Well, at least the light posts are now affirming my existence. Is it a good sign when inanimate objects are the most positive thing that you encounter all day? Or that you pay enough attention to them that you are drawn to break out the camera phone on a daily basis?
Anyway, there is big news in the reality television world or as I like to put it, the only world that actually matters. It deals with the Discovery Channel, which is currently celebrating Shark Week though I do encourage everyone to live every week as if it is Shark Week. Truer words have never been spoken. Aside aside, the controversy is that, gasp, Man vs, Wild may not be entirely realistic and the host Bear Grylls may have during filming slept in a hotel.
(Some background for those of you who don’t watch the show, which is one of the shows that I catch while flipping channels and can never seem to get past. Bear, a former British Special Ops soldier, parachutes into some incredibly harsh climate and he spends several days surviving based on his wits, strength and survival skill until he finds a way back to civilization. It’s a rather enthralling program as you get to see a guy eat bugs, start fires and take on various animals in hand to hand combat.)
There are a couple of parts to this story. The first of all is that it is clear to anyone who ever watched the show that it was at least partly fake due to the fact that he had a several person camera crew with him at all times. He’s not holding the camera, there’s a couple of guys with him doing all of the filming. This takes away some of the loneliness of the situation and also shows that things aren’t quite as deadly as they make it out to be. When Bear crosses a river through some death defying method you have to realize that his crew also crosses the same river and probably without all of the unnecessary heroics. In fact, part of the show is Bear showing off survival techniques that he actually doesn’t need to do so it isn’t just a “Let’s see if I can survive in the Outback by myself.”
Now with that said, if he is actually sleeping in a hotel you have to wonder about the show. Now in some places that had to be impossible, such as in a rain forest or when he was in the middle of Iceland. But, he was also in the Scottish Highlands and the Everglades and in either of those situations you aren’t that far from a warm bed. And while viewers will accept the conceit that this isn’t entirely realistic we don’t want the guy to have an easy time of it either. It’s a strange tradeoff, we feel cheated if Bear isn’t legitimately near death. Otherwise, where’s the entertainment?
That is the strange thing about reality television, it is pretty much a given that nothing is real. Contestants are cast not for skill but for whether they match a character archetype and look good on camera. Competitions are made less to show who is best and more who can meet the goals of the show. Lia lost in Top Chef because she was a French chef made to cook Latin and it didn’t work, which really doesn’t indicate if her skills didn’t match up with the others. Still, we all watch it as a competition than we act as if this false reality is real. That said, we do that every day in the real world as well.
So will I stop watching Man vs. Wild if it isn’t truly real? Nope, it’s still a good way to spend an hour on a lazy Sunday afternoon. I’m not even sure if it will hinder my enjoyment of the show. I’ll just reminded that very little of what is on television is real. Everyone has an agenda, whether it is entertainment or fame or a deeper message. Well, except for American Gladiators reruns. That was when television was pure.
Anyway, there is big news in the reality television world or as I like to put it, the only world that actually matters. It deals with the Discovery Channel, which is currently celebrating Shark Week though I do encourage everyone to live every week as if it is Shark Week. Truer words have never been spoken. Aside aside, the controversy is that, gasp, Man vs, Wild may not be entirely realistic and the host Bear Grylls may have during filming slept in a hotel.
(Some background for those of you who don’t watch the show, which is one of the shows that I catch while flipping channels and can never seem to get past. Bear, a former British Special Ops soldier, parachutes into some incredibly harsh climate and he spends several days surviving based on his wits, strength and survival skill until he finds a way back to civilization. It’s a rather enthralling program as you get to see a guy eat bugs, start fires and take on various animals in hand to hand combat.)
There are a couple of parts to this story. The first of all is that it is clear to anyone who ever watched the show that it was at least partly fake due to the fact that he had a several person camera crew with him at all times. He’s not holding the camera, there’s a couple of guys with him doing all of the filming. This takes away some of the loneliness of the situation and also shows that things aren’t quite as deadly as they make it out to be. When Bear crosses a river through some death defying method you have to realize that his crew also crosses the same river and probably without all of the unnecessary heroics. In fact, part of the show is Bear showing off survival techniques that he actually doesn’t need to do so it isn’t just a “Let’s see if I can survive in the Outback by myself.”
Now with that said, if he is actually sleeping in a hotel you have to wonder about the show. Now in some places that had to be impossible, such as in a rain forest or when he was in the middle of Iceland. But, he was also in the Scottish Highlands and the Everglades and in either of those situations you aren’t that far from a warm bed. And while viewers will accept the conceit that this isn’t entirely realistic we don’t want the guy to have an easy time of it either. It’s a strange tradeoff, we feel cheated if Bear isn’t legitimately near death. Otherwise, where’s the entertainment?
That is the strange thing about reality television, it is pretty much a given that nothing is real. Contestants are cast not for skill but for whether they match a character archetype and look good on camera. Competitions are made less to show who is best and more who can meet the goals of the show. Lia lost in Top Chef because she was a French chef made to cook Latin and it didn’t work, which really doesn’t indicate if her skills didn’t match up with the others. Still, we all watch it as a competition than we act as if this false reality is real. That said, we do that every day in the real world as well.
So will I stop watching Man vs. Wild if it isn’t truly real? Nope, it’s still a good way to spend an hour on a lazy Sunday afternoon. I’m not even sure if it will hinder my enjoyment of the show. I’ll just reminded that very little of what is on television is real. Everyone has an agenda, whether it is entertainment or fame or a deeper message. Well, except for American Gladiators reruns. That was when television was pure.
No comments:
Post a Comment