Quiz Show Essay -- essays research papers

Charles avant-garde Doren has a life that many people would be envious of. He is a member of one of the countrys most intellectual and easily respected families. His uncle, Carl, is a noted historiographer and his father, Mark, is a distinguished professor at capital of South Carolina University as well as Pulitzer-prize winning poet. Even his mother, Dorothy, is a well known precedent with several highly recognized pieces of literature. Charles is following in his fathers footsteps as he works as an instructor at Columbia preparing to take all over for his father once he retires. Un gildedly for Van Doren, he feels that he lacks an identity in this family of overachievers. At this point in his life, he believes that he should comport accomplished enough that people go int have to refer to him as the son but quite an address him by his name. Clearly Van Doren doesnt realize how fortunate he is and that compared to nearly all the men in America, he is steady to a greater ex tent of a success than any of them will ever be. This jeopardy and tragic flaw will ultimately lead to his demise over the course of the film. The question becomes not whether or not this tragic gun will do anything to gain the spotlight that his relatives have gained but earlier to what extent will he be willing to compromise his set in the passage. The second scene of the film displays the seemingly secure process in which the questions for the lay down are taken to the studio. They are taken from a vault at the bank by police officers and there is a large procession that hand delivers the questions to the studio. It makes the viewer think that the whole screen show thing is completely fraud-free. The camera then shows how such shows have captivated auditory senses around the country. Everyone wants to be a part of the phenomenon of quiz shows even up if it means simply watching the show on television receiver from their home. The audience ranges from couples to families to even nuns. Yet the corruption is shown very early in the show as an executive makes a phone call to inform a producer that they want to substantiate rid of the current winner on the show, Herbert Stempel, because he is getting tired of him. Stempel, who is a working class Judaic man from Queens, NY, has had an amazing run on the quiz show twenty-one. He has won a great deal of money and is milking the resplendence for all its worth. When he returns to his modest neighborhood, he is treated standardised a king... ...es almost shocked, saying that, I wanted to get television the truth is television is going to get us. Goodwin is quite vague and leaves this line for the viewer to interpret. Perhaps he means that television holds the power to ruin lives of even those who are the least likely to be morally seduced by it. Charles Van Dorens life is completely tragic as in his attempt to better his life he ends up making it worse than when he started black flag. The money he do and the fame that he achieved could have been accomplished through hard work and role like his father. He was driven by the opportunity to practically do nothing and be credited as a hero. In a way though, Van Doren is successful, as his ultimate goal is to be more than his fathers son, but unfortunately he obtained notoriety quite than honored distinction. Dick Goodwin is the antithesis of Charlie, a man who could look temptation in the eye and simply turn away, knowing that simply giving in is completely wrong. Who knows what Charles Van Dorens life could have been if he had stayed on the path that he was on rather than succumbing to the temptations of easy fortune and fame that came with Twenty-One.