11th of October, 2010 While browsing Yahoo! US over the weekend, my attention was drawn to something very scrumptious, and quite peculiar at the same time. Included in the news stream was a photo of a spaghetti taco, the latest food craze among American kids thanks to Nickelodeon’s comedy series iCarly.
Obviously, the article has already taken control of my already-short attention span. I soon learned that parents find the spaghetti taco recipe effective in increasing their kids’ appetite, probably the very reason why the number of hits just keeps on increasing every time I type “spaghetti taco” on the search engine. However, nutritionists were alarmed on this current food trend because spaghetti and taco shells clearly do not contain the right amount of protein for a child’s daily needs (But really, they’re Americans, as if it would matter to the average American household. Still, it’s funny, we barely have anything to put in our mouths in the third world and they still have the time to worry about protein in spaghetti and tacos). But enough about this debate. What’s really surprising is that the spaghetti taco was meant to be a joke at first, according to the writers of the show.
It may not be such a big deal, but there is clearly something wrong with that.
The show iCarly, starring the tweenage bopper Miranda Cosgrove, is like a fanbase of videos and blogs within a show. Majority of the show is an actual narrative episode, but some segments where actual videos from the site are shown, including fan videos, making the show unique. So basically it’s like the internet website is the extension of the show. Segue the digital age of interactivity.
Upon entering the iCarly site (yes, even the show title is so 21st century), my eight year-old sister actually showed how some of the content in the site is really exclusively found in the internet, and she likewise told me how the actors in the show promote the content in the site to make the viewers check it out online. There were a lot of comments and fan submissions to name a few, plus a weekly contest where fans submit wacky captions for wacky photos from the cast. Content-wise, there’s nothing really too big about it, no life lessons my sister could actually use through puberty and adulthood. Not even tweenagehood. Just a few tricks on how to waste resources, design your room with gummy bears, mix food in a toilet, and all those useless shit Americans do. Baby capitalism, if you ask me.
Clearly this whole spaghetti taco issue is a living proof that the virtual reality is entering the picture. One of its benefits, or disadvantages, would have to be interactivity. Some crazy blog could be created to post an even crazier recipe, and the children would bite into it. That simple. But what’s bothering me is that the parents allow that to happen. Or is it because they also bite into it?
Photo from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/06/dining/06tacos.html
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