Minor Post #5  - Abby

Love is Blind 

One unexpected outcome of this class was that I felt encouraged to watch reality TV. Prior to the class, my reality TV consumption was limited to The Great British Bakeoff. It’s a  reality show that feels very wholesome and I indulge in it as a source of comfort TV. It’s interesting to me how people often describe their consumption of reality TV as a guilty pleasure. I can admit that prior to this class, I held a certain disdain for most reality TV, especially the dating show varieties. I can’t say that that has changed much, but I CAN say that at the very least I’ve since jumped on the Love is Blind bandwagon. 

One reoccurring thought I had while watching was, why do they feel the need to get so dressed up in the pods when they can’t even see each other? For a show built on the premise that looks may not be the most important thing, many of the characters, the women in particular, were fully dressed up with a full face of makeup THE ENTIRE TIME, even when they weren’t on dates or later when they were in the more intimate spaces of the next stages of the “experiment.” I would have been in there with my pjs on. 

Beyond my annoyance at this fact, I found the most interesting episode (talking about the latest season here) to be the final reunion episode. As Petrus pointed out in her post, this episode exposes the constructed nature of reality TV, focusing on how episodes and relationships were edited to manipulate the drama that occurred (or seemed to occur) between participants on the show. One thing it also made me aware of was how invested both participants and audience members become in the “behind the scenes” or actual reality of the participants, not only once the filming wrapped, but also before, during, and after the show aired. The extension of the show into the realms of social media gives a whole new life to the show and gives the audience members a way to participate more fully in the show beyond just watching it on Netflix. I don’t do much social media-ing, so it was truly enlightening to hear particularly Marshall’s experience, and how his relationship with Jackie (or lack of relationship) has persisted beyond the show, in what sounds like unfavorable ways, escalating to new dramatic proportions by fan involvement. The involvement of fans on this level is truly fascinating, and if I’m being judgey it’s slightly appalling. If anyone here is [willing to admit that they are] a fan that gets involved on social media with these types of shows, I would be very interested to hear your perspective. 

I’m not sure I’ll be watching other seasons of the show, but I appreciate having watched it and analyzing it within the context of transmedia and industry conditions (as Petrus also pointed out the labor and living conditions of the show).