Saturday, November 15, 2008

That New Reality Show

Before I left the house today, Adam was channel surfing and Paris Hilton's face flashed before me as the channels were changing.
"Wait!" I called out, "was that Paris Hilton??"
"Yeah..."
"Whoa, she looks a lot better than she used to, go back go back, I wanna see!"
So Adam turns back to the channel and I find a significantly more refined-looking Paris Hilton sitting on a throne-like seat and Adam informs me that Elvin, one of our roommates, also said the same thing about her looking better.
"Must be plastic surgery," I announced out loud, "didn't she, like, disappear for a while? Probably waiting for her surgery to heal"

The shot pans to the rest of the scene and I see a bunch of girls sitting across from her throne.
"Umm..." I said hesitantly, "is this the new show where she's picking a new best friend?"
And to my horror, Paris Hilton begins scrutinizing each girl the way they do on American Idol and The Apprentice and decides on the girl that's not going to make the cut as her best friend. After the girl gets eliminated, she gets the traditional last scene talking about her experiences of being on the show with Hilton. As the show comes to a close, Hilton lies sideways on one of those 19thC chairbed things and announces to the world how hard it is to find a new best friend.

Are
You
Kidding
Me
??????????

I felt my blood pressure rising as I stormed out of the house in the rain. How bad is reality show getting these days??? When I first heard of the show, I thought it was going to be Paris Hilton going off to random places in the world in search of a new girl to be her best friend; still dumb, but not an exploitation of human weakness and low self-esteem. Are you seriously telling me that you are making a show with a bunch of low self-esteem girls vying for a social validation by Ms. Paris Hilton? What kind of message are you sending to the public?

The scene that especially angered me was when Hilton decided to provide a public insight about how hard it is to find a best friend. No, no, no. No you did not. Don't go around pretending that this show is insightful and observational about the human condition. NO. The public is not stupid, we know how hard it is to find someone who really gets you. But. that's. not. how. you. make. friends. What type of value are placing on the word "friendship"? Is a friend someone who worships you on a throne and does whatever they can to please you?

A normal human process of making friends is a negotiation between social validation and individualization. People do things to please their friends in order seek validation. In turn, they are socialized to adhere to social norms. But at the same time, if your friends can't accept you for who you are when you are not violating social standards then you stick your back up and you find new friends. I know that not everyone is capable of doing it, but is this not the goal of social development? Is society not working towards helping people increase their self-esteem so that they are confident enough to say no? What type of behaviour are you condoning by putting this on TV? Are you saying that it's okay to bitch fight in order to get the attention of a popular and rich girl?

I HATE REALITY SHOWS and this has got to be one of the worst ones I've ever seen. Ironically, Adam tells me that there are worse ones out there. Have you heard about the show Parental Control? The premise is simple: Parents hate the girlfriend of the son, so parents pick three girls they like and send their son out to date them. Fine, I get that. But making the girlfriend sit with the parents and watch the dates live on TV while the boyfriend is making out with the girls? And then the show is about the girl and the parents fighting and swearing at each other? WTF???

I hate reality shows for that very reason. The exploitation of human feelings. This is not okay. Stuff like Temptation Island when you separate a couple, put one on an island with a bunch of peopel to seduce the person...WHY? What is the goal you are achieving? Under normal circumstance, a man may not cheat on his girlfriend, but if you are to place him on an island with hot girls trying to take off his pants everyday for a month, he most likely will cave. Don't give me the BS that you are testing his loyalty because placing someone under an extreme circumstance like that does not help with his development as a human being nor his relationship. It is absolutely ridiculous.

Human beings are not toys. Their feelings are not toys. You can argue that these people are consenting to be a part of the show so it's their own fault, but I cannot agree. There are people out there with low self-esteem. There are people out there who needs money. There are people out there who are not ethically intact. But as another human being that's a part of society, we are not there to watch them suffer and toy with their minds, we should be there to help them and care about them. And even if you don't want to care about them, you can at least leave them alone.

Note that I am not saying we are better than these people on the reality shows. I believe that they are fine on their own if there were not the existence of these horrendous shows seducing them towards the road of sins and stupidity. By watching these shows and creating these shows, you are the ones calling them stupid and that you think you are better than them. That is not okay.

These shows destruct humanity.

Perhaps my views are left-winged and that I am looking at this from the standpoint of protecting society, but I believe that humanity is important for our wellbeing and that I believe we should care about each other.

As a disclaimer, I do admit that my knowledge of reality shows are limited as I refuse to participate in this unethical phenomenon. I know there are reality shows that are out there which are more helpful than destructive. But seriously, this nonsense with things like My New BFF and Temptation Island has got to stop. We simply should not and cannot sink any lower.

And please, Paris Hilton, for the love of human beings, go away.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes, so now you can believe my horror when I realized I sat through a whole episode of that show... (granted I was busy wrapping baby shower presents, but still)

I have to say though, I think the one that tops my chart is a show called "Date My Ex..Jo and Slade". This was like a spinoff from that show "real housewives from orange county" where Jo and Slade used to be engaged and bla bla bla, boom, she has a new show where her "ex" decides who gets to date her.

Seriously, seriously..

p.s. now things like Temptation Island on the other hand, I think is a total fake. Like you said, WHO in the world would do that if they weren't in it for the fame and fun and *possibly* all that sex. I'm sure all couples going in knew what was coming and they were all having fun (probably not on camera, though)

kingkao said...

Thank god I am not the only one thinking she looks better. And for a second I was debating if my better judgment has changed. *phew*

Lynn said...

J: omg, stop polluting my mind with more reality show ideas! these shows sound so horrible. i've never heard of any of them before...lol

E: She's still gross regardless. Only uncouth individuals such as justin and adam would think she's hot

alex katayama said...

how would you feel about me if i told you that if i got drunk enough, i'd consider throwing it in paris's bum.

Lynn said...

i think that is digusting, and she totally deserves it


...except she'd probably like it..

on second thought, she totally doesn't deserve you so let's just move on and wish she'd go away and you can find someone else's bum when you're drunk....

Unknown said...

I have never liked reality tv shows. To this day, I have not watched a single (full) episode of survivor. Shows like that setup people to argue and fight with one another and I hate watching that.

Anonymous said...

she looked better? i didn't really notice that..

my mom watched it and asked me if it's a beauty pageant show.. and im like.. no it's not.. and i couldn't really explain to her what kind of show it is either.. so i just walked away >_>

Anonymous said...

I love project runway and top chef :(

Lynn said...

T: i agree with exactly what you said. it hurts to see all these people get exploited for so many reasons. im a peace loving person!

S: hahahha, that's so funny, the concept is so ridiculous that it's embarrassing to tell someone outside of the culture about it. "hey mom, this is not a beauty pageant, these girls are competing to be the best friend of that girl" uhh....i can't imagine what my mom would ask after i tell that to her

T: too much time on your hands! my roomies all watch kitchen nightmare, i can't imagine why a show filled with profanity is entertaining

Anonymous said...

okay.. you have no idea.. my mom is the slowest person in the world.. and this is coming from me - someone whos pretty darn slow already..

this one night we were sitting on the sofa and shes flipping thru random tv shows and stopped at this show where a couple are making desserts.. they were completely naked with aprons covering privates.. she stopped at that show for a good 10minutes! and i didn't wanna say anything because ... i just didn't wanna say anything.. but yea she didn't figure out it's a sex show.. she asked me what they were making and i said chocolate.. she replied with "oh that's lame" and then *flips channel*.. O_O

Lynn said...

LOL
i'd like to know what show that is!
ur mom is so cute

Alexander said...

First of all... Kitchen Nightmares is great!

I think there is one major point missing from this discussion. Namely that none of the "Reality" shows now are anything of the sort (whether they ever were...). They would be better termed meta-reality shows. I don't believe anyone on one of these shows nowadays is at all naive about what they are getting themselves into and probably more often than not deliberately balance the cost to their pride and self-respect against the potential value of their minor fame. Do you really think that any one of those girls on Paris's BFF show will hesitate to mention their role on the show the next time they go for an audition or try to cut the line at a club?

I never used to like reality shows, but now I find myself watching them, not to see the unscripted shenanigans of the ordinary person, but the unscripted shift in self awareness when the contestant realizes he has imagined himself in the wrong role.