es·cap·ism
Pronunciation: is-'kA-"pi-z&m
Function: noun
: habitual diversion of the mind to purely imaginative activity or entertainment as an escape from reality or routinetele·vi·sion
Pronunciation: 'te-l&-"vi-zh&n esp British "te-l&-'
Function: noun
: an electronic system of transmitting transient images of fixed or moving objects together with sound over a wire or through space by apparatus that converts light and sound into electrical waves and reconverts them into visible light rays and audible soundre·al·i·ty
Pronunciation: rE-'a-l&-tE
Function: noun
: the quality or state of being real
-- from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
After The Bachelorette ended in February 2004, the ABC network ran a special called "The Bachelorette: After the Final Rose." During this program, a packed live studio audience and viewers from around the country asked questions of Meredith and Ian -- the newly engaged couple from the show. For seven weeks, viewers watched Bachelorette Meredith eliminate 24 men until she chose Ian as her mate. Ian dutifully proposed to Meredith on the final show.
Fans
of the show seem genuinely interested in the thoughts and feelings of Meredith
and Ian. One woman called in from Texas and said she was yelling and crying
when Ian proposed to Meredith during the music-filled-tear-jerking climax. Many
were so happy Meredith had found her "dream guy" and wished them a
happy life together. The studio audience, filled with mostly women, all seemed
captivated by the performance of the new couple. There was also some turmoil
as Meredith confronted Matthew, the man she pushed aside for Ian, after telling
him she would be honored to receive an engagement ring from him.
The final episode of The Bachelorette (aired on Feb. 25) captured a rating of 9.1 with a 14 share. It was estimated that approximately 9.9 million households and 13.5 million viewers were tuned into the show.
Of all the nonsense shown on television, the concept of "reality TV" is one that I find especially intriguing. What separates "reality TV" from . . . well . . . "un-reality TV"? What is so real about these shows? I watched most episodes of The Bachelorette hoping to find out why reality TV captivates such a large audience.
One of the reasons I chose The Bachelorette was that of all the reality
TV shows, this one did not involve a physical competition, acrobatic stunts,
or disgusting eating contests. Nobody had to eat live worms or walk across a
pit of lava. The Bachelorette was not violent or bloody or racist or disturbing.
This program dealt with emotions rather than death -- which made it watchable.
As someone who doesn't watch TV, I needed to choose something I would not compulsively
need to turn off because it was gross or mind-numbingly stupid. This is not
to say The Bachelorette was intellectually stimulating, but I didn't think it
would be so terribly awful that I would freak out and not finish watching.
The premise for The Bachelorette stuck to the same formula to other "reality TV" dating and matchmaking programs. This time, The Bachelorette was Meredith Phillips, a 30 year old computer software model (see box to the right) who appeared on last season's The Bachelor series. Meredith didn't win Bob The Bachelor so was brought back in her own spinoff. In search of a mate, Meredith was presented with 25 men of which she would slowly pick those she wanted to get to know better. At the end of each program, Meredith was given a certain number of roses which she would, after much overdubbed thought, offer to those men who got to stay on the show and compete for her affection.
Stay tuned for the most dramatic rose ceremony ever!! Stay tuned as Meredith has to make her most difficult choice yet!! Stay tuned as Meredith makes a plea for a special extra rose!! Gentleman, this is the final rose this evening. If you did not receive a rose, say your goodbyes.
In the first show, after meeting each man for about five minutes, Meredith sends half of them home. Throughout the next five weeks, Meredith would go on a series of "dates" in order to get to know the remaining guys better. These dates included horseback riding, ice hockey, airplane flying, and a weekend in a Mexican resort. Some dates were one-on-one, but most involved a group of four to six guys. How well Meredith was able to really know these men before rejecting them is debatable and the dates were obviously designed to be silly and fun. The show makes one fact clear: Meredith is picking men on looks, nothing else. These dates are simply something to fill space between rose ceremonies. However, superficiality is not the point of the show. The fact that Meredith doesn't really get to know the men well is easily accepted.
The point of The Bachelorette is escapism. Women want to be Meredith. They want to live vicariously.
The
first escapist aspect of The Bachelorette is the editing. Dozens of hours of
tape are reduced to short 15-minute clips between commercial breaks and "Stay
tuned for the most dramatic rose ceremony ever!" coming soon ads.
The editing creates a plot and establishes direction for the show. The editing
adds excitement. Two people talking on the beach is not really exciting -- but
after multiple dialog cuts the meaning of a conversation is changed and obscured.
