The Real World: Denver
If you know me at all you know I have been following this show. They make Denver look pretty good too (although apparently the entire Denver nightlife scene is relegated to the Tavern Downtown, Hush, the Public House, and Monarck). So yeah I watch it, but partly I think because it makes me fucking insane. Today, instead of staying on campus between classes I came home to grab some lunch and a book and discovered the new episode of Real World was on. Of course I watched it. And the episode infuriated me so much I had to write about it.
So, this gigantic whore named Jen (I don't want to be mean by calling her that but when you bang out half the city, well, you're asking for it) has a boyfriend that comes to town to visit. The whole episode is about him finding out how many dudes she's banged behind his back...like, he knows about one, then is informed about another, then finally she has to tell him about one more. And the whole thing is played like "this poor girl". Shots of her crying and looking pensive, and taking her anger at herself out on her roommate who spilled the beans. The point is this girl Jen now thinks that she could "fall for this guy". She wants him to basically get over the fact that three other dudes have run up in her, even though that kind of invalidates her entire relationship with her boyfriend. Doesn't matter, he is what she wants, and, as is the American Way, we should all get exactly what we want no matter how awful we are, or how many people we hurt or trample on along the way to get it. It's our right.
She finally after much poking and prodding gets the whole story of her sexual adventures out to him (at Sonodas- gross) and looks like she deserves a cookie. Joyous music plays and everything is right with the world. "It feels so good to have everything out!" No shit. And the guy apparently takes her back, which is dumb. Maybe she actually is the most awesome, caring, kind, selfless person in the world, and worth all the bullshit but the cameras just missed all that trying to get the shot of the big dude peeing on Market Street. Because if you watch the show she is definitely portrayed as 'the whore'. And awful, unintelligent, and most likely a severe alcoholic. Also, just plain mean (this is gonna make me sound like a woman, but she did sleep with Alex the first time because she was jealous of Colie and wanted to hurt her...yes, that just happened).
But no! I say nay! She fucked up! This episode should have been about owning up to your mistakes instead of being forced to. She was dating a guy and then slept with three dudes in what is probably the same amount of weeks and when he gets upset she mopes around and complains? You're a fucking idiot. You made your bed, lay in it. What kind of example does this set for the normal audience of this show (14-25 year olds)? What kind for example does this whole entire show set for anyone? That it's okay to be vapid and awful, to sleep around and get drunk all the time and somehow be the most ignorant, stupid
college kids on the planet? To have no goal in life and turn your stint on the Real World into a half-hearted grab at fame? To spend your life doing the "Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Octagon" circuit? Where are the doctors and lawyers? Where are the average people they purport to be featuring? Where is anyone with one iota of intelligence? Or fuck it even someone creative, an artist or a musician? Noone is gonna remember Davis in ten years (God I hope not) or Billy, Steve, whoever the fuck came before. Because there is no point to these people. And they certainly act like it. And I realize that the reason intelligent, creative people aren't on this show is because quite simply they are above it. It just sucks that the generation coming up behind us is being raised on this kind of shit. Role models aren't politicians, scientists, artists, or even family members anymore, they are Britney Spears and Brooke Hogan and Brad from the Real World: San Diego.
Whereas this show was once an interesting social experiment, now it is more like exactly what the fuck is wrong with this country (other than the war in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, the war on a noun, Alberto Gonzales, Katrina, Walter Reed, the massacre at Virgina Tech, etc).
All this fucking shit and we sit here and get 24 fucking hours of news about bullcrap like Anna Nicole's baby and Don Imus and we have the entire MTV programming schedule and people wonder why the whole fucking world is going to hell in a handbasket?
I need one of
these.
