The Power of Journalism, The Camera, Or Something Equally Dangerous

Follow the link to a great clip from the new television series for "This American Life" illustrated by comics artist Chris Ware. The animation is great - I think I like him better when he doesn't tell his own repetitive and depressing stories, which strike me more for their formal construction and lettering than for their storytelling and grim pathos. The subject here is an interesting true story about a fake video-camera-making craze at the interviewee's elementary school years before, and what it did to the kids. They seem to try to nail it at the end as a story about "what the camera does to you," but the kids aren't just "being watched" - they are playing multiple roles in a news agency. To me it sounds like more of a case of "what journalism does to you," or, to be more realistic as far as how young kids like that see the world, "what truly immersive role-playing does to you." And did I grow up in a truly vicious elementary school, or is it actually not a sign of total decadence for a group of 11-year-olds to stand by and fail to break up a scuffle, fake newscast or no?

Good stuff anyway. [Via|Link]