ENTRY A:
My Favourite TV programme
My favourite TV programme is, without a doubt, Big Brother. Does this make me sad (‘sadder’ I hear from Dilloland…). The answer to that depends on how you judge my ‘reasons’.
Big Brother, the ‘reality’ programme is about a group of people living in a house. Behind two-way mirrors are cameras and thus we, the voyeuristic public, are able to observe the events in the house as they happen. In this way the Big Brother ‘experience’ allows us to be part of other peoples’ lives, unobserved.
In truth this reality television is anything but. The camera-people decide on what we will see; the daytime shows are frequently drowned out (deliberately) seemingly at random so our tender minds won’t be polluted. Even the people in the house, perhaps to try and stave off initially nomination and ultimately, eviction rarely reveal an insight into their true personality. As Betty (Elizabeth) said last night, as she was lovingly washing the back of the naked Amma, “If it wasn’t for the cameras I’d be sitting round naked”.
So, is Big Brother ‘normal people’ doing ‘normal things’. Again the answer must be ‘no’ as the ten selected (from 50,000 applicants) were unlikely to even have offered themselves up for selection unless there was a certain degree of extroversion in their nature. Just how many of us wouldn’t care of someone was pointing an unseen camera at us as we sat ‘trying to have a poo’ as Narinder (another housemate) would say?
Then there’s the rivalry. The housemates are competing for a £70,000 prize. In truth (assuming they watched the first series) all know they will have a degree of ‘fame’ when they come out. As Penny astutely said, ‘the first and last ones out will have the greatest television opportunities’. (This was said the same day she accidentally dropped her shower towel revealing her naked body.) The housemates choose two people each week for eviction. Who to choose? The greatest threat? (but make sure that is not the reason given). The person you dislike most (but then outside supporters will, if given a chance, then vote you out instead)? Ideally you choose someone you don’t like (but appear to simply ‘like least’) or someone you see as the person most likely to threaten your quest for the winner’s prize.
In between nominating people the housemates have to carry out tasks. These range from building columns out of sugar cubes to learning first aid to cope with victims after an asteroid shower. All the time they are learning they are interacting and the cameras are there (on the viewer’s behalf) watching. Sometimes, to spice it up alcohol is given out . So far this has lead to huge arguments or the girls strip naked and kiss each. Both the events have boosted ratings.
So is it the nakedness? The fighting? The deceit? The feeling of being part of a ‘social experiment’?
The answer is ‘none of the above’. What makes it such an absorbing programme is the degree of manipulation. The producers, in the guise of encouraging interaction, beg viewers to phone in and vote on a range of issues e.g. who stole Brian’s Teddy Bear? and other philosophical questions. Joe Public, glad to be invited, obliges – and every phone call made adds to the Big Brother profits.
Spin-off items and even whole programmes seem to have gestated. The Internet site http://www.bigbrother.terra.com/frameset.html lists Big Brother items for sale. From the first series came a book ‘Big Brother – the Inside Story’ plus a video plus numerous repeat programmes. For the current series a feng shui expert has explained the house’s design – and even the flies that end and start each segment have a record coming out soon.
Does everyone gain? The Sun has a campaign to ensure that Bubble wins so presumably punters will be placing bets – and then voting for Bubble. Sales of the Sun have risen since they ‘adopted’ Nasty Nick (after having called for his eviction he was installed as ‘resident Big brother journalist) – and will presumably rise even more now that clips from the ‘girls ‘n suds’ appear on www.the-sun.co.uk website.
What does this programme tell us about…anything? Arguably there’s no scheme, no plot – and no-one really loses. In that sense the whole programme is like a type of meditation which (as Osho wrote) is ‘Meditation is pure space, undisturbed by knowledge’ . On a different level it is soft porn with a liberal spreading of two bisexuals (Paul and Amma) a camp gay (Brian) and a ‘straight-looking gay’ Josh. On another level viewers may be a disinterested viewer on the development of neuroses (Vanessa Felz or Penny) on a scale unseen in ordinary television drama. On yet another level it allows us to see the development of relationships and ‘how not to get on with people’ in a way that Lord of the Flies epitomises. On yet another level it is a ‘yoof programme’ which allows us to watch a bunch of pretty twenty-somethings deal with close confinement – yet oddly a number of topics are not allowed to be discussed including politics, religion and the previous Big Brother programme. With the growth of the internet and Yahoo/Hotmail addresses Big Brother may even be seen as the ultimate chat-room where our representatives (i.e. the housemates) live out aspects of each and everyone’s personality. The more you get to know the contestants the more you can appreciate the humour, the pathos and the double-dealing.
Others would just say it’s a game show.
You, the reader must decide.