I just read The Hunger Games, in which the heroine is forced to participate in a fight-to-the-death competition. A group of 24 starts; only one can survive, and win. In that totalitarian world, all citizens are required to watch the entire broadcast, and rich patrons can donate gifts that can aid the contestants' survival.
On Monday I saw a review for a new reality TV series, Cha$e. 10 contestants must avoid a band of hunters for an hour, all the while getting updated by cellphone and perhaps receiving tools that can buy them some safety. Somewhat disturbing premise, right after reading the book, though at least viewing is optional for us.
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I haven't read Hunger Games yet (planning on tracking it down over the holidays . . . ho-ho-ho). However, its premise (like Chase) reminds me of that old Arnold Schwartzenager film, Running Man. Also, there was a much more disturbing movie, Series 7 (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0251031/) recently that had a similar deadly premise.
I think these are disturbing precisely because they run so close to the truth.
I haven't seen Running Man (the article mentions that one too), but wasn't there some show about a man who owned an island and hunted the humans on it?
And interesting that it's a Japanese show idea. And I liked the end of the article, about how they actually "caught" people with a tap.
There was a short story, "The Most Dangerous Game," where a big-game hunter was stranded on an island and became the prey for the psycho who lived there.
I think I saw Running Man, but my brain has conflated it with a bunch of other movies of that genre.
Apparently Japanese game shows are quite a bit more uninhibited that US ones, and several have already been adapted for US audiences. (So I hear. Not that I've seen them.)
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