Lord of the Flies Reality TV Experiment

When CBS decided to create their own Lord of The Flies it came up with Kid Nation, a reality television show.

It shows what happens when forty children ages eight to 15 rebuild an abandoned town, Bonanza City, N.M., with no adults.

Kid Nation airs at 8 p.m. EST every Wednesday on CBS.

The town is made of four districts, each with an elected town council member, who compete among eachother for their position in the class ladder which determines job descriptions and pay.

All the districts: blue, yellow, red and green, must work together at the end of each challenge to win rewards, such as bibles, beds, portable toilets and fresh vegetables.

In episode eight, Bonanza City went through its second wave of elections because its citizens were unhappy with the town council’s leadership.

Town council members were challenged in every district. The elections changed the town council from having three boys and one girl represent Bonanza City to its first all male council.

Which is similar to the elected representation on the deserted island in Lord of the Flies: all adolescent boys and teens, but instead of killing a mother sow the older boys in the town kill chickens for the second time on the show.

Soon after, they participate in another barbaric activity: degrading the young girls.

Kids awake to Blaine, Greg and DK sitting in chairs in the middle of Bonanza.

The three councilmen are heard catcalling at young girls walking by with comments like “Ooohhh yeaahhh mamasita!”, “Oh yeah I love those shorts” and “Lookin’ Good!”

The town erupts into a fight over respect and the councilmen’s actions.

As a dedicated viewer of the program, it was the first time any girl was shown being sexually violated and disrespected by boys on the show.

There could be many reasons why the new make-up of the town council may have influenced the councilmen’s horrible behaviors towards the young girls, but it never becomes an issue in the “respect debate” between the kids.

That night before, Blaine and Greg hid outside the Green District's cabin where they overheard Micheal, a coucilmen, apologizing to his district for being a pushover and allowing the council to hold communication training even though he was against it.

One Green District member said how Greg and Blaine would be more useful if they just sat in the middle of the town and did nothing. So Greg and Blaine told DK about this and did just that the next morning.

Although Kid Nation is reality television it presents the affects society has on kid’s decisions.

Somewhere in the minds of three young councilmen they believed it was okay to disrespect young girls by making comments about their bodies, their clothes and their appearances.

Violence and degrading women are learned behaviors in a culture where adults teach kids that these behaviors are acceptable.

Last week’s episode showed adolescent males acting out learned behavior towards adolescent females and girls.

While the average kid on Kid Nation is 11 years-old and may seem young, most are in the 6th grade preparing for their first school dances.

This shows puberty isn’t too far away for these kids and most of them will be teens soon.

Near an age when forty percent of girls aged 14 to 17 report knowing someone their age who has been hit or beaten by a boyfriend, according to the Family Violence Prevention Fund.

When approximately one in five female high school students reports being physically and/or sexually abused by a dating partner, according to the Family Violence Prevention Fund.

If these behaviors continue to be accepted and aren’t talked about then a violent and silenced society is perpetuated about the treatment of young girls and women, putting thousands of young girls at risk.