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SpaceEVA
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The distinction of information in how it applies to Big Brother with archetypes.
07/20/16 03:28 AM




As some people already know, information is a big part of Big Brother. In many ways it's the heart of both offense and defense within the house.

Through information some might rise to power, while others fall and lose their place. It can completely change momentum and flip things around and it can hold things together and maintain.

In my observations over the years i think this is one of the most underappreciated aspects of Big Brother.

The main thing i want to talk about right now though is the distinction between a few things in relation to information and Big Brother. Primarily the archetype of rat and spy. The reason being is that i observe numerous times where houseguests use information to their advantage and they're automatically labelled as rats which seems to be an extremely unlikable role within the Big Brother community. One can look at examples of Andy who constantly gets discredited as a rat, or seen how quickly Becky in Big Brother 17 went from not that bothered to an extreme reaction when she spilled information to Shelli and Clay. In this season there's examples of Nicole being branded a rat and it's often incorporated into their names such as ratcole, basic rat (basic Becky), code rat/ratface/rat floater for Andy, etc. I myself have contributed to some of these examples in frustration... i remember in Big Brother 15 vaguely around the time that a move was in the making involving Helen, Jessie and i think Andy ratted out this information to Amanda? My memory is a big hazy in exactly what transpired but i remember being extremely frustrated and starting to call him ratface and code rat around that time for example. It can be so frustrating as a viewer to sit and watch as a change begins to occur, a change that you have been wanting to see and then it's thwarted by someone revealing it's secret to others.

[And so i get the frustration this can cause at times, definitely]

There is more ways than one for information to flow within the Big Brother house, however. That's what i want to try and make distinction of.

Looking at the label "rat"... what i know of the terminology is to be a code of the streets where if you get caught and in trouble by any type of authority you don't give up any information about others. Doing so gets you labelled as a rat or a snitch and your street cred is basically destroyed. You get no respect after that.

This is mainly an act of desperation, the person is in trouble and might be scared or like a drowning person frantically waving their arms about trying to grab on to anything they can to keep themselves from going under. So, based on this i mainly see a rat/snitch as acting out of desperation.

There's also a similar scenario as this in being a suck up. It's not based in the same exact desperation as the rat/snitch though it's more to gain the approval of others most likely in a more powerful position. So, where the rat is desperately trying to save themselves through giving up information to the power in more of a defensive position the suck up is instead giving up info in more of an offensive method to gain favor with the power. In a school setting for example, someone who's not very cool might rat/snitch information to a cool group on others in order to gain approval from them. Basically selling out others on a similar level as them to get an "in" with the people in a more power position. This is probably more often the case seen in Big Brother since people do tend to bring a high school mentality into the house. Someone like Michelle or Paul this season is a prime example of this. Andy of course would be the best example within the archetype. In my view he actually would be considered more of a suck up than a rat/snitch in that his actions weren't typically defensive based out of desperation but more offensive orientated.

There actually aren't that many rats or snitches in Big Brother because of how the Big Brother house dynamics are set up. It's more high school than streets. There isn't much interaction seen between the houseguest and the authority figure of Big Brother (as sort of the principal like authority figure) and so it's more of a dynamic among peers like a highschool in which groups form and the dynamics are established as such. And so... these Andy, Michelle, Paul types i would consider suck ups more so than rats. If there was a main archetype houseguest for this i suppose it would be Ronnie BB11 if my memory isn't steering me wrong on his antics finding himself in a desperate situation and acting out of pure desperation.

Then there's just general use of information day to day that isn't actively used enough to label or classify it as anything other than general ebb and flow of information within the house.

Finally, there is my favorite archetype in relation to information within the Big Brother house and that is the spy. I'm a big fan of this not only in Big Brother but in movies and television as well. The main difference here is that the spy player is actively using information/intel/intelligence to their beneficial advantage from a place of control. It's not from desperation like the rat or to suck up to power but rather tactical/strategic and under control. They tend to keep information to themselves and remain low key moreso and use the information tactically and strategically and with timing to their own advantage. Also, being able to play a double agent role in establishing themselves within various groups to be able to gather as much intel as they can and then using this access of intelligence to their own advantage. Spy player examples would be Dan, Ian (BBUS14), Willow (BBCAN3) very underrated who at one point was playing this role within 3 groups simultaneously with great success once she established footing after previously being sabotaged and having lack of info only to be stopped unfortunately by a combination of twist and personal insecurity crash, Derrick (BBUS16) of course being an undercover cop gives him supreme ability in this area over many others... although most good to great players probably have some aspects of the spy role to them. Will, Hayden, Alison/Jun, Danielle and her partner in season 3 were basically playing aspects of the spy game, etc, etc.. pretty much across the board most of the good to great players will have at least some aspects of the spy game in their skillset. Some just maybe stay in the role more than others or slip in and out of it when needed.

And also there is the factor where all of these various things come into play at some point or another. Andy might have played the rat game and spy game in addition to the suck up game at various times when needed for example, there are times where the lines become more blurred and it's not so black and white with labels. In order to survive in that Big Brother house all of these various uses of information might come into play at some point. It's sort of difficult to label a houseguest as one thing in that regard of things being more complex overall.

This is just something of interest to me, and i felt like expressing it so maybe that anyone reading would take this all into consideration when watching and perhaps houseguests aren't so quickly labelled as rats or negatively looked upon for spilling information. They could very well be a spy on their way to a deep position within the house dynamics as easily as they're negatively viewed and labelled as snitches/rats which in my viewpoint is good to great gameplay depending on who's doing it and how effective they are at using this information, and it's something to be praised when played well/well played.


Just a thought.

Edited (07/20/16 05:37 PM)

Entire thread (Refresh)
Subject Posted by Posted on
* The distinction of information in how it applies to Big Brother with archetypes.
SpaceEVA
07/20/16 03:28 AM
xx * Very interesting read!
macysmom
07/20/16 07:01 AM
xx * The thing with Paul is that he does have some potential to be a good spy player from the position he's in but he doesn't take advantage of it
SpaceEVA
07/20/16 05:32 PM
xx * Spy VS Spy! One of my biggest pleasures from Mad Magazine! NT
bb4peeker *
07/20/16 05:07 AM

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