Eden: Paradise Lost – Analysis

Eden: Paradise lost is a Channel 4 reality show in which a group of strangers are left to fend for themselves in the Scottish highlands and create their own civilisation from scratch. However, this is more sinister than it sounds. They were left on the island for a year creating this small village, unaware that after just a few months, the show was cancelled. They were not notified therefore they carried on filming and living this way for the rest of the year and ‘the participants had arrived from their year in the wild only to find the show had not been on television in months’ (Rebecca Nicholson – The Guardian, 2017.)

The target audience for this show would be aimed at young adults. This is due to the fact that it is a reality show which appeals more to the younger generation as it is current and what is on TV the most these days. It would perhaps appeal to the older generation as they would relate to the participants as they have no phone, internet or computer access, just like them when they were growing up.

The show had also seen some backlash from viewers and it was claimed to be ‘sexist’ and ‘homophobic’ (Ben Allen – Radio Times, 2017). This is due to the alpha male kicking into the men and being more dominant than the women saying ‘because i’m a man’ as an excuse to be high up in the hierarchy. This left viewers distressed and was perhaps one of the many reasons this show was not aired for long.

I would compare this show to ‘The Island with Bear Grylls’ as it is a similar sort of premise where contestants get dumped on a remote island with the hopes of creating a shelter and ‘kitchen’ type area. They also enough food and water sources in which they have to hunt and forage food, and distill the water. However, this is probably more appealing to people as it is short running to keep peoples attention span where as EPL, would have been a longer running series like Big Brother for example.

References:

Rebecca Nicholson. (2017). Eden: Paradise Lost review – not quite a Lord-of-the-Flies descent into carnage. Available: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/aug/08/eden-paradise-lost-review-not-lord-of-the-flies-carnage. Last accessed 14 Oct 2017.

Ben Allen. (2017). Viewers outraged by “sexist” and “homophobic” men on Eden: Paradise Lost. Available: http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2017-08-11/viewers-outraged-by-sexist-and-homophobic-men-on-eden-paradise-lost/. Last accessed 14 Oct 2017.