I don't watch reality TV, so I decided to just sample a bit of everything. My thoughts on the genre seem to align with McCarthy's neoliberal theater of suffering, where unresolvable pain always threatens to boil over. In lieu of a longwinded post, however, here are my two-sentence reviews:
Queer Eye (new version) - Gay guardians of culture teach straight men how to perform self love and authenticity. This involves buying a lot of stuff.
Weekend Aristocrat - Middle class people rent the castles of the landed gentry, who have discovered that castles are expensive to heat. Basically, the nobility put their estates on AirBnB.
The Traffickers - A docuseries where a young journalist traces the global trade routes of black market goods. When asked whether it was right for him to buy an organ from a poor Pakistani man, a Canadian man commented "You could say I actually gave him an opportunity to save his wife and child."
Undercover Boss - A CEO goes undercover at his own company and is shocked to learn that his employees are exploited. The solution is to make work more fun!
Floribama Shore - Probably my favorite of the day. Young Southerners move into a house in Panama City Beach for a summer of self discovery (read: binge drinking). Highlight quote: "Being a Southern boy, I have to be a gentleman and a douchebag at the same time, because I feel like that’s what women look for."
I watched the first episode of Weekend Aristocrat as well this week. I was truly surprised to see the gentry simultaneously pretend to be middle class, while insisting that history proves that intelligence is entirely genetic, which is why the aristocracy only breed with other aristocracy, to the shock of the middle class wedding guests staying in the castle. Watching them push back and argue that there are plenty of great minds who were not born peers was a delight. There seems to be a secret pleasure in the UK of watching aristocrats be humbled and have to admit (with a weird relish) that they struggle to pay the bills. It often feels as if they are performing what they think would be endearing to a lower class audience, and it comes across as less than genuine. In relation to McCarthy's article, I think there is an element of neoliberal ideology at play here: the emphasis on the triumph of the middle class, the desire for upward mobility, and the insistence that everyone including the gentry must work hard and do their part to create capital. I must say though, I find the British flavour of neoliberalism more palatable... (Insert obligatory British culinary joke here).
ReplyDeleteComing from the South and then living in large "progressive" metropolitan cities, I will say that our Southern male friend's conception of masculinity isn't uniquely a Southern mindset. But, it does make me want to watch this show now when I'm homesick.
ReplyDeleteYou should Tweet these reviews periodically.
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