Honestly there’s so little TV I can watch these days that doesn’t induce extreme anxiety in me. Even normal sit-coms that rely on dramatic irony are a lot. Jeopardy is really all that’s left that is super enjoyable consistently. I can be amused for a couple episodes of the silly semi-elimination competition shows, like “Is It Cake?” or “Nailed It” because it is posed as lighthearted. But my attention isn’t long for those.
I definitely can’t do the super fast paced competition shows anymore though. Or even like the renovation shows with a time crunch. It’s all SO much like architecture school. Everyone pulls weekly all-nighters, except for 5 years straight. The amount of deliverables you are expected to produce is absurdly unreasonable. You have to stand up and present your shit that you didn’t have any time to really think through to a panel of judges (other professors and outside professionals). Not just at the end, but multiple times throughout the semester. Some of those critics will literally tell you are worthless and to drop out.
The studios (everyone has their own large desk) are an absolute shit-show and during mid-terms and finals it is utter chaos. People keep pillows and blankets there all semester. There are plenty of good professors but also tons of them that will demand you stay up all night (which people were going to do anyway) and just spew absolutely abusive shit. And this is all romanticized. It’s bragging rights to have survived it. “Archi-torture”.
I literally had seizures one year from sleep deprivation (and lack of food/water/etc, but definitely no seizure disorder, I did spend two days in the hospital afterward to double check) right as I was standing up to present my final project. It’s actually a good thing it happened then, because if it had happened that morning at home or something, no one would have believed it and I would have probably had to repeat the whole year or some garbage. After that incident, I tried to manage my time as best I could and set boundaries about sleep. The year after I only pulled a handful of all nighters, spread-out, and the final year I successfully slept at least 5 or 6 hours minimum every night except my very last night before my very last final, and I still slept 3 hours that last night. And a lot of people were pissed at me for upholding that boundary. Project partners, professors, etc.
So anyway, ha. I definitely can’t watch those shows. It’s all so fucked. And just like, a really sick microcosm of the entirely of capitalism (but somehow it’s desirable because it’s a ~creative~ industry) put on display for entertainment.
Wow that is a horrifying experience, I’m so sorry that happened to you!! I had friends in “architorture” (also called it that at my school) and they would sleep under their desks at school and shit too. I was always like damn I’m so glad I’m in “fine” art where we work on the same thesis project for multiple years and our finals are like, weird performance pieces in the parking lot 😅 idk if I would have survived college otherwise!
Here’s a question—what do you think about the idea that reality TV is just the spectacle of exploitation?
I think there may be a net effect of current popular culture as a whole that slows the develop of a shared class consciousness in America. What do you think?
This is a very very good question that I have been meaning to read more about! (the society of the spectacle by debord has been on my list for a while but I haven’t gotten around to it) I do think a lot of mass media is used as a way to distract or numb us from our pain/boredom/work life, and so much of it is aspirational stuff about rich people or ladder-climbing success stories, so yeah, it can totally be a means of pacifying the masses.
I'll confess I've never read Debord either, but I do like the concept of the Spectacle and think it's useful in critiquing media. I'm hoping someday we all wake up to the effects of the media we consume, and break the spell. I spend a lot of time on ig(my "reality tv)", to the point where I'd say it's an addiction.
I have my suspicions that it might not be as harmless as I think, lol. Jonathan Crary wrote a great book called, 24/7, about how social media usage correlates with national studies on depression and anxiety. I know this, and I still can't kick social media. It's weird.
Also want to drop this link to a podcast telling the story of the improbable meeting of Guy Debord and a teenaged missionary named Mitt Romney, who at the time was working as a Mormon missionary in Paris.
I watched a stand-up show on Netflix with my gf. The next day we were like: "oh yeah that guy was so funny! what's his name again?" ***crickets*** We looked at each other with horror and shame, we shrugged, and I pointed the consequences of bingeing reality tv. But it was stand-up comedy! It was fashion! It was art! We didn't just forget the name of some contestant in the 11th iteration of a dating show! It's disheartening, in the end, that all of the time spent rooting for people on TV amounts to nothing. I can understand the instantaneity of Amazon + reality show contest, of course they want people to buy the thing right away... because we won't remember this artist/object/thing 5 minutes from now. Ugh.
Wow. I’m (frighteningly) impressed with how consistent this is with the overall Amazon “culture”, even down to what you wrote about the judges being disappointed and desperate for something they’re not getting from the mere mortals on the show. Good branding consistency, I guess? This tracks with what I know about Amazon corporate, even down to their interviewing process.
Eventually, where does all that disappointment lead? If people tune out, will they double down?
Oh interesting, they bring on a VP from Amazon in the last couple episodes to help judge and they all have to pitch their brand to her 🤮 I do wonder how involved they were with planning the show!
