On a basic level The Villages Biggest Loser asks us to think about the rituals and traditions we unthinkingly follow as members of our society. Beyond critiquing the ways in which custom obscures right and wrong, the performance also becomes a way of analyzing "traditional" social and gender divisions." It explores sudden shifts in opinion and loyalties – in other words, hypocrisy. But it's worth asking whether changes in allegiance during the performance are conscious enough to be construed as hypocrisy: the ritual of the performance appears to be so naturalized that the villagers can't think rationally or critically about what they are doing. It is only we, as outsiders, who can really confront the madness of this ritual.