4-1

wikiopedia.com


HUMN341-E1WW : Popular Culture Assignment 4-1


What better way to bring a town together then to invite them all over to your house and then have them tear it down. You of course hope that they will rebuild it, with a little help from Ty and the crew from abc’s Extreme Home Makeover. The current pop culture topic that interests me for this week’s assignment is Extreme Home Makeover.

Extreme Home Makeover was first aired as a television special on November 3, 2003 and was made into a series in 2004. This show takes a deserving family who has less then adequate housing arrangements and sends them off for a week. During that week, their house is torn down and rebuilt (with all the bells and whistles), landscaping is done and in some cases money is raised for their special needs family member.

I believe this show has become such a huge hit and a current popular culture icon because it makes us feel, it makes us cry and it makes us proud. It makes us feel because it tugs at our heartstrings. Fire fighters who lost their wives and have 6 children that are all sleeping in one room, the couple that adopt special needs children who are unable to get around in their current home and the stories go on and on. For some it shows us how lucky we are to have what we have, for others it opens our eyes to how other families struggle to give their family everything they can, and sometimes all they have is love. In most cases that is enough, but then the kind hearted neighbor sends their names in as a deserving family. Each hour is a mini movie where a family is down and out; the town comes together and gets them back on their feet. It’s always a happy ending.

This is one of the shows that make us cry. I have yet to see an episode where I didn’t get a little teary eyed. The husband or wife who lost their life in the war and the other parent is doing the best they can, the child with a disease that will eventually kill her yet she spends all of her time helping others. During the 2005–2006 seasons, the show went to areas hit by Hurricane Katrina and helped communities to rebuild themselves with help from other organizations. (Wikipedia 2009) Those are the same reasons that make us proud. As a viewer, we almost feel like we had a part in helping. Not everyone has the financial means to help families they may know that face those types of challenges. This show gives some a sense that they were there, they felt for the family, they cried as the story unfolds and were happy at the end reveal. I would guess there are quite a few people who yelled the shows catch phrase, “ Move that Bus”, when it was time to show the family their new home.

Having a reality show that showcases several heroes, the family that struggles, the good neighbor who sent their information in, the community that came together to rebuild the home, the sponsors and contractors that donated time and supplies and Ty and his team made this show a pop culture icon.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_Makeover:_Home_Edition