Technological Advancement, Drives Alaskan Expansion

By: Mitch Green

           New IPhone's, tablets and cars that park themselves! The human population is consuming and yearning for new technology at an unprecedented rate, and television shows are driven and created to reflect the trends in popular culture and should mirror this trend toward hi-tech living, right? Wrong, there is an overwhelming trend of shows being produced about those that have bucked the technology trend and have disconnected themselves from society. For example, shows like Alaskan Bush People, The Last Alaskans and Life below Zero, chronicle the experiences and the lives of families and individuals that have chosen to live out in the Alaskan wilderness considered by many to be the last true frontier. The real question though is why? Why, are shows about individuals that reject the popular culture of the masses so interesting to the same culture they reject?

                The main reason why shows like Alaskan Bush People and others are so popular among a hi- tech population... convenience! In an ever evolving culture that does not depend so much on the work one performs with ones hands to survive and prosper, individuals can miss the "Old Days" and the values that come with that view point of providing for one’s self. In an article written about The Last Alaskans by Hank Stuever a TV critic for the Washington Post, it states, “Sport cameras attached to drones provide the viewer with an almost foreboding sense of how large and remote the refuge is — and how isolated the cabins are from each other, separated by more than 100 miles.” This is why these shows work; they romanticize the remoteness and the simplicity of life that many city dwellers and suburbanites will never experience. They also captivate the idea of the "Old Way" of doing things and allow the viewer to experience the life of the outdoors men in a thirty to sixty minute episode without ever leaving their home. These shows are efficient to because before the shows existence if a city dweller felt disconnected from nature he or she would have to spend all day hiking, fishing or camping and what hi-tech individual could afford to spend a whole day...? Better yet give them the illusion of being outdoors men for thirty to sixty minutes once a week and that should suppress any urge they have of actually going outside (conspiracy theory?) These shows in particular play on the male ego of the provider, being tough and working with ones hands.

                Even though these shows are endearing and connect us back to our human roots, we as a human race and the participants are worse off because of the shows continued production and vamped up play time. I will be the first to admit that I have watched all of the shows that I have referenced and sometimes hope they will on when I turn on the TV. The issue comes when you listen to the cast members talk about their lives and the hardships of living in the Alaskan Bush and how they would not have it any other way, because the viewer begins to think they are the participant and they are going through the hardships and experiences together with the cast. Many of the participants of the show are trying to advocate for their way of living and trying to fight the increasing human trend toward technology, when sadly without their knowing they are making it worse. With all the graphic detail and 360 degree view they give of their lives it lets the viewer think that they and the cast member went on the search for food together or shot a moose together. If the participants truly wanted to advocate for their way of living they should refuse to do the shows, this would bring back the viewer’s curiosity of the outdoors and the lessons to be learned from experiencing the outdoors. If the popularity of these shows increases and more are produced, which every sign says they will, these shows will become the outdoor version of fast food, it technically counts as a meal but are worse off for consuming it?

Work Cited

Stuever, Hank. "'The Last Alaskans': A Reality Show with a Heart as Big as Its Subject." Washington Post. The Washington Post. Web. 25 Sept. 2015. <https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/tv/the-last-alaskans-a-reality-show-with-a-heart-as-big-as-its-subject/2015/05/24/f6184f5a-fe53-11e4-8b6c-0dcce21e223d_story.html>.