TV Love is True Love
Daniel Martinez, Staff Writer
Design by Jennifer Xia, Editor-in-Chief
Love, as presented within the bounds of reality television, offers the same authenticity and reality found in its non-TV equivalent, and the sheer notion that one abstract form of “true love” trumps all others is depressingly closed-minded. Of course, the final product of reality television is over-dramatized and warped with countless meaningless plot lines, but the heart and soul of any good relationship is still there. The two individuals in question, more often than not, show genuine interest in one another, and when presented with a nerve-wracking, unfamiliar scenario, flock to one another as a means of safety.
Love is entertaining. Just as we enjoy formulaic romantic comedies that boast unrealistic plot lines, we enjoy the meta-realistic fodder that makes up the episodes of a reality TV show. Reality TV, unlike fiction, attempts to mimic the real world, and the accuracy of that portrayal is admittedly not on the mark; emotions are overplayed, conflicts are stirred out of seemingly nowhere, and individuals act with only the most senseless motivations. Still, that televised approximation of love is close enough to capture the attention and minds of millions of viewers sitting home by their lonesome.
The fantasy is attractive, and such is undoubtedly true for love itself. What draws two people in a relationship in its first stages is often not even the other person, but instead the romantic idealization of what their relationship could look like. From here arise the unmet expectations, and the eventual disappointment that we poetically describe as “heartbreak.”
People act in entirely unrealistic, exaggerated ways when it comes to reality TV, but, in truth, the same can be said when it comes to love. Love breeds all kinds of emotions and eventual actions that others would understandably label as unrealistic or “crazy.” Lovers move across the country for people they have never met in person, and they often uproot their entire lives for the fantasy of life with their love. While these are extremely questionable decisions from any number of perspectives, it is undeniably true that such unreasonable sacrifices are made in the pursuit of love.
The thought that reality TV love is any less realistic is therefore elitist; “true love” is not some exclusionary ideal that only applies to the most well-formed, healthy of relationships. All love is true, and that extends even to the trashy shores of a place like “Love Island.”
A considerable amount of footage from reality television is left on the cutting-room floor, never to be seen by audiences who clamor for more from a show they have likely become invested in. Therefore, we can never know how much of a relationship is kept away from the public eye. Maybe Jared and Shannon actually shared several ongoing deep conversations about their values and priorities before he proposed to her in the finale. Maybe newly engaged Chuck and Taryn did agree upon some reasonable terms of their engagement, well-aware of the fact that their relationship may crumble but ready all the same to inject some spontaneity into their boring lives.
Is it stupid? Of course it is, but that can be expected from any one of us.
No one should think him or herself above the trashy irrationality of “The Bachelor”. There is plenty of room in an intellectually healthy life for the nonsensical entertainment provided by reality television, and it only takes the insecurity of someone’s self-perception for them to feel a need to distance themselves from it with just unnecessary denunciation. Reality TV only represents the stupid irrationality universally present in all of us: the fun comes from the unabashed enjoyment of embracing it.
