Sunday, September 30, 2012
The Ultimate Culture Shock
Every Sunday night my roommates, a few friends and myself gather in my apartment at 10:00 for the viewing of Breaking Amish. I have come to really enjoy this show because I find it very interesting to see how the Amish view our society. The Amish are so far removed from our society that it has to be the ultimate culture shock for them to see how we live our everyday lives. The show follows around three girls and two boys who are in their twenties and are currently shunned from their families back home and are living in New York City. Their families are too upset with them that the young adults are allowing cameras to follow them around and are defying almost all of their beliefs to live in New York City, that the families do not even talk to them anymore. It is fascinating to me to watch the five people learn basic daily routines that we take for granted, such as how to operate an elevator or how you can portray yourself through different styles of dress. The Amish are brought up having so many restrictions that I can't blame them for going wild when they are finally allowed to have some freedom. I also find it interesting to see how they handle their new found freedom. It amazes me that they live in towns near us, for instance I live 45 minutes away from an Amish community, and they have isolated themselves so well that they have blocked out almost all influences of our culture. According to a study from 2010, there are about 249,000 Old Order Amish living in the United States. I feel like that is a decent portion of our population and I think this show is a great way for many Americans to learn more about their culture as well.
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Word on the street is that this show is fake. The people are just actors.
ReplyDeleteI just started watching this show a couple of weeks ago with my sorority sisters and I've gotten so sucked in! It's such an interesting concept for a reality show and I'm always bewildered that these hyper-conservative cultures still exist in the United States. I've definitely learned a lot about Amish culture after watching this show and find it interesting that the "drama" they get involved in is similar to the situations we see everyday.
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine actually recommended this show to me a couple days ago and now I really want to watch it. Just the idea that something as simple as flushing a toilet could be seen as "amazing" by people who have never had that sort of routine growing up is just mind-blowing.
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