Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Will you accept this rose?
So I've fallen to my lowest point ever: I watched The Bachelor last night (there was nothing else on, I swear). This season they actually have a prince, and these girls are crazy.
Of course, I've never watched the show before, so it could be that all the girls in any given season are crazy, but there is one thing I've noticed about these shows: all the women look the same. During the rose ceremony, when they flash across all the girls faces to see them in anticipation, I couldn't tell who was who.
blonde. brunette. blonde. blonde. blonde. brunette. brunette.
Like a row of powder-puffed, buffed and made-up soldiers waiting to whip the prince into shape.
Another show I watched last night, though a lot less guiltily, is Wife Swap. A California woman (can't pinpoint the place but I wouldn't be surprised to see her at Fashion Island or MV) whos mother-in-law does all the work around the house while she shops all day goes to a Texas farm, where the kids don't even get allowance for doing their farmwork. Her mission: to introduce the boys to a few luxuries and make them feel like it's okay to take care of themselves sometimes.
Yeah, yeah, you've heard it before. High maintenance woman has to go to a dump and she bitches the whole time. But this was different. Her first day, she chats all day with the boys, keeping them from their chores. When their dad gets home and finds chores undone, he commences in yelling at the kids. The woman breaks down and leaves the house, appalled that parents would scare their children into obeying. A touching moment, in a way.
This was one of the best ones I've seen. At their table-sit after reuniting with their husbands, both husbands admitted they learned something and both wives appreciated the others' impression on their households. The farm boys finally felt some love from their dad, and the spoiled California girls finally learned some limits and how to appreciate their grandmother.
Oddly enough, in this case, it was the farm mother implanted into Suburban California that was more appalling. Living on a farm, they raise what they eat, and she decided to buy a meat rabbit and planned on killing it in the backyard before making stew for dinner. Even I, the biggest meat eater I know (next to the guy in my class that likes exotic meats), would have been appalled. But it was just what the girls needed. No, they didn't kill the rabbit on television - the woman made a deal instead that if the girls did their chores, the rabbit would be spared. If not, they'd have to watch and eat it.
Sounds relatively fair, but you have to consider - one of the girls is only eleven years old. Is it right to expose such a young girl to that? I agree, centuries of people before us did this in their everyday lives and plenty of children see it everyday, on farms or in the wilderness, but it is still a shock nonetheless. Emotional scarring is relative, and in the sheltered life of suburban America, the most common aftereffect of watching animals get killed is vegetarianism (Joe, still have that video?).
The farm woman also commenced to order the two girls to made their grandmother a present - out of their designer clothes. It's one thing to ask the girls to do chores, but when you're asking them to ruin something of high monetary value (every item has a designer brand name on it), it seems a bit sacrosanct. Not that I have a high value on material goods, but to subject what other people have spent money on to damage because you feel like it isn't exactly respectful.
Now that I've bored you with the adventures of my television watching last night, I should probably get started on my homework (one 1,500 word piece due tomorrow, another due thursday). ciao!
Of course, I've never watched the show before, so it could be that all the girls in any given season are crazy, but there is one thing I've noticed about these shows: all the women look the same. During the rose ceremony, when they flash across all the girls faces to see them in anticipation, I couldn't tell who was who.
blonde. brunette. blonde. blonde. blonde. brunette. brunette.
Like a row of powder-puffed, buffed and made-up soldiers waiting to whip the prince into shape.
Another show I watched last night, though a lot less guiltily, is Wife Swap. A California woman (can't pinpoint the place but I wouldn't be surprised to see her at Fashion Island or MV) whos mother-in-law does all the work around the house while she shops all day goes to a Texas farm, where the kids don't even get allowance for doing their farmwork. Her mission: to introduce the boys to a few luxuries and make them feel like it's okay to take care of themselves sometimes.
Yeah, yeah, you've heard it before. High maintenance woman has to go to a dump and she bitches the whole time. But this was different. Her first day, she chats all day with the boys, keeping them from their chores. When their dad gets home and finds chores undone, he commences in yelling at the kids. The woman breaks down and leaves the house, appalled that parents would scare their children into obeying. A touching moment, in a way.
This was one of the best ones I've seen. At their table-sit after reuniting with their husbands, both husbands admitted they learned something and both wives appreciated the others' impression on their households. The farm boys finally felt some love from their dad, and the spoiled California girls finally learned some limits and how to appreciate their grandmother.
Oddly enough, in this case, it was the farm mother implanted into Suburban California that was more appalling. Living on a farm, they raise what they eat, and she decided to buy a meat rabbit and planned on killing it in the backyard before making stew for dinner. Even I, the biggest meat eater I know (next to the guy in my class that likes exotic meats), would have been appalled. But it was just what the girls needed. No, they didn't kill the rabbit on television - the woman made a deal instead that if the girls did their chores, the rabbit would be spared. If not, they'd have to watch and eat it.
Sounds relatively fair, but you have to consider - one of the girls is only eleven years old. Is it right to expose such a young girl to that? I agree, centuries of people before us did this in their everyday lives and plenty of children see it everyday, on farms or in the wilderness, but it is still a shock nonetheless. Emotional scarring is relative, and in the sheltered life of suburban America, the most common aftereffect of watching animals get killed is vegetarianism (Joe, still have that video?).
The farm woman also commenced to order the two girls to made their grandmother a present - out of their designer clothes. It's one thing to ask the girls to do chores, but when you're asking them to ruin something of high monetary value (every item has a designer brand name on it), it seems a bit sacrosanct. Not that I have a high value on material goods, but to subject what other people have spent money on to damage because you feel like it isn't exactly respectful.
Now that I've bored you with the adventures of my television watching last night, I should probably get started on my homework (one 1,500 word piece due tomorrow, another due thursday). ciao!
# posted by ange : 10:31 AM
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