I just watched a Netflix series like this except it was a metal working competition and I had the same exact thoughts about it, like the challenges they’re put through in the show are so unreasonable and then people kept getting eliminated because their art didn’t fit the prompt literally enough and I was like……. Art is literally about personal interpretation and expression???? And the guy who won was literally the most boring one there artistically but he won’t because of kid technical ability and because he nailed the prompt every time. So sad to watch honestly
Honestly there’s so little TV I can watch these days that doesn’t induce extreme anxiety in me. Even normal sit-coms that rely on dramatic irony are a lot. Jeopardy is really all that’s left that is super enjoyable consistently. I can be amused for a couple episodes of the silly semi-elimination competition shows, like “Is It Cake?” or “Nailed It” because it is posed as lighthearted. But my attention isn’t long for those.
I definitely can’t do the super fast paced competition shows anymore though. Or even like the renovation shows with a time crunch. It’s all SO much like architecture school. Everyone pulls weekly all-nighters, except for 5 years straight. The amount of deliverables you are expected to produce is absurdly unreasonable. You have to stand up and present your shit that you didn’t have any time to really think through to a panel of judges (other professors and outside professionals). Not just at the end, but multiple times throughout the semester. Some of those critics will literally tell you are worthless and to drop out.
The studios (everyone has their own large desk) are an absolute shit-show and during mid-terms and finals it is utter chaos. People keep pillows and blankets there all semester. There are plenty of good professors but also tons of them that will demand you stay up all night (which people were going to do anyway) and just spew absolutely abusive shit. And this is all romanticized. It’s bragging rights to have survived it. “Archi-torture”.
I literally had seizures one year from sleep deprivation (and lack of food/water/etc, but definitely no seizure disorder, I did spend two days in the hospital afterward to double check) right as I was standing up to present my final project. It’s actually a good thing it happened then, because if it had happened that morning at home or something, no one would have believed it and I would have probably had to repeat the whole year or some garbage. After that incident, I tried to manage my time as best I could and set boundaries about sleep. The year after I only pulled a handful of all nighters, spread-out, and the final year I successfully slept at least 5 or 6 hours minimum every night except my very last night before my very last final, and I still slept 3 hours that last night. And a lot of people were pissed at me for upholding that boundary. Project partners, professors, etc.
So anyway, ha. I definitely can’t watch those shows. It’s all so fucked. And just like, a really sick microcosm of the entirely of capitalism (but somehow it’s desirable because it’s a ~creative~ industry) put on display for entertainment.
Wow that is a horrifying experience, I’m so sorry that happened to you!! I had friends in “architorture” (also called it that at my school) and they would sleep under their desks at school and shit too. I was always like damn I’m so glad I’m in “fine” art where we work on the same thesis project for multiple years and our finals are like, weird performance pieces in the parking lot 😅 idk if I would have survived college otherwise!
Here’s a question—what do you think about the idea that reality TV is just the spectacle of exploitation?
I think there may be a net effect of current popular culture as a whole that slows the develop of a shared class consciousness in America. What do you think?
This is a very very good question that I have been meaning to read more about! (the society of the spectacle by debord has been on my list for a while but I haven’t gotten around to it) I do think a lot of mass media is used as a way to distract or numb us from our pain/boredom/work life, and so much of it is aspirational stuff about rich people or ladder-climbing success stories, so yeah, it can totally be a means of pacifying the masses.
I'll confess I've never read Debord either, but I do like the concept of the Spectacle and think it's useful in critiquing media. I'm hoping someday we all wake up to the effects of the media we consume, and break the spell. I spend a lot of time on ig(my "reality tv)", to the point where I'd say it's an addiction.
I have my suspicions that it might not be as harmless as I think, lol. Jonathan Crary wrote a great book called, 24/7, about how social media usage correlates with national studies on depression and anxiety. I know this, and I still can't kick social media. It's weird.
Also want to drop this link to a podcast telling the story of the improbable meeting of Guy Debord and a teenaged missionary named Mitt Romney, who at the time was working as a Mormon missionary in Paris.
https://theoryofeverythingpodcast.com/2016/08/revolutionary-slogans-will-be-written-by-the-winners/
Oo I’ll check those out, thank you!
I watched a stand-up show on Netflix with my gf. The next day we were like: "oh yeah that guy was so funny! what's his name again?" ***crickets*** We looked at each other with horror and shame, we shrugged, and I pointed the consequences of bingeing reality tv. But it was stand-up comedy! It was fashion! It was art! We didn't just forget the name of some contestant in the 11th iteration of a dating show! It's disheartening, in the end, that all of the time spent rooting for people on TV amounts to nothing. I can understand the instantaneity of Amazon + reality