Power-Law Theory

The reading on the Power-Law theory made me think a lot about various things that are going on in the United States right now. This theory virtually applies to any concept that is driven by the idea of popularity. The law states that as something becomes popular, its popularity increases at an exponential rate. So, for example, the more a blog is read and linked to by others, the more people who will see it and, in turn, link even more people to it. This rich-get-richer idea immediately made me think about entertainment these days. I, for one, hate reading any reviews about movies before they come out. I feel like a lot of buzz goes on about movies before they come out, and it ultimately affects their popularity and success in both the box office and reviews. As a movie gets hyped, it becomes less likely that someone will write a negative comment about it, and it keeps getting hyped up more. The way that movies become exponentially more popular in this way makes it very hard to watch a movie with an objective stand point and make your own opinion. Another way that the Power-Law theory relates to entertainment these days is through reality television. Personally, I think reality television is stupid, and I can’t stand the fact that cast members on The Jersey Shore make more an episode than I do in a year. Reality television started with shows that had interesting ideas, such as Survivor. Viewers began becoming most interested in the characters that had the most ridiculous antics and caused the most drama. Eventually, this interest in reality television spread through the nation, and now nearly ever channel has some sort of reality show. I believe that if we were to air The Jersey Shore in the 70’s, way less people would be interested in it. However, the popularity of reality shows has been exponentially growing, causing even more people to become interested in them.