The Aim of This Game Seems to Be Death

December 21st, 2009Blog0 comments

Hey, now that The Wire is over for me, here is my new favorite teevee show: Meet The Natives.

I initially avoided this series thinking that it was a 21st century version of aboriginals attempting to return a coke bottle. But it’s far from that — the show is about five guys from a vastly different culture visiting our own. And it provides tremendous perspective and some very interesting commentary on our culture.

For example, they travel to New York City to stay in a SoHo loft with a tribe of WASPs (the show’s nomenclature, not mine!) headed by a lady named Bunny. They also brand cattle in Montana, experience snow for the first time, and witness the consumption of processed food.

But it is their commentary on American life that is really entertaining and insightful:

While watching football on TV…
THE CHIEF: Do they often hurt themselves?
AMERICAN HOST: Oh yes, there’s lots of injuries.
THE CHIEF: The aim of this game seems to be death.

These guys also have really great attitudes. They want to try everything and do everything. Of course, I feel like if I were in a similar situation I’d want to do the same sorts of things. If I were on their island I’d want to swim all day, skin pigs, eat grubs, farm yams, wear a penis sheath, etc..

Our Travel Channel version of the show was actually spawned by a BBC version (with a different group of guys from Tanna) that is viewable on YouTube in full here. Free, fun entertainment!

Plus one of the five guys is called “The Happy Man”. His job in the village is to make people happy. I hope that this can be my job someday as well.

Also: HP Computers Don’t Care About Black People.

Update: I had dinner with Rick and Angel, the friends that introduced me to Meet the Natives. I told Rick that he is our Happy Man. I think he does this job very well for us!