Society is sick. Blame “Survivor”
Blame Mark Burnett for causing a cancer in the body of society. By producing Survivor, he supplied the carcinogen that metastasized into the I-got-mine worldview we saw during the worst days of the coronavirus lockdown.
Not that there wasn’t venality and narcissism before reality TV, far from it. “Greed is good” predates the “real housewives” by decades. But by presenting back-stabbing, bad-mouthing and kneecapping as the way to go and making it into entertainment, reality TV has put too many cracks to count in the foundation of civil society.
“Outwit. Outplay. Outlast.” Is not a motto that implies caring for the weak, standing up to abusers or cooperating with peers. In Survivor mode, there is no cooperation, only “alliances,” and people don’t help one another unless they stand to gain something.
Presenting this Lord of Flies scenario as “reality” warps the essence of what real life is like.
It supports a view that life is a zero-sum game where every gain has to come at someone else’s expense, every person is a potential threat and only losers worry about other people. “I’m not here to make friends,” is one common motto among contestants, even on The Bachelor, where technically, contestants are looking for a relationship.
But life is not a winner-take all competition. In the long haul of life, everyone’s stock goes up and down. One can go from being a helping hand one day, to needing one another time. Not all problems can be solved by outplaying opponents and sidling up to the right people.
It’s no joke; an academic study concluded that viewers of some reality TV shows were more violent than fellow couch potatoes that watched violent crime shows:
“Reality programs that include relational aggression are not simply ‘harmless entertainment’ — they increase physical aggression.”
Reality TV is built on three basic themes: wealth, antisocial behavior and romantic relationships, according to one study from the University of Wisconsin. The researchers found watching those shows led to more gossip, arguing and all-around “relationship discord in the real world.”
It’s not just competition shows such as “Survivor” or “Big Brother.” The genre of “docu-soaps” that claim to portray the real lives of C- and D-list celebrities (or manufactured celebrities like the whole Klown Kar of Kardashians) are a misnomer, as the UW researchers noted: “First, these programs often depict the lifestyles of the very wealthy, allowing audiences a peek into a world they do not personally experience. Second, these programs tend to include significant amounts of relational aggression. Third, these programs tend to portray drama and tension within the context of romantic relationships”
In fact, reality programs are death to relationships, according to researchers. People watching them assume the rest of the world is dating more and heaving more sex than they are. These shows show women in a particularly nasty light: Any single man watching the interviews with the contestant in The Bachelor would undoubtedly want to remain one. Gossiping, bullying and backbiting are common, and obsession with personal appearance is a given. The study found contestants alternate between promiscuity and slut-shaming — sometimes in the same episode.
Study after study has proved how watching these shows warps the viewer’s sense of reality. Documentaries, by their whole presentation, stress how unusual, or unknown their subject is to the public. The whole idea behind the Maysles brothers’ Grey Gardens was that the two women they featured were outliers. Meanwhile, the “real housewives” franchise pretends to show just that.
By warping our reality and making antisocial behavior seem normal, these shows have devolved society.
In the past, one had to travel to the midway on the outskirts of town to see the freaks. It was transgressive; it had the thrill of the forbidden. By bring the freaks into our homes and presenting them as “reality,” the P.T. Barnums of today have negated all the values that make society work — cooperation, empathy, kindness, generosity — and glorified all the pathology that holds it back.
The public has gobbled it up like junk food, without question or measure. It’s become as much a part of society as the drive-through at McDonald’s has become a part of the national diet.
The optimists point out that with the growth of video streaming, scripted TV is coming on strong and reality TV will lose ground. But economics are against it. A season of reality TV costs less to produce than the wardrobe budget for one episode of Game of Thrones.
This so-called reality is cheap and easy. It’s televised junk food. And as any fast-food chain can tell you, that’s good business. Like junk food, it has negative effects on your health, but good luck getting rid of it. Maybe it’s time to put society on a diet.
