Thursday, February 20, 2003

OF COURSE! Former Amherst Student opinion editor Russ Hanser thinks he's solved the mystery of the bizarre column from last night:
The author obviously seeks to unpack the layered meanings animating the postmodern, poststructuralist, postcolonial (postpartum?) “reality show” – a genre not unlike those long enjoyed by such luminaries as Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, and Gary (or was it Dabney?) Coleman. The author fails to recognize that the “reality show” in fact endeavors to spin a subversive narrative by adopting a subaltern approach to the plight of oppressed “competitors,” engaged in the quest for power, where control over symbols (a rose, a necklace, a phallic “immunity idol”) confers sexual hegemony, material comfort, and endorsement deals aplenty. But inevitably, the dignity of the contestants is ultimately consumed by the inherent dialectical force of the contest, as each “subject” becomes just another “object” deployed to advance the network’s discourse of domination.

Indeed. Email me if you've got other ideas.

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