Media Blog Project #1

MEDIA BLOG PROJECT #1

Forged in Fire

Describe:

            I chose option #2 – television show. The show I chose is Forged in Fire, which airs on History channel, is a competition series (reality) and is produced by Outpost. The series is filmed in Brooklyn, New York. This series has been running for five seasons, it’s original release was 22 June 2015. The episode I watched aired Tuesday, 17 July 2018, at 5:00pm (1700hr) and is approximately 60 minutes long. The episode is titled, Cutting Deeper Pioneer Sword. The episode features four bladesmiths who compete in a three round elimination contest. They must forge bladed weapons that can stand up to being tested by the panel judges; who use the forged blades to cut, pry and hammer. The remaining two bladesmiths are then sent home to their home forges to make a weapon from history, in this case it was a Pioneer Sword. The winner receives $10,000.

             The show is hosted by Wil Willis, who is a former Army Ranger. Willis’ previous T.V. experience includes Special Ops Mission and Triggers, both aired on former Military Channel.  The three judge panel consisting of J. Neilson a knife and sword expert who holds the rank of Master Smith with the American Bladesmith Society (http://www.mountainhollow.net/information.php), David Baker who appeared in the Spike series Deadliest Warrior is an authority on weapons history and Doug Marcaida is an authority on edged-weapons and a martial arts instructor. For parts of previous seasons there were a few different judges for instance, portions of season 3 and 4 Jason Knight judged and during portions of season 4 Ben Abbott judged. These judges were experts in weapon history and use.

            The four contestants in this episode were Mark a full time blacksmith, Nicolas a part-time blacksmith, John a retired forest fire-fighter and Garrin a dental assistant. The first challenge was to create a multi-purpose tool out of a single purpose tool; such as a sledge hammer, crowbar or firemen’s hook. The first round of competition is three hours; ten minutes is given for design purposes. After the three hours are up the contestants present their work to the judges who then look the tools over, critique the work and make a decision as to who goes home. It is decided that John must surrender his tool, the judges decided that his tool is far too big and heavy to be tested or used safely. The second round is to make the tools into fully functional tools with handles, after this is done then they’re tested by the judges. During the testing Garrins tool breaks at the blade, he is asked to surrender his tool and leave the forge. The last two are Nicolas and mark, they are sent home to create a Russian Pioneer Sword. After the five days are up they are back at the forge for testing, because of burs left on the handle of Nicolas’ handle Mark becomes the Forged in Fire Champion.

             

http://www.speedvid.net/a35tic4zk1rn (To watch this episode follow this link.)

Fun fact about the shows creation, one of the producers has a fourteen-year-old daughter who made him binge watch cooking shows; which he fell in love with. He wanted to make one but didn’t think a cooking show would go over well on the History Channel. Remembering that people like weapons featured on reality shows, he decided to make a reality show featuring people making weapons. He took his idea and combined with another producer’s idea and we have Forged in Fire! Truthfully I wasn’t sure of this information, I checked it out, several sites gave the same information. It always amazes me how people come up with ideas like this.

https://www.grunge.com/38427/untold-truth-forged-fire/ (Follow this link for information about fun fact.)

Analyze:

            One of the reasons I like this reality show so much is the attitude of the judges and how the contestants react to the critique of the judges. The judges are always complimentary; they find something they like in every piece of work presented to them. The contestants help each other out, tease each other and have a good time. Because the contestants are working in a forge the dress is work clothes for the most part. There have been some who have worn dress shirts and kilts. The judges also wear work clothing because they’re doing the testing of the blades; so, jeans and T-shirts or button down shirts are worn. Through the whole show the love of the craft is shown through attitude and how encouraging everyone is to each other.  The knowledge of weaponry and forging is evident in how the contestants and judges talk to each other and others.  Forged in Fire is filmed on set, there have been a few episodes that have started off in a junk yard or Fort. Because this is such a physically demanding contest medical personal are standing by at all times. Something else I appreciate is, these people knowing their own physical limitations and working within them. I’ve not personally seen another show like this. I’ve enjoyed the craft, learning about forging and how people improvise and make what they love happen.

