4.27.2005
burning media question
so, what is the "right" reason to go on a show like "the bachelor"? having tuned in out of a morbid curiosity regarding the car crash looking for a place to happen that is the o'connell brothers, I am fascinated by the moral cache that seems to come from being on the show for the right reasons.
it seems like everyone on the show can only be there for terrible reasons, yet they all claim to be there for the right ones and either reassure each other that they believe that to be the case (as with the women to charlie) or zing each other with the accusation that clearly they're wrongly motivated (as with the women to each other). but money, notoriety, a desire to be the trashy center of attention for weeks on end, boosts to paltry careers -- are any of these any more wrong than another? or am I missing something obvious? it seems a huge stretch, even for a reality tv show, to ask us to believe that people are looking for love or even attraction or even getting along.
maybe I'm the only one who cares, but mine is an honest inquiry into our current cultural scheme. I am perfectly happy to pull up a chair, pop open a beer (ok, more likely a bottle of my new favorite low end wine), and evaluate these people if only I know the rules. for example, is it ultra-rhode-island-tacky for one of the women's grandmother's to tell her to get the bachelor in bed lickety-split, or is it just the name of the game?
before it seems that I'm rearranging my schedule for this show, I must say that I'm satisfying most of my curiosity by surfing the web during my office hours and spending my evenings with slightly more edifying activities. this past monday I finally got to see the alvin ailey company, as part of the kennedy center's "masters of african american choreography" series, and it was an amazing show. the audience was fantastic, cheering and clapping at each transition. the energy reminded me of being at the feminist majority conference in 1996, when just being in a room full of women was electrifying; I can't think of the last time I've been at an event with so many black people in a space of that size, and the dynamic was thrilling.
it seems like everyone on the show can only be there for terrible reasons, yet they all claim to be there for the right ones and either reassure each other that they believe that to be the case (as with the women to charlie) or zing each other with the accusation that clearly they're wrongly motivated (as with the women to each other). but money, notoriety, a desire to be the trashy center of attention for weeks on end, boosts to paltry careers -- are any of these any more wrong than another? or am I missing something obvious? it seems a huge stretch, even for a reality tv show, to ask us to believe that people are looking for love or even attraction or even getting along.
maybe I'm the only one who cares, but mine is an honest inquiry into our current cultural scheme. I am perfectly happy to pull up a chair, pop open a beer (ok, more likely a bottle of my new favorite low end wine), and evaluate these people if only I know the rules. for example, is it ultra-rhode-island-tacky for one of the women's grandmother's to tell her to get the bachelor in bed lickety-split, or is it just the name of the game?
before it seems that I'm rearranging my schedule for this show, I must say that I'm satisfying most of my curiosity by surfing the web during my office hours and spending my evenings with slightly more edifying activities. this past monday I finally got to see the alvin ailey company, as part of the kennedy center's "masters of african american choreography" series, and it was an amazing show. the audience was fantastic, cheering and clapping at each transition. the energy reminded me of being at the feminist majority conference in 1996, when just being in a room full of women was electrifying; I can't think of the last time I've been at an event with so many black people in a space of that size, and the dynamic was thrilling.
