My friends and I decided to head out west as soon as the semester ended to see what California had to offer. When one of my friends, from Kenya, suggested that we visit Laguna Beach, I automatically responded, “Oh we used to have a show with that name here.”
“All the shows in the United States are named after places,” my other friend laughed. “Laguna Beach, Jersey Shore, Housewives of Atlanta….” I thought about it and realized that she was right. The U.S. is obsessed with places but more specifically, reality shows based in places. I wondered about the rise in reality television and what it is that we, as viewers, get out of programs with a shitty script and a witless cast. Even I can’t stop myself from pausing on Khloe and Lamar when flipping through channels, but why do I care?
Perhaps we enjoy the multidimensional aspect of reality television. Instead of a 30-minute segment that leave us hanging until the next week, shows like Keeping up with the Khardasians and Ice loves Coco feed our modern needs to be constantly stimulated. Now we can listen to their song debuts on the radio, we can see their outfits at red carpet events, and we can cross our fingers at the chance of running into them one day. There is more to look forward to with reality stars because they do real-life ridiculous things instead of imaginary ridiculous things. In the end, they give us more bang for our buck and become such a part of our daily lives that talking about Snooki and Lauren Conrad is like talking about girls that you go to school with. They send real tweets and prove true that truth is indeed stranger than fiction.
Alysia Slocum