Interpret:

            One stereotype I’ve noticed is that the panel of judges are all male and two out of the three are Caucasian. This theme also extends to the host who is also male. There have been women contestants and at least two who has won Forged in Fire Champion. By far most are men who are contestants, having said that, this is a predominately male field. According to a History Channel news release, ratings are up a whopping 74 percent in the 25-54 age group, 73 percent in the 18 to 49 age range and 32 percent in all viewers. That’s 595,000 viewers aged 25-54 and 552,000 aged 18 to 49. In all, Forged in Fire is attracting 1.4 million viewers. This seems to follow the commercial content on History. Some of the commercials include Ram Truck which depicts farmers and their stories about the trucks. Another commercial is for Corona Beer, this would appeal to the 18-49 year olds. The show and commercials appear to reach the same working class demographics. I think this show would be a bridge for different cultures visiting the United States. Forging happens/happened worldwide in different forms. However, the end product is the same, this I believe would be relatable and give lots of different people something to talk about. This show shows we value the people who continue to make things from scratch and we value what we’ve learned from the past from these amazing weapons from around the world.

Evaluate:

            This show demonstrates the spirit of people thinking outside the box, problem solving and how practicing a craft brings such pleasure. I believe it also shows respect for what a person has created in such a short time. The creativity is amazing! As entertainment it’s fun to watch when things work out and when things don’t work out. How do these people handle something breaking or not working the way they think it should, these give good examples of what to do in our day to day life. Just the process is interesting. It does show a very interesting cultural mirror of people, people from different walks of life from dental assistants to people who hold doctorates competing, problem solving on the fly and helping one another shows how we as a society can work together on a common goal. One weakness is there isn’t any diversity in judging, it may be a good idea to have special guest judges from different walks of life. I like the fact that people aren’t yelling at one another, or demeaning each other. It’s fun to see just how different people forge at home, some have tons of equipment and some have nothing but a satellite dish and blow dryer that they use as a forge; this is all one Champion used to win. What I don’t like sometimes is all the talking, I wish they’d show more of the process and less of the talking. I’ve been around knives and weaponry my whole life, I’m a military brat. What makes me talk about this show is they aired a special with veterans making a military blade a K-Bar out of military steel, another episode showed a young nineteen-year-old winning the Championship. This gives me a wide range of people to talk to about the show, and I do.

            Entertainment gives the show an A-, “It’s sharply awesome” (ew.com). Someone who left a comment on Variety (variety.com) named Ray said, the part of the show that, “Pissed him off,” was allowing contestants back at their home forges. He felt some had more equipment then others. This is a good point.   The New York Times, which says a man named John Gomes set off a huge fire when he tried to forge a piece of metal over a barrel near his house in Cohoes, New York. This is also another good point to make that making sure your safe and using your head while forging is a good idea.

Engage:

            My husband and I try to catch the show on Tuesdays when it airs. Because of the show we’ve learned what to look for in a blade and what not to. Some of the guys my husband works with watch the show too, this gives them all something to talk about. It appears on Facebook over 107,000 people follow the show. I also saw advertisements for products. Amazon is also showing products to buy and whole series to rent/buy.  

 It appears not only does the show but the judges have twitter feeds. I do see a presence on social media for the show and judges, however, it could be stronger and be promoted more. From what I can see most of the comments have been positive, there have been comments about Ben Abbott coming back as a judge. Most people would like to see this happen.

Conclusion:

            One thing that surprised me was how the show came to be, I had no idea about the producers modeling it after cooking shows. The demographics also surprised me, this is structured towards older adults and so are the commercials. I learned a lot about all the work that goes into making, promoting and getting advertisement for a show. How important an online presence really is was something I hadn’t thought about. I think a closer look at the stereotyping was a surprise, I hadn’t thought about it before doing this assignment. The talent was another big surprise; these judges are talented in their own right.

For more information about bladesmithing or forging follow this link to American Bladesmith Society Inc. http://www.americanbladesmith.com/