The audience never really knows what was said in a conversation or how the many
dates really progressed. So much of the "reality" is cut out of the
program that the entire meaning is skewed. The idea of editing is to create
good television, not to show the true nature of dating or relationships. Good
television is fast-paced with quick edits and cuts. Good television keeps the
audience wondering and watching.
During the last few episodes, video was carefully sliced up so the viewer was lead to believe that Meredith would pick Matthew over Ian (the two remaining contestants). Matthew was portrayed as the "safe" man who was stable with a good family. Ian, however, was shown as a man of mystery with no job and who would not let Meredith meet his parents. In the end, Meredith picks Ian which creates the "surprise" ending and controversy for the show.
The second secret to this "reality" program is the addition of music and overdubbing. Meredith's "thoughts" were heard through a voice overdub which was probably either carefully scripted or creatively edited. Music played a big part of the show. The dates and rose ceremony parts were made more dramatic by using different styles of music.
When careful analyzed, it is clear that this "reality show" is not real. The Bachelorette doesn't show life -- it shows "life on TV." But the interesting thing about "reality TV" is that it creates the illusion of being real. The viewer is actually fooled into thinking that editing, music and overdubbing are just explaining the show -- not changing the show. The Bachelorette was a carefully edited and sculpted TV program -- no network simply puts unedited surveillance videos between commercials.
The reality, however, is that The Bachelorette is a TV show focused on obtaining the largest number of viewers possible. To do this, television provides an escape.
To some extent, everyone needs an escape from daily life. Activities
such as sports, reading, going to movies, theater, board games, building models,
playing music and surfing the Internet are all examples of engaged activities
which can break through the monotony of daily life. Healthy escapist activities
permit someone to forget troublesome events or recurring problems. Sitting down
the watch The Bachelorette for an hour could be characterized as a healthy escapist
activity. Although, this should be contrasted against a clearly unhealthy and
extreme escapist activity of sitting to watch boring/mindless television programs
for hours and hours and hours. 
"When it comes to escapist activities, we can see at once that some are also essential activities -- walking, cooking, sleeping. Others are purely recreational -- reading, listening to music, going to the cinema," explains Andrew Evans in the book This Virtual Life: Escapism and Simulation in Our Media World. "Some are 'halfway' activities like gardening . . . or fishing. Likewise traveling for its own sake -- 'driving for the fun of going somewhere', or exercise and working out with no end product except 'fitness.'
"Some activities are displacements of essential activities -- enjoying fine wines and foods . . . Many activities can be escapist as long as they provide an alternative to mundane activities. And while some activities are 'pointless', like watching boring TV programmes."
Evans contends that everyone engages in some form of escapist activity, however television is one which is passive (non-participant) or extreme (watching 'trash' TV for hours and hours). He also says that "since escapism can occur in affluent societies and in fundamentally normal people, it can be exchanging what is already a fairly content state for one offering more intense pleasure. This would certainly be the case with designer or recreational drugs and 'readymade' escapist activities like TV."
Whether TV watching is healthy or unhealthy is largely dependent on the person watching. "The soap opera addict glued to the television by the urgency of following the labyrinthine plots may not see that she is neglecting daily exercise and getting obese until she weighs herself," he says. "The question of awareness of consequences is critical to unhealthy escapism."
The point is whether the viewer of a TV show can pull out of the immersion this activity requires. "TV is mass entertainment," writes Evans, "and a means of getting people to watch commercials, so there is constant pressure to satisfy the needs of the audience.
"How does television make reality more interesting? It manipulates it, it dramatises it and increasingly it 'adrenalises' it. Anything that adrenalises people will cause more arousal, and therefore in theory more attention."
Networks must love the term "reality TV." It gives the appearance of substance to shows that are clearly not comprised of any. The Bachelorette is a popularity contest where the best looking guy wins the girl. With quick edits and dramatic music, The Bachelorette achieves a level of drama not much higher than a middle school dance.
Television, however, is much more fast paced than reality -- and to many, more interesting. The Bachelorette and other reality TV shows are escapist in nature because they allow the viewer to visually daydream and "imagine they are someone else."
Television is about living a virtual life -- which is by its very nature, fleeting and empty.
© 2004 by Ron Kaufman @ TurnOffYourTV.com
"This Virtual Life: Escapism and Simulation in Our Media World" by Andrew Evans. Fusion Press UK, 2001.
