Part I

Reality TV has been obsessing me of late. First "I Want a Famous Face" sent me to the brink, and then "The Swan" (stinging recap/essay found here) pushed me over the edge. What I've been struggling with is RTV and ethics. Not whether right and wrong should be considerations of reality TV, but why they aren't already considerations in any meaningful way.
Reality shows have not been taken to task for being entirely unethical for a number of reasons. The vaguest is that most of us don't spend much time thinking about ethics in the first place. They're such a quaint way to evaluate things. Better to leave complaints about Temptation Island up to bible thumping Texan Mary Katherine, who personally called the FCC everyday after that "horrific display of lewdness" at the Superbowl, and crusades for family values in all of America's entertainments. I'd rather eat pizza and chug some beer every time someone cheats, gets naked, or cries at my friend's weekly viewing party.
Who am I to get all riled up about liars and cheaters? It's not like I'm beyond reproach, or in possession of an ethical code. Sometimes I lie. Sometimes I steal things from large chain stores and don't feel bad about it. Sometimes I even steal bananas. Sometimes I'm mean. Sometimes I'd check my answers on the kid's next to me during a math test. Sometimes I make a mess and leave it for someone else to clean up. I don't think any of these are particularly horrific, just kind of regular. So when Joe Millionaire is lying, it doesn't seem that big of a deal either. Especially because he's lying to a bunch of dumb hoes.
Which brings us to the major reason shows are not taken to task for being unethical: we're too busy taking the contestants to task instead. If you willingly go on a reality show, you pretty much get what you deserve. Who cares that by this logic what contestants deserve usually consists of being lied to, exploited, and portrayed as idiots, bitches, and liars?
Some of the participants are fame-seekers, Omorosa being only the most recent example, who intentionally seek out the evil bitch role, as one of the surest ways to sear themselves into the national psyche. Alternately, wronged complainers aren't going to get much pity. There is a formula after all, and at it's most basic, it goes something like, "The Producers Are Going To Lie To You In Order To Pull Off A Shocking Twist." No surprise, no lie perpetrated by a show is beyond the pale. If you feel taken advantage of that only means the premise was beyond your imagination. And if you were either too naive or arrogant to have seen that coming, well, I'm ok with laughing at you. And everyone else knew they would be manipulated. That they would be edited any old way the producers pleased. That their every act would be scrutinized. I feel free to laugh at them too, because that's what they signed on for.
Then there are the people doing the plastic surgery. And I can’t laugh at them. They make me sad. (And, everyone else too. This is why a show like The Swan may reality TV gone too far. You can't laugh at the contestants, and are forced to examine the structure that enables and justifies their insecurities. Though, that may just be wishful thinking).
The reason I'm comfortable crapping all over most reality show contestants, and this could, of course, just be editing, is that they don't seem like human beings, or not any I've ever known. They are totally without consciousness. It doesn't make any sense. We live in a time where national ad-campaigns are built around irony and self-reference. We were, like, dubbed the age of irony. It supposedly died on September 11th. But, judging from these shows, no one is the least bit familiar with irony, or self-reflexivity, or, even, thoughts. They only grapple with events in the shallowest, cheesiest, least aware ways possible. The word connection gets bandied around like it's an article, even though all the contestants have seen enough shows to know what a ragingly offensive and meaningless cliché it really is. They believe in the show's "process." Participants embark on dramatic restructurings of their faces and bodies without considering for one second how truly heavy it is to make yourself over in someone else's image. They quote Dr. Phil and talk about improving selves that are so elusive and suggestible as to be virtually non-existent.
Yet, the contestants are just people. And people get caught up in things. I don't know many kids who would turn down a spot on The Real World if it was actually offered to them. And, while I don't really think it's a sound way to find love, there are worse things than being a Bachelorette. Maybe participants aren't all that different, and they just get portrayed that way, allowing me to turn RTV stars into "the other," people whose pain and joys I can laugh at without implicating myself or anyone I love and respect. Even with all evidence to the contrary, RTV participants are still humans, and therefore deserving of... something.
At the very least, we should not let our derision for the contestants obfuscate the shows' equal, if not greater, detestability.

Which I will get into next time, cause this is already self-indulgently long