While it can certainly be said that watching people on reality T.V. is entertaining, one can’t help but ask if sometimes we’re going too far. Are we making a showcase of people with genuine problems all in a bid for shallow amusement?
I’m like a lot of people. I have a morbid curiosity for weird things, and I won’t lie: one of my guilty pleasures used to be turning on channels like TLC, sitting down with a good snack, and tuning into reality TV shows to laugh at the menagerie.
The showcase of people who eat their husband’s ashes and have intimate relationships with their cars never failed to entertain me. However, lately with the news of Tammy Slaton from the “1000-lb Sisters” getting arrested, I couldn’t help but think about the exploitative nature of some of these shows. Is it really a morally right thing to sit and laugh at people with these issues, these very real problems that affect them and their loved ones everyday?
Furthermore, what effect does broadcasting this stuff in front of millions of people have on the family and on the stigma around mental health as a whole? It’s a lot of questions. Tough questions.
On one hand, there are some shows that are less harmful. “My Strange Addiction” is a show that talks about people who have addictions to doing things that a lot of people find, you guessed it, strange. I have mixed feelings about this show. It’s one explicit purpose is to broadcast to the world people who have actual issues, sometimes ones that are harmful to themselves or others, so others can point and laugh at them. To me that feels exploitative. However, the show does sometimes make a point to get the people help for their addiction by getting them to go to a therapist or other professional, and there is a process for getting on the show. Either the featured person or their loved ones have to sign them up for the show. On the other hand, however, much less focus is placed on the person getting help, and much more time is spent exploring the strangeness of whoever is the focus of the episode.
This is the problem with reality TV. It reflects a lot of the uglier aspects of humanity. It takes the struggles of real people and commercializes it all for the entertainment of an audience who only seeks to shame them for a quick laugh or to wrap themselves into the drama of the people being showcased.
In particular, one of the worst offenders of this had to be “Dance Moms.” I find this show abhorrent. The fact that it was ever able to air is, to me, inexcusable. This show went into detail about child dance groups and routines, and one of the main features of this show was the showcase of the terrible pressure and emotional strain placed on these kids by their parents and the producers.
They were put through brutal schedules and practice routines. These children range anywhere from six to fourteen years old, and the adults in some of their lives just pushed them constantly, sometimes to the point of having mental breakdowns. While I certainly can’t say that that’s the case for every child on that show, I can say that’s the experience with which a lot of them came out of it, and I can also say for certain that the producers and the showrunners of this show did nothing to correct this, instead doing the opposite, sometimes instigating fights and broadcasting it for an audience all across the United States, manipulating the emotions of defenseless and inexperienced children.
I think when evaluating whether or not a show is worth watching, someone has to consider how the sausage is made. I don’t think that a show is worth watching when all it serves to do is put a person on blast for their abnormalities, or to wrap yourself in the drama of other people who have real and true struggles that are being created for the sake of ratings and views. Watching these shows only perpetuates the abuse that these poor people face and reinforces the stigma around real mental disorders that require actual professional help, not just a camera shoved in their face and an airing of their dirty laundry for the world to see.
I draw the line when it seems like instead of us consuming the media, the media begins to consume us: our empathy, our critical thinking, our desire to see other people succeed and be healthy. We have to be the masters of our own media, and not let it overtake the responsibility in each of us to give one another respect and dignity. It’s shows like these that boil us down to a singular notion about who we are. We are not one character trait. We are dynamic people. We are people with issues sometimes, but people who deserve respect and dignity. It’s about time we treated each other that way.
