My New Twitter Following

My research topic is all about the TV series, Shameless, and the reality of it. Is the south side of Chicago really like that? Are poor families depicted correctly? What about families struggling with a member who has an addiction? These are all the questions I am taking in consideration when writing my paper. Another person and twitter personal who has thought about this idea and decided to write about it is pajiba. Pajiba is the name of the website and twitter page, however, the author is Dustin Rowles. His article about this topic is, "The Only Show On Television That Honestly Understands What It's Like To Be Sh*t Poor in America." Just from the article title, you can already conclude that he has decided the reality of the show is accurate to poor families. His 'research' to this conclusion are the accounts of his own family. What Rowles says is the most accurate about this show and real life is the bad luck that trails behind you. In the show, each character gets their fair share of bad luck and it seems to circulate around each of them. Bad luck basically makes the show. Rowles believes this is because of the lack of money. He gives the example, "If you finally get a job that pays above minimum wage, for instance, it's almost guaranteed that your car will break down the next day, and you'll lose that job because you can't get there on time." In the article, Rowles explains how he most identifies with Lip. Lip, defying the odds and going to college, represents how he was freshman year. However, the bad luck still followed and some basic knowledge other privileged kids had (like using a computer) was missing. And while he identifies with Lip, other kids do with Carl such as given two options: making money or going to prison, which in the poor doesn't seem so bad since meals are given and theres a place to sleep. Although Rowles does say some parts of Shameless are a little heightened, he relates to a lot of it and sees the reality. Rowles says that the part Shameless most understands is that "there isn't a worse fate than being poor in a land of second chances."

I think all of this is great for my research because there is a real life account and experience that coincides with that of Shameless. There is no better research for my paper than real people relating because my topic has to do with that of the reality of the show.