Confession #1: Reality Shows
I need to get this out so here goes:
After watching the second episode of Issa Rae’s Ratchetpiece Theatre, I found out she was watching a show called “K-town”. She described this as being “ratchet” and I was curious. This is not my first time I have been compelled to watch a show that seems to encompass the very essence of the word. I occasionally indulge in shows such as Love & Hip Hop: ATL and Mob Wives (Sadly, I never got into Jersey Shore. I heard that would have put me off these shows a long time ago.)
I am sure, at this point in time, the obvious question rears its ugly head: why do you watch these shows? And how can you use indulge to describe watching them? Simply because indulgence just has the right connotation. Indulgence connotes that I have given in to something that is not necessarily healthy or beneficial to my life.
Why do I give in? Is it the drunken debauchery? The strong stench of a life of social isolation these people will face? Maybe I have nothing better to do than to watch other people stir up their own problems and call it “life”. Or does it just spurs the curious anthropologist within me? I have no idea. In fact, as I watch these shows, I sit there and cringe. Cringe at the time spent that could be used to,say, make a sandwich, read the news, read an article from NPR music or sleep. I am apart of the people making this cycle perpetuate yet I can comfortably admit that I do, and I might always continue to watch them.
The most uncomfortable part of this whole situation dawned on me as I watched the 3rd episode of K-Town: maybe a small part of me ( that still can’t figure out why) admires these people’s hustling** ability. I mean, everyone [on reality T.V.] is trying to make it in this cruel, cruel word. Okay, maybe, “admire” is not the right term but you get what I mean. It takes a lot of work to actually live your life but to put it up on T.V. and face constant drama? C’mon. That’s a lot. The above statement was only partially sarcastic. But admit it, it is a hustle and we are all getting hustled. We talk about these shows, we make fun of people who talk about them and some of us get curious enough to watch them. In the end, they break the “bank” and we… just go on with our lives.
With this knowledge, I keep on watching and cringing in intervals. Mostly because I know (or is it a hope?) that these people are more intelligent than we give them credit for or because I feel that maybe, just maybe, the key to human success is in there somewhere…. So, the latter may not actually be true but seriously,WHAT IS THIS?!
Oh, the plight of the curious.
** I use the word “hustle” in an entirely colloquial sense
« Sorry for any grammatical error but this was just another random musing…»
