It's a typical reality show about the rich and filthy rich. oooooh look at all that shiny hair and Cluuuuuubs! and expensive clothes! so G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S and repulsive. We scoff at the people who whore themselves out on these tv shows, but at the same time we can't help but sit there and watch mindlessly for hours....or maybe not. I can only speak for myself. The point is, I feel like a lot of people experience this duality when they are confronted with our popular culture. A part of us feels so ashamed of the society we have perpetuated, yet we can't help but consume every bit of it. We want to distance ourselves, but the reality is that we are all living in this place called America, and even though it is gross and tacky, that's just who we are. It's charming, maybe. I don't know.
so la di da pop culture is great. what's new. back to the show!
reasons why this show is amazing to me:
1. it reflects so accurately what it is to be a teenager in this age, but not in the oh teenage angst and hormones kind of way -- we'll get to that later. I will admit that I probably don't have the insight or sagacity to criticize adolescence; I'm not removed far enough from its context, but maybe then that makes me an expert on the subject...?
Teenagers in the 21st century are trained like little young adult robots. They have to take robot SAT tests, eat robot/chemically enhanced food, and watch robot role models on TV. it's rough. They're overloaded with information and stimulation. There's just too much to take in and experience. As a result, every experience is perfunctory and fleeting. It's almost like they can't truly experience anything, because there's just so much happening at once. And it's not their fault. It's just too much to process.
But at the same time, while they are experiencing everything half-assedly, they also have a lot of information about a lot of things. They have all of our media and internet as reference. It's almost as if they read a general wikipedia entry about the "important things" in life and value that brief abstract as genuine knowledge. FOR EXAMPLE, one of the characters on the show (15 yr old Taylor) sits like a little grown up at dinner with her date, ultra suave boy extraordinaire Sebastian. He asks her all the questions he's supposed to ask on a date: what do you want to do with your life? Do you like to read? How do you feel about my sexy bilingual abilities? And of course, Taylor -- having wikisearched these dinner convo topics to prepare herself for this date -- answers, "I'm reading this book called 100 Most Important Philosophers. I really like philosophy. I want to be like a philosopher or something."
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So not only are teenagers really perceptive and quick on their feet, but they are direct clones of their waspy, clueless parents.
2. Bravo is either a). running out of ideas for shows and can't get their lazy asses to create new concepts for projects or b). really fucking funny and using their network as a pastiche of all the shitty shows that are already out there. Appropriation, in the same vain as Sherri Levine/Cindy Sherman/Richard Prince. Genius or just plain lazy. I really can't draw the line, and for this reason this show is even better in my mind.
3. It makes me so angry that it makes me reconsider why a TV show can make me so mad. It's "reality" TV. This shit is probably scripted (or not -- wouldn't make a difference, the kids don't need to act) and it's seemingly removed from me but it gets me so worked up. So after an hour of fuming at the TV (but helplessly sitting there staring, even though the remote was in arms reach) I sat there and bitched by myself until it just got funny.
I think the reason why this show makes me so mad is because it makes me recall all the painfully naive and embarrassing moments of my own adolescence. At one point, we all felt so misunderstood and detached from the rest of our society. UGh this is where the teenage angst kicks in. Help me! I'm surrounded by crazy people and I'm the only normal one. I'm deep, I'm different. I'm so mature. Adolescence was painful enough and to relive it -- albeit under horrifically different social circumstances -- is even more painful and frustrating. Nobody should have to live through that again. It's enough to make you shudder from humiliation.
4. this show was ironically very stimulating. It made me think in a way that I find myself thinking about art, hence the reason why I had to post about it. This blog is, after all, a blog about art. Completely relevant and great fodder for angry/heated discussion.
I have no doubt in my mind that this analysis is completely useless and hackneyed, but isn't that the best?
The show airs on BRAVO every tuesday at 10pm. Hope you all watch and contribute!
