| 5/18/2005 |
REAL WORLD by Matchbox 20
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REAL WORLD by Matchbox 20
I have very little sympathy for reality show contestants who whine. The amount of sympathy I have is inversely proportional to the amount of time they spend whining. I hear the argument that it's not 'reality' if they have people doing all kinds of things that normal people wouldn't do. These people aren't professional actors playing a part. Yet television editing has a very bad habit of editing people into characters. If you have cameras following your around 24/7 and the show is only a half hour or an hour long, there is no possible way to show all aspects of a person in such a time. I don't care how long the show is on the air. It won't happen.
When you interview for a reality show, you are judged and picked based on four basic points; Appeal (Likeability/Dislikeability), Looks, Stereotype, and Hook (personal motive). In some cases a persons lack of appeal can be just as intriguing to watch as it is watching to root on your favorite person. Anyone who has seen Fear Factor knows that your looks are important for that show. Stereotype isn't always a gender or racial stereotype. It could be you are the pretty rich girl who will be entertaining to watch live in a motor home for a couple month. It could be that you are the homophobic jock forced to room with a flamboyant gay. Hook can be a wide variety of things. Perhaps you are a divorce couple trying to reconcile. Perhaps you lost everything in a fire and could use the money. Perhaps your have/had an unusual occupation. Your hook is your selling point. What can you be 'advertised' as?
If I ever went on one of those shows, I'd know what I was getting into. I'd know that there are probably two or three stand-out points of my personality that a show could choose to edit out or play up. If I am only shown acting like a jack-ass on a show, it doesn't mean that I always act like that, but that I am able to act like that and enough so that they show me acting that way repeatedly.
I really do have a point that I'm getting to. I swear!
After your appearance on a reality show you have very little room to complain about how you were portrayed on the show. You fit the 'part' they were looking for. On the latest season of The Amazing Race one of the teams consisted of a Former POW and her pageant Queen girlfriend. They started out by showing them as the All-American Couple. They made specific points to stress that this guy was a former POW in Iraq. Now after the show he is annoyed that they show him making all kind of comparisons to being a POW. He says the questions during interview segments were leading. Granted they probably were. IN watching the show not all his comments about being a POW were made in the context of a post-game interview. Yet once again. That is the hook you used when you applied.
In the previous season a highly dysfunctional couple ws shown. These "married entrepreneurs" were at each others throats so much that it was truly painful to watch. His constant rants about her worthlessness and lack of ability to even take a breath properly were so bad that even producers stepped in at some point and told him to tone it down. In one situation he almost knocks his wife to the ground after pushing her as she carried a heavy backpack. Big shock that he went on the defensive after his season aired. He claimed he wasn't like that in real life. I'm sure he's not, but it didn't bother him enough that he didn't want to appear on Dr Phil and work out his problems on TV for another 15 minutes of fame. It didn't stop him from pitching the idea of cameras following the two of them around as a separate reality show. Be an ass, if you so desire. At least admit to it.
There have how many Apprentices that have been "fired" and then seen in newspapers and magazines trying to salvage their image. You're human. You're allowed to be an idiot. Just don't expect sympathy from anyone where you're public idiocy comes as a result of appearing on national television.
How many American Idols names do you remember? How many Idolites have had record deals even though they didn't win? If you are there for the love of the music, but the music doesn't love you, don't complain and decide to take a mudslinging path. You tried.
Don't claim it was the medication you were on. Don't claim it was the unusually stressful environment of 'the game.' Don't claim external forces that caused you to act in a way that you aren't happy to see. You wanted your time in the sun. This is what happens. Sunburns can be a bitch. |
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I posted this @ 5/18/2005 02:51:00 PM.............Need a link?..........
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