Serendip is an independent site partnering with faculty at multiple colleges and universities around the world. Happy exploring!

Overarching Themes and Big Questions

Shayna S's picture

 The huge theme of "Private Lives" was, well, about lives (and parts of lives) that were no longer private. Frankie blogged about everything, including her medical options. Her audience was permitted to know everything (almost) about her. In the end, it was something very personal that Frankie had not shared with anyone, online or not, that saved her life. House, on the other hand, was an unwanted voyeur in Wilson's past (and private) life, imitating Frankie in posting Wilson's secret throughout the hospital. On the other hand, when Wilson finds out that House is reading sermons written by his biological father, he keeps it to himself, privately discussing the matter with House rather than revenging himself  by announcing it publicly. 

It seems as though the writer(s?) of this episode were asking the same questions we did at the beginning of the semester. Is blogging about one's life ok? What if it includes other people that have not said whether or not they would be ok about it?Can an audience that is interacting with the author in real time (as through a blog) shape the writing and even the author? Taylor even asks Frankie to choose between her audience and him, telling her that her writing was not about friendship and bonding, it was a performance. 

On another note, I watched the previous episode "5 to 9" and it did not give me any context that would help me understand the characters and their motives. 

Comments

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
To prevent automated spam submissions leave this field empty.
1 + 2 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.