Decoding 'Sarah Palin's Alaska': What have we learned?

So we have come to the final two episodes of “Sarah Palin’s Alaska,” not only for this season but forever. Now is a time for reflection on all of the totally apolitical life lessons we’ve learned from the rugged wilderness, experienced guides, and wise elders of the 49th state. Plus all-new footage that was too boring to run before!

1. There are only two ways to appreciate wild animals: Slicing them open and anthropomorphizing them to make vaguely defined political points.

In the penultimate episode, we watch Piper squeal excitedly over frolicking sea lions as Palin remarks, “I have a beautiful sealskin purse.” It's the circle of life, kiddo. Later, in the recap episode, we get to relive all of the caribou-hunting, halibut-bludgeoning, and salmon-dismembering good times of the season -- including never-before-seen footage. Hooray! Watch as Palin mounts caribou antlers, tours a den of taxidermy horrors and learns about curing fish heads.

But animals aren’t just for killing in “Sarah Palin’s Alaska,” because the live ones also make handy, albeit strained, political metaphors. We’ve all heard about Palin’s beloved mama grizzlies seven or eight thousand times -- even when they were technically mama brown bears -- but did you know that adult muskoxen will position themselves around a baby at the first sign of danger, creating a protective circle? Palin proudly tells us that she recently used that image in a political speech about “how we should be as a society,” although she does not specify who the baby and adults are in the scenario. She just tromps toward the herd and declares, “I’ll be the mama muskox!”

2 . Technology is what’s really wrong with America.

After her scuba-diving brother retrieves some gold from the bottom of the sea, Palin takes Piper to have it turned into jewelry for Grandma Heath. Watching a man pour the recently melted metal into a mold, Palin explains that she expected the operation to be more high-tech, but no, like seemingly every other job in Sarah Palin’s Alaska, it’s the far more exciting “hands-on, blue collar work.” Later, Todd Palin is similarly psyched about the clicker a Department of Fish and Game official uses to count salmon by hand. How awesomely low-tech is that?

Husband and wife seem to agree: Alaskans don’t need no stinkin’ computers! That is, apart from the ones that transmit Palin’s FOX News commentaries. Those are actually really useful.

3. Sometimes kids do listen to their parents.

While panning for gold on a beach near Nome (and making a weak effort to discourage Piper’s fantasies of selling it on EBay for “something thousand” dollars), Palin asks their guide, “Does it come down to who works hardest or who’s luckiest?” “Both,” he tells her, as I boggle at hearing Palin acknowledge that luck might play even the tiniest role in an individual’s accumulation of wealth.

The moment is predictably fleeting, though. When asked what was the greatest life lesson she learned during the course of her mother’s reality show, 16-year-old Willow replies: “You have to work hard to get your money. And then the more money you have, the more things you can buy. Like a new car. I don’t know.”

The proud mama muskox laughs. “No, that’s a good answer.”

 -- Kate Harding

 Photo: Sarah Palin. Credit: Gilles Mingasson / TLC

Comments

[Deb]

I hate reality shows. Don't watch any of them but I did watch Sara Palin's Alaska. I loved it! Beleive it or not, hunting and fishing are reality...as opposed to trying to figure out how big a Kardashian butt can get.

[Steve Johnson]

And you get your meat(if you eat meat)from the grocery store

[Kareen]

The last person I want to learn from about beautiful Alaska is Sarah Palin and I am not interested in her life and her brood of kids.
Soooo glad she is gone and my wishes for you in the USA is that you never have to deal with her again.
All she accomplised along with John McCain is making the people angry and we saw the outcome just this weekend.

[Reta]

First of all, its not Sarah's Alaska...the state belongs to ALL of us and the native Inuoits were there first. Why didn't Sarah acknowledge the importance of their culture? She is obsessed by fame, refuses to take responsibility for anything, and as far as Mama Grizzlies go, they represent anger and fear.

[konastephen]

Decoding Kate Harding: she'd last about a new york minute in a survival situation (and be an annoying and cloying gosselin for all of those long, long sixty seconds), but so long as she's got her hi-tech gear, her fancy white collar, and the end-product of whatever anonymous blue collar tech brought her an espresso, she can churn out supercilious snide all day long.

Palin 2012! Trust me, she's not retreating and we're all reloading.

[Victor]

What an awsome show. Makes me want to visit Alaska. She came through as very geniune. Real down to earth people.

[DVS]

Is it just me, or does that chainsaw come off as a hugely phallic-like symbol? I guess maybe I should try to take this seriously, but come on, it's Sarah Palin, out in the wilderness, holding a huge chainsaw crotch-high with a strange smile on her face. Well, whatever. I hope there aren't any of God's creatures within striking distance, 'cause she's quite the hunter, don't ya' know?

