October 20, 2014

What would you do?



'What would you do?' is an  American hidden camera show which conducts social experiments on random people and records their reaction to the situation.  Each episode takes a hypothesis and tests it in real world conditions. It's an interesting and addictive show which helps lower down my cynicism and pessimistic attitude toward the world. The show works on the following format:

The crew sets-up hidden cameras in a public place, which could be a restaurant, cinema hall, or shopping mall. Then a group of actors enter the scene and enact an improvised role-play in front of the public. The scene usually involves a group of persons harassing/bullying another actor.  The show asks the question- what would you do if the situation takes place in front of you? Would you stand-up for a total stranger?

The particular video I watched today featured a teenager with stuttering. She was not merely an actor but a real PWS. The scenario involved her placing an order for an ice-cream at a restaurant. Behind her, in the queue, are a bunch of actors who make fun of her speech and push her to move on. The show records the reaction of other patrons who are unaware that the entire scene is a setup. I will not reveal any further and would like you to watch the video to know what happened next.

It would be interesting to conduct such experiments in India. What would you do if you notice a wrong taking place in front of you?

I'm not sure if the video is visible in the post so I'm sharing a direct link to youtube:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qdyj05-laqY  

3 comments:

Satyendra said...

That I think is the purest research! Would love to see how I myself may react to such a challenge...

Virendra said...

Thank you for putting this. This is an eyeopener what could happen.

Harish Usgaonker said...

Enjoyed watching this video. Thanks for sharing this!
I'm sure in India too there would be people who would stand up for PWS.