Outlast is conceived as a team survival game. On that front, it's hard to call it a success. Contestants are provided overly gamey challenges that make it feel more like Survivor than Alone. Surprisingly dynamic camera work is a minus here, suggesting more infrastructure than Outlast is willing to admit. I have no doubt that contestants are hungry, tired, and cold, but the show doesn't focus particularly on their survival challenges. In the end, the producers just change the rules outright, perhaps out of money for a game that lasted longer than anticipated; perhaps, just exhausted of a game that spiraled out of control; perhaps even worried about liability from what might happen next if the game doesn't end.
But, because of the actions of some contestants, Outlast becomes a fascinating examination of the development of nascent systems of ethics and justice.
Provided no real rules, one team soon decides to sabotage another, stealing away their sleeping bags. We're provided a variety of responses to this. The victims, understandably, feel angry and violated (although one of them had earlier argued unsuccessfully for similar behavior from her own team; she's not the worst hypocirte here however.) One contestant sees that this can lead only to increasingly ugly behavior, whether driven by selfishness or by the desire for justice-- and isn't it so hard to see the difference when self-interest is on the line? Another contestant seeks justice, striving to ensure that the wrong-doers are punished, even against his own self-interest; and one entire team seems content with the behavior, provided it benefits them and that they don't have to feel any personal responsibility. Personally, I can see myself behaving in any of these ways, even as one of the wrongdoers; it seems that our ideals are very much a function of our culture, even when that culture is only four members strong, and while I respect Javier very much, I cannot agree with his certainty that people are somehow constants, irrespective of context.
Maybe I'm more academically-minded than most, but to me, it's hard not to see this is an experiment in early political systems; it's hard not to see this as an indictment of anarchism and an endorsement of the state, and particularly of the basic idea of a system of justice. Unfortunately, here, the wrongdoers are never really punished, even for their hypocrisy when the shoes is, vaguely, on the other foot. But it's not hard to imagine a game that lasted longer, with more tribes, leading to an intertribal political structure designed to prevent issues like this. And although the tribes here pursue out-of-the-box antisocial tactics, I personally find it disappointing that they never found the out-of-the-box *pro*social tactic: to become a single team, and thus end the game and share winnings equally. If that was somehow against the rules, since it could end the game before it began, Outlast never made that clear.
Outlast is not a survivalist show, and if that's what you're after, you probably shouldn't watch it. Neither is it a detective mystery, where the bad guys are punished and we all go to sleep happy, content that justice was done. Justice was not done in this show; mechanisms of justice took significantly longer to develop than can be shown on Outlast. But if you're interested in politics, if you're interested in psychology, if you're interested in sociology, then Outlast is a unique, if unpleasant, experiment in those fields.
But, because of the actions of some contestants, Outlast becomes a fascinating examination of the development of nascent systems of ethics and justice.
Provided no real rules, one team soon decides to sabotage another, stealing away their sleeping bags. We're provided a variety of responses to this. The victims, understandably, feel angry and violated (although one of them had earlier argued unsuccessfully for similar behavior from her own team; she's not the worst hypocirte here however.) One contestant sees that this can lead only to increasingly ugly behavior, whether driven by selfishness or by the desire for justice-- and isn't it so hard to see the difference when self-interest is on the line? Another contestant seeks justice, striving to ensure that the wrong-doers are punished, even against his own self-interest; and one entire team seems content with the behavior, provided it benefits them and that they don't have to feel any personal responsibility. Personally, I can see myself behaving in any of these ways, even as one of the wrongdoers; it seems that our ideals are very much a function of our culture, even when that culture is only four members strong, and while I respect Javier very much, I cannot agree with his certainty that people are somehow constants, irrespective of context.
Maybe I'm more academically-minded than most, but to me, it's hard not to see this is an experiment in early political systems; it's hard not to see this as an indictment of anarchism and an endorsement of the state, and particularly of the basic idea of a system of justice. Unfortunately, here, the wrongdoers are never really punished, even for their hypocrisy when the shoes is, vaguely, on the other foot. But it's not hard to imagine a game that lasted longer, with more tribes, leading to an intertribal political structure designed to prevent issues like this. And although the tribes here pursue out-of-the-box antisocial tactics, I personally find it disappointing that they never found the out-of-the-box *pro*social tactic: to become a single team, and thus end the game and share winnings equally. If that was somehow against the rules, since it could end the game before it began, Outlast never made that clear.
Outlast is not a survivalist show, and if that's what you're after, you probably shouldn't watch it. Neither is it a detective mystery, where the bad guys are punished and we all go to sleep happy, content that justice was done. Justice was not done in this show; mechanisms of justice took significantly longer to develop than can be shown on Outlast. But if you're interested in politics, if you're interested in psychology, if you're interested in sociology, then Outlast is a unique, if unpleasant, experiment in those fields.