[Dreski Dre]

I think this blog post was the best thing that ever resulted from the show. Now if only we could cancel Sarah Palin, too...

[JJ]

Regardless of one`s opinion on Sarah Palin, I truly don`t understand all the fuss about the hunting and fishing shown in the series. It`s not pretty, but it is the reality of how we get the meat that most of us enjoy.

[Keith]

What I learned from the episodes I watched was just how "un-Alaskan" Sarah and her family actually are (if her intent was to support her "folksy" grassroots persona.

The most telling points to me were when she went hunting (the now infamous caribou killing episode) Not only did she not carry her own rifle, but she asked "does it kick?" (anyone with any experience with high-powered hunting rifles would know the kick) but it also showed she had never fired the weapon she was planning on using hunting.

When it became obvious that her father had to work the bolt on the rifle to reload the chamber it showed Sarah had absolutely no knowledge of handling even a most basic hunting rifle. This left me thinking of the extremes she would go to in order to create a photo-op of her shooting a game animal when it was obvious she herself was totally inexperienced hunter.

The way the entire series (at least the episodes I watched) played out was more like it should have been called something like "Sarah Palin's Tourist Family of Alaska" as none of them demonstrated at all that any of the things they did was actually a part of their day to day life.

[Kelly]

Awesome show! I live and hunt and fish in Idaho and can identify with her more than the ussual candidate seeking office. She is family oriented and down to earth. I feel like I could walk up to her and she would identify with me way more than your average presidentual candidate. God bless America! Good luck to Sarah and family on whatever they decide the future holds. I believe America needs more like her! A proud veteran average Joe Idahoan!

[Crystal]

I really enjoyed every minute of the how. I am always fascinated at how people, especially women, bash her and she embodies everything that feminists have been fighting for. She's strong, independent, smart and beautiful. For all the Palin haters, get a life, seriously! She is a mom who cared about her state, stepped up to change things instead of complaining about it, and succeeded in becoming Governor. She should be applauded and not constantly bashed. Come on people. What has she REALLY done to deserve such harsh criticism? Give credit where credit is due.

[Karen]

Can you give this woman a break? Watch the show for the beauty of the country and the fact that she teaches her children the simple things in life and see how much she adores them all. Why do people just want to crucify her every time her name comes up? I loved the show and loved the simlicity that surrounded it. While I'm sure her family isn't perfect how many families today spend quality time together that's not consumed by electonics?
People want to find something wrong in anything she does. GIVE IT A REST!

[rsp]

We loved the show !!! It's about time you could see something on TV worth watching and the whole family can enjoy. Hope to see more! Bring it on Palin's

[Kimmy]

Perhas I am naive in not thinking Mrs. Palin did her show on Alaska for personal gain. I watched every show. They showed me the beauty of a state I will never visit. The people who lived and worked in the great state of Alaska were represented in a respectful manner. Watching loggers, fishermen, and other hard working Alaskans was eye-opening. Better than National Geographic because it involved a family I could relate to...
As for the hunting and skinning...get over it. I bet the folks in the Northwest aren't complaining...
Inner city children/families watching the show had to be impacted by the scene of families gathering in a fishing village catching and storing food for themselves and others for the coming year.
Mrs. Palin's Alaska showed hard working people who earned what they have. To say that the show only portrayed an Alaska only the rich could enjoy was juvenile. The same could be said about Aspen.
Thank you to Mrs. Palin's children for allowing America to intrude on their lives and for sharing themselves with us.

[Robert]

Well, Kate Harding, it sure looks like your silly little article got rebuffed by a majority of the few readers you have, since it does appear that the majority like Ms. Palin, her family and the way she presents things in a simple but real life manner. Egg on your face must be dry by now.

[Katie]

Here's what I learned from the show:
1) Alaska is still as beautiful as ever, and as wild, and needs to remain that way.
2)The toughest jobs are basically for people's survival, and the people who perform them - for a living - are often marginalized or given temporary exposure for someone else's personal gain.
3)'Real' people make it possible for the Palins of the world to live the way they do.
4)Parents are their children's greatest role models and not everyone is up to the job.
5)Reality shows aren't so much about reality as they are about someone's perception of reality and of course, what really sells shares on the television market.

[K Melissa Burton]

I like Sarah. I like her family. I don't think she should be President of the United States, but I like HER. She hunts? So do member of my family...and they eat the meat. I'm astounded at those who find this to be a character flaw. Better to hunt your own meat than depend upon some poorly sanitized, inhumane cattle farm and/or factory.

She is polarizing. Fine. I get it. But GEEZE OH PETE! give the gal a break!