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“Kid Nation” - Turning To The Worlds Oldest Profession Inside Of 20 Minutes
By Alex Cook
“Kid Nation”, CBS' newest reality series, shared a few life lessons with those who tuned in (9 million of you in fact). The biggest of which was the simple fact that the quickest way to make a buck is to sell yourself.
Let us back up for a moment. “Kid Nation” is a show about just that, a bunch of kids thrown into a 'Lord of the Flies' scenario while America watches on. Each member of this tribe of adolescents is left to fend for themselves, with few tools to eek out their new existence and fewer guidelines.
Life lesson number one: You will get paid crap for dealing with crap.
A Town Council of four children, ranging in ages 10 to 14, watch these children as they go through their day to day tasks, deciding whom amongst them deserves the coveted 'Golden Star,' an star made of actual gold, worth twenty thousand dollars. On last nights premiere episode this Council divided the town up into four groups branded with a different color. Each group then competed in a challenge that would decide who was assigned what job, and the amount they would be paid for said task. Four teams, four tiers, each with a progressively lesser pay out. The top echelon was dubbed the 'Upper Class' and was paid a dollar each without a single job expected of them. Following them were the Merchants, managers of the stores and single saloon that came fully stocked ready for business, who earned fifty cents a day for their work. Next came the Cooks who were in charge of just that, cooking three meals a day for all the children. This arduous task was only worth twenty-five cents a day. Finally the lowest class, the rung of the ladder charged with cleaning toilets and doing laundry, earned an alarming ten cents a day.
Life lesson number two: There is always someone out there making more than you who does less.
This automatic caste system created an immediate division between the kids, forcing some to think they were better than others. The Upper Class was instantly reviled because they had the most money and had nothing to do in order to receive it. The note that this group could 'help when needed' meant little as they rarely felt they were needed for more than enjoying their free time. These children walked around with a pocket full of cash and lorded it over the others, simply because of the way the show is set up. Obviously this was done on purpose in order to engineer drama between the different camps, but to what end?
Life lesson number three: Morals come cheap.
Once the Merchants got their marching orders the stores were opened for business. Forty youths scampered from one shop to another, peeking at the various items for sale within each. One child, a 14 year old from the Green Team, Sophia, spied a bike hanging in the corner of the General Store. The price tag read three dollars. Sophia, a member of the least paid group of “Kid Nation”, wanted that bike, badly. She commented that after all the work she had done cooking and cleaning for the masses she only had ten cents to her name. Sophia decided this wouldn't stop her however. Instead of working harder or attempting to move up within the ranks of the Nation, Sophia made the same decision countless others had since the dawn of time. Sophia stood out in the middle of the ghost town they lived in with an empty jar in front of her. With a flourish she began cat calling the kids around her, offering to dance for a measly five cents, selling herself to any who wanted to watch.
Within 20 minutes of the show's start, a member of “Kid Nation” had turned to what could be viewed as a form of prostitution (and I use the term in the loosest sense) as a means to make ends meat.
Sophia got her bike that day, her jar was full of coins as she ran into the store with a smile on her face to make the purchase. It had only cost her integrity.
'“Kid Nation”' had been advertised as an experiment to see how a child would build a society. Instead it just pointed out some of the worst parts of our own.
Way to go, Alex. Extremely good!
Is Jimmy from kid nation really a professional actor. Check out the Clorox pop ups commercial and See.
I saw the commercial about this and was in awe that it was even being made. I know you have to have child actors for, y'know, plotted, SCRIPTED shows (I used the "S", shame on me!) but this is pretty bad. Between this and Fox's "Are you Smarter Than A 5th Grader?" it pretty much endorses our sun to go nova a few billion years early.
The whole Idea of the show was great,but the planning and lay out of what the kids will get from this show and what they will take on in to life is teaching them nothing. There are some really great kids on this show ,but you have left them hanging out to dry,even the old town had plans and knew what they needed to do you have showed these kids nothing,no direction,they are just kids but brave ones.
"Within 20 minutes of the show's start, a member of “Kid Nation” had turned to what could be viewed as a form of prostitution (and I use the term in the loosest sense) as a means to make ends meat."
And you accuse the show's producers of engineering drama!
As melodramatic as you are, you still managed to get a laugh from me thanks to your sly "insertion" (no pun intended) of the word "meat" into a sentence accusing a 14-year-old girl of prostituting herself for a bicycle. What's that, Alex? You got your homophones mixed up? Surely not! I have absolutely NO doubt that Access Hollywood holds the HIGHEST standards for its staff "writers".
Interestingly, by your (admittedly "loose") standards, it would seem that any number of groups could be considered "prostitutes", from buskers, organ grinders and mimes to those lascivious bell-ringers, the Salvation Army Santas!
If Sophia dancing, fully clothed and not making particularly sexy moves, is "prostitution" then every singer, actor, ballerina or acrobat who has ever lived is also a prostitute. Sophia didn't let anybody touch her, she just danced. Tamely. With all of her clothes on. I fail to see how this "cost her integrity."