"This is the true story... of eight strangers... picked to live in a house...work together and have their lives taped... to find out what happens... when people stop being polite... and start getting real...The Real World."
This, ladies and gentlemen, is the man you have to thank for "reality" TV. Although the first seasons were unscripted, it's hard to look at a show like the "Real Housewives of Atlanta" and believe that these shows have anything to do with reality, let alone housewives. So why the trip down memory lane and wandering discussions about pop-culture and media? Well, over the course of the next few weeks or months I'm going to be putting up some posts that address what I believe America is looking for and has been for decades. Reality TV, Facebook, and texting are all just symptoms of what I think good people all across this country are wanting. And it goes much, much deeper. It shows up in the cars we buy, the clothes we wear and even the food we eat. And it's not Religion.
Great... This is probably the only reality TV program my wife doesn't know about.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think most people have an instinctual need for community that addresses needs on several different levels. Our society has moved away from traditional forms of social gatherings such as church, front porches, community socials, etc. We drive into our garages and close them remotely, so we rarely encounter a neighbor. Everyone is to busy to socialize on Sunday afternoons like they used to.
Our desire for privacy in an invasive society has led us to seek out community vicariously through reality TV and other distorted ways. Thus we have a growing socially inept society with much harsher edges and greater perversion because of the lack of personal accountability when community is lived out face to face.
That's my take. I will be interested to see what the blog-mister and others have to say.