Round 2 Blog !
So here I was having a quiet Friday night surfing 40D when I stumbled on an interesting thought. I was watching Embarrassing bodies simply because I have a grotesque fascination with body ailments. This got me thinking, was I watching the show for the right reasons ? It must take a lot of courage and desperation to take this route and expose yourself on national TV to get help and educate the nation in all things medical. But here was me just watching the show because I was curious about the bizarre ailments advertised and what could possibly be so unbearable would make people go on TV and show if off.
This lead me to one strange idea, could 21st century reality TV shows including Big Brother (it was canceled, but it will spawn clones trying to mimic it's success), I'm a Celebrity etc be the new form of (crudely put) freak shows ?
Think about the conventions of a freak show (established centuries ahead of reality TV):
1. Display some kind of bizarre component of a human(s) and defy convention
2. Market it like an entertainment event similar to the likes of legitimate theatre, or simply entertainment
3. Allow people to view it and sell it like a social presentation like a zoo.
Break down your standard reality TV show:
1. Place a certain of amount of individuals who are don't represent conventional members of the public.
2. Market it like an entertainment show
3. Allow people to view it through the most popular medium TV.
Notice the clever bolding to empathise similarities ? , the way we view and satisfy these curiosities of seeing bizarre occurrences has evolved, out desires haven't. I have a feeling human beings need to see the weird oddities of overs to somehow reassure them that they're OK and maybe things aren't to bad in their lives, while some take some kind of strange entertainment at gawking at said oddities.
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