The Right Sort of Madness

The chapter starts off with Ronson talking with his friend Adam Curtis, who criticizes his ways of journalism. Adam says Ronson travels to many places and puts his story together based on fragments from each of his interviewees, which may not be the best way of proving what he thinks.  This leads Ronson to think of journalists' other ways of finding interesting stories, such as looking for people with mental disorders instead of coming across them after the fact.  This leads to the introduction of Charlotte Scott, a tv booker for various shows such as Jerry Springer, Trisha and Jeremy Kyle. Charlotte's job is to find people who are "mad enough" to make the shows interesting.  Her own method of finding these sorts of people is learning what types of medication they are on, and if it is the right type (such as Prozac) they fulfill the criteria of madness to be put on the show.

I found both of these chapters in a way sort of comical. I loved Al Dunlap and his obsession with predators as well as himself.  I thought the entire interview Ronson has with him shows how egocentric Dunlap in how he is only concerned with himself and controlling others.  Other than the chapters being entertaining, I thought the story about Deleese was quite sad. I didn't expect the outcome of her story to end with her unsuccessful makeover (in that she never got one) and the horrible things her family said about her.  To me this is a great example of how the media can really make a large impact on someone's life all for the entertainment of the audience.