority's trust in her. They liked her, they trusted her and she betrayed their trust.
As she puts it to Logan - "he's breaking out" and "I'm breaking in" - but in truth both Logan and VM are playing a game. They are manipulating the people around them, their classmates to reach their own ends. And both lose. For Logan it is just a bet. And he more or less wins a nod from Wallace by going through with it. For Veronica...it is a group of new friends. And perhaps her interest in journalism.
The show is capped with the Van Gough that Keith Mars sells for 2 million - the money to go to a Food Bank. He's distressed because of Kendall's death - they trusted the Fitzpatricks, who ended up more or less doing one another in. Again, Keith saw it as a game. He played it Kendall's way and she got killed.
No one won. Well except the Food Bank and Wallace.
Perfect noir.
Am loving VM this season, but no one else appears to, which worries me. Apparently I'm at logger heads with the universe in more ways than one. Methinks I need to locate a boxing class soon.
Nip/Tuck isn't really worth discussing, except that I think the show may have jumped the proverbial shark. Almost switched to Boston Legal which has the distinction of having three Star Trek alum playing lawyers or legal people - Shatner, the guy who played Odo, and Armin Shimmerman. Watching Shimmerman and that guy who played Odo act off each other is a bit of a treat. Plus we have James Spader flirting with Candice Bergen. LOL! Now if only they weren't doing it all in court rooms and as lawyers, I'd watch it.
But back to VM.
VM surprised me. I honestly thought it was going to do something completely different. It's rare that tv surprises me. Actually haven't been pleasantly surprised in quite a while. So, you'll understand that when it happens, I grin. The fact that it is happening via cultural media lately feels a tad pathetic, but hey, beggars can't be choosers - right?
First off it resolved that confusing Kendal Casbalancas/Liam Fitzpatrick case and furthered Keith Mars character in the process. I had a sinking feeling that case was going to drift on for a while.
Plus the resolution was not only classic noir, but quite funny in an ironic sort of way.
Second, it paralleled a sorority rush with a social psychology experiment - an experiment that I studied last year around this time and four page post on. You can find it here: http://shadowkat67.livejournal.com/2005/11/04/.
The experiment is a famous one - which British TV tried to replicate as a reality series a few years back - it's called the Zimbardo Prison Study. And having seen an actual film of Zimbardo's experiment done in the 1970s at Berkely. - I can tell you that they more or less replicated the experiment on Veronica Mars down to the letter. Was blown away. Also amused how they played it with Logan as prisoner and Wallace as guard. Neatly stating in the beginning how Wallace did not think he could torture anyone who stand by and watch others do it and Logan knew that he, Logan could. In the Wallace/Logan story - there's a jerk guard and a prisoner named Horshack. The guard reminded me of a young Chad Lowe - kept trying to place the actor. At any rate the focus is on those two with Wallace and Logan appearing to passively watch. As the story unfolds, we begin to realize that we are in the point of view of the jerk guard and Horshack. Not in Logan or Wallace's pov.
Logan executes a prison break. The guards bring them back. Logan also gets Horshack to provide the wrong information. But Wallace outsmarts Logan, by making Logan and the other prisoners think that time is up, they've won, before the clock actually ran out. In both cases - it is not until the end that the jerk guard and Horshack realize they aren't in charge or even aware that they are being used by the other participants, who've joined forces behind their backs to manipulate the game.
What's ingenious and made me sit bolt upright - is two things: 1) The writers demonstrate that to the participants it is a game. They don't care that they are torturing someone or are a complete jerk, it is just a game afterall. We are just playing roles. Much like people do on a football field crashing into one another. It's all in fun. In fact Horshack and the Jerky Guard are best pals at the end, when Wallace asks how he can stand him - Horshack replies, hey it was just a game, he's just playing a role. 2)When the teacher asks what the students learned, Logan streaks naked through the classroom - demonstrating, that the students saw it as a game. And learned they were capable of manipulating people, humilating someone, hurting them even with the justification that it is just a game. I'm just having fun.
What does this have to do with sorority Rush? Ah. Veronica Mars is hunting for a similar type of hazing or game playing inside the Kappa Theta Sorority. Convinced Mack's roommate was raped because of her participation in Rush. (They don't quite do Rush right in the show - but I let that go, every school does it differently anyway, so it's no big. I went through Rush and yes, I pledged a sorority, we did not live in them though. Was a member for three years, before I deactivated in disgust. Me and organized groups, unmixy things. ) What's interesting is that the writer does not do what we expect. The writer plays to the stereotype - what the anti-soriority sisters believe Rush and sororities are all about - and then demonstrates that this may not be true. At the end of the episode, it is not the soriority that is the villain, but Veronica and the student newspaper she is working for. This is not only in keeping with the noir genre, but it flips over the stereotype.
The soriority does not take advantage of Veronica, Veronica takes advantage of the soriority's trust in her. They liked her, they trusted her and she betrayed their trust.
As she puts it to Logan - "he's breaking out" and "I'm breaking in" - but in truth both Logan and VM are playing a game. They are manipulating the people around them, their classmates to reach their own ends. And both lose. For Logan it is just a bet. And he more or less wins a nod from Wallace by going through with it. For Veronica...it is a group of new friends. And perhaps her interest in journalism.
The show is capped with the Van Gough that Keith Mars sells for 2 million - the money to go to a Food Bank. He's distressed because of Kendall's death - they trusted the Fitzpatricks, who ended up more or less doing one another in. Again, Keith saw it as a game. He played it Kendall's way and she got killed.
No one won. Well except the Food Bank and Wallace.
Perfect noir.
Am loving VM this season, but no one else appears to, which worries me. Apparently I'm at logger heads with the universe in more ways than one. Methinks I need to locate a boxing class soon.
Nip/Tuck isn't really worth discussing, except that I think the show may have jumped the proverbial shark. Almost switched to Boston Legal which has the distinction of having three Star Trek alum playing lawyers or legal people - Shatner, the guy who played Odo, and Armin Shimmerman. Watching Shimmerman and that guy who played Odo act off each other is a bit of a treat. Plus we have James Spader flirting with Candice Bergen. LOL! Now if only they weren't doing it all in court rooms and as lawyers, I'd watch it.
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no subject
Date: 2006-10-11 05:58 am (UTC)The guard was Rider Strong, who was the best friend character on the sitcom, Boy Meets World in the 90s.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-11 05:58 am (UTC)Veronica's guilt of assuming Parker was engaged in consentual sexy when she herself had been through the 'date rape' experience.
Mac's guilt for having said Parker was a slut when in fact she was just an inexperienced girl who was getting into trouble, something Mac herself went through just a few months before.
Keith's guilt about Kendell's death.
Although I think I disagree that it was ALL a game, I think that Horshack is experiencing some identification with his jailer, and is being exploited by the Jerk. I'm predicting that there will be some fall out from this 48 hours. But the wonderful thing is, I haven't a clue how it will play out. Veronica Mars really can surprise me, which is so wonderful!
(PS I also enjoyed Boston Legal, such a great cast, I don't care how weird the stories get, it is an amazing cast).
no subject
Date: 2006-10-11 01:54 pm (UTC)But Horshack and the jerk jailer didn't really play it like it was a game - they took on the actual roles - made it real. While Wallace/Logan *did* play it like a game - they did not take it that seriously, even made a silly bet over what the loser would have to do. And if you noticed, neither participated or reacted to the two characters taking on the "real" roles. Yet, Wallace and Logan both looked at what the jailer and Horshack were doing as real and unacceptable - something that was not required to obtain their aim.
We know the prison experiment is an important clue - because the RA mentions early on in the episode that he did the experiment and how it was a life-alterring experience for him. We aren't told which role he played. But we are told that he had access to each of the women who had their heads shaved and were raped. The head shave bit - is something that happens in prison. It's *not* just a fraternity hazing gag, it's also used in prisons. The date rape and the prison experiment are clearly linked, possibly with the prison experiment being the psychological motivator or what gave the date rapist the idea?
no subject
Date: 2006-10-11 02:39 pm (UTC)For one thing: Dick, who had access to all the drinks at the party, and Parker's keys....(I have no trouble believing that Dick is violent and capable of anything).
At any rate I am definitely caught up in Veronica's 'college experience'!
no subject
Date: 2006-10-11 08:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-11 11:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-11 02:06 pm (UTC)You're right the bus metaphor works perfectly for the writers.
This season watching Nip/Tuck - I feel as if the writers are throwing whatever they can at the screen just to see if it sticks.