A great deal of the happiness of my everyday life comes from my deep rooted belief that everyone has the same sense of humour that I have.
My Freshman year of University I spent a lot of weekends alone in my dorm room with nothing to do. I used that time by journalling my angst and watching Hulu while I ate junk food. On one such Friday afternoon I decided to try watching a show which had long episodes and five already uploaded. The Bachelor. I first began to watch due to boredom and curiosity, but I continued to watch out of slow creeping horror. I found the show so addictingly offensive that I even took the time to post a blog about it:
"This television show was thought up by a deranged BYU student, I swear. to. high. heaven. Premise of show: make an engagement happen by the end of season - uniting two wonderfully in love people in marriage and happiness. How?: by taking an eligible bachelor and 30 beautiful and successful bachelorettes and putting them together in a show ... and let him take two girls on one-on-one dates and 5-15 girls on a group date then kick out the 3 he likes the least per episode. At the end of the season he will propose to the girl he likes the best.
Can you not even understand how many things are wrong with this show? First, you're assuming that all of these girls are compatible with this ONE guy and want desperately to spend the rest of their life with him. What if you met him day one and thought "gross... I really don't want to marry him..."? Then! You've got the issue of the fact that all of these girls believe they have a "special connection" with said bachelor and hoping desperately that he chooses them, getting insanely jealous when they have to watch him snuggling and flirting with 29 other girls meaning that cat fights a-glory are taking place. It's just gross. Don't even."
The points that 19 year old me makes are completely valid, and in fact are the foundation of the reason that I love the show today. What I once simply did not grasp was that the base of all great satire is to create a hyperbole of real and occurring elements of the society it wishes to mock. To me, I find the same fantastic hyperboles of amusement in shows like the Bachelor. You came on public TV to find "true love"? Awesome. You classify yourself as a "Free Spirit"? Nice. You think you have a true "connection" with this man who you have now spent 1 hour with while being surrounded by 100s of crew members? Neat. Let me grab my popcorn and joyfully laugh because I have not made these same life choices, but hundreds of people have, and have done so purely for my enjoyment.
I once had a roommate who understood this love of mine and allowed me to rant to her excitedly every Wednesday morning after I had watched the spectacular show "Bachelor Pad." It became our personal motto anytime life seemed to be taking a sour turn that "no matter what, at least we're not on the Bachelor Pad. We have made good choices." Man, I should get that written in calligraphy and paint on my home wall someday... I would inspire the crap out of anyone who comes to visit.
Truly, this all probably makes me a terrible person; I am finding intense joy over the misfortunes and bad decisions of others. Before you condemn me, however, let me redirect you to my very first point: "A great deal of the happiness of my everyday life comes from my deep rooted belief that everyone has the same sense of humour that I have." Surely these people are amused by their own unfolding lives! I am!
If, on the internet, I encounter incredible unfounded bias or someone who seems to have not been burdened with a great amount of education, I laugh because this individual has artfully mastered sarcasm and are sharing their humour with the world!
I believe that you too can find the same joy from reality TV! And if you truly can't, I hope we can still be friends regardless.
My Freshman year of University I spent a lot of weekends alone in my dorm room with nothing to do. I used that time by journalling my angst and watching Hulu while I ate junk food. On one such Friday afternoon I decided to try watching a show which had long episodes and five already uploaded. The Bachelor. I first began to watch due to boredom and curiosity, but I continued to watch out of slow creeping horror. I found the show so addictingly offensive that I even took the time to post a blog about it:
"This television show was thought up by a deranged BYU student, I swear. to. high. heaven. Premise of show: make an engagement happen by the end of season - uniting two wonderfully in love people in marriage and happiness. How?: by taking an eligible bachelor and 30 beautiful and successful bachelorettes and putting them together in a show ... and let him take two girls on one-on-one dates and 5-15 girls on a group date then kick out the 3 he likes the least per episode. At the end of the season he will propose to the girl he likes the best.
Can you not even understand how many things are wrong with this show? First, you're assuming that all of these girls are compatible with this ONE guy and want desperately to spend the rest of their life with him. What if you met him day one and thought "gross... I really don't want to marry him..."? Then! You've got the issue of the fact that all of these girls believe they have a "special connection" with said bachelor and hoping desperately that he chooses them, getting insanely jealous when they have to watch him snuggling and flirting with 29 other girls meaning that cat fights a-glory are taking place. It's just gross. Don't even."
The points that 19 year old me makes are completely valid, and in fact are the foundation of the reason that I love the show today. What I once simply did not grasp was that the base of all great satire is to create a hyperbole of real and occurring elements of the society it wishes to mock. To me, I find the same fantastic hyperboles of amusement in shows like the Bachelor. You came on public TV to find "true love"? Awesome. You classify yourself as a "Free Spirit"? Nice. You think you have a true "connection" with this man who you have now spent 1 hour with while being surrounded by 100s of crew members? Neat. Let me grab my popcorn and joyfully laugh because I have not made these same life choices, but hundreds of people have, and have done so purely for my enjoyment.
I once had a roommate who understood this love of mine and allowed me to rant to her excitedly every Wednesday morning after I had watched the spectacular show "Bachelor Pad." It became our personal motto anytime life seemed to be taking a sour turn that "no matter what, at least we're not on the Bachelor Pad. We have made good choices." Man, I should get that written in calligraphy and paint on my home wall someday... I would inspire the crap out of anyone who comes to visit.
Truly, this all probably makes me a terrible person; I am finding intense joy over the misfortunes and bad decisions of others. Before you condemn me, however, let me redirect you to my very first point: "A great deal of the happiness of my everyday life comes from my deep rooted belief that everyone has the same sense of humour that I have." Surely these people are amused by their own unfolding lives! I am!
If, on the internet, I encounter incredible unfounded bias or someone who seems to have not been burdened with a great amount of education, I laugh because this individual has artfully mastered sarcasm and are sharing their humour with the world!
I believe that you too can find the same joy from reality TV! And if you truly can't, I hope we can still be friends regardless.
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