Reality TV

In the entry yesterday about reality TV star Heidi Montag who is happy with her breast implants even though they are so fragile she doesn’t want anyone to hug her, I mentioned that I have never watched even one second of a reality TV show. In connection wtih which, Tim W. writes

The reality TV craze is one of the more absurd media developments of the past decade or so. Supposedly, we’re getting a glimpse of real life, but the people appearing on these shows are chosen for their weirdness and are then thrust into bizarre situations unrepresentative of everyday life.

Some years ago I kept hearing college kids talking about the MTV reality series “The Real World.” The series features seven young people who are leaving the security of their parents’ home and supposedly facing the real world for the first time in their young lives. Great, so does this mean they’re getting a job or joining the military? Nope. Seven college aged kids are chosen, with careful attention to gender, racial, sexual orientation, and regional balance. The seven are then housed in a palatial mansion or penthouse, all paid for by MTV. They’re also given plenty of spending money so they can party, get drunk, have sex, and take a vacation to some exotic locale. The young people selected are usually very emotionally high strung, so that they get into arguments and explode at one another over the slightest disagreement. They’re also usually leftist, though occasionally a lone conservative is selected to be an object of ridicule.

Hey, just like the real world!

Posted by Lawrence Auster at April 06, 2010 11:45 AM | Send