My Year of Meats…what a book so far! I actually enjoy this one! We know exactly what Jane does and don’t have to guess who she is or what she does. I think this book is very relevant in regards to today’s world and the idea of “reality television”. Today, you can’t turn on a t.v. without watching something that pertains to “reality t.v.”. Every show has some sort of aspect of it; yet we, as Americans, LOVE it! So why wouldn’t the Japanese love it too? And the whole idea about meat? Honestly, how can anyone justify creating a show around cooking different meats? I liked the line where it said something like the show was really the commericals and the “commercials” was really the show. This book is just so absurd, but I love it!
I found it strange that this show, My American Wife!, was filmed in the U.S. Why not Japan? Wouldn’t the targeted audience relate better to Japanese people rather than Americans? And what was with the requirements given? They had to find attractive looking people who knew how to cook; almost impossible unless your on the Food Network. I just found it ironic that the people they did find, the “perfect” ones, always seemed to have something negative about them; such as Suzie Flower and her cheating husband. Another point that made me laugh was that they had to reshoot the Valentine’s day scene where the Flowers were to kiss. Uh…I thought this was “reality”, not staged! Oh, how people love these crazy shows!
One line that stood out in my mind was on pg. 56 when Jane introduces Sloan as 6 different people and none of the Japanese crew members catch on. She says, “maybe it was that all Americans looked the same…” What?! I thought it was the other way around! Isn’t it that we see Asians all “looking the same”?! Is she trying to poke fun at us, to say that Asians think the same way about Americans?
Jane seems like a great character but loves to discuss about sex..strange. Oh well, atleast this book is interesting and actually modern and could really happen, unlike the other 900 books we read this semester.
I think im going to like ths book a lot also. I find the confusingness of it to the interesting and I am looking forward to reading more. I thought it was strange also the whole idea of the show being just about meat. I can see if they wanted it to be about american wives and maybe add a cooking section at the end of it, but to have meat be the main focus seemed a little strange to me. But i guess after our discussion in class I can see why we are associated as a country of meat eaters. I also think the idea of the wives being attractive was crucial. Of course they are going to have the people be attractive, they are on tv. I just was amazed at how blunt they were about it, like when they asked suzie flowers if she had any makeup in her bag. They didnt sugar coat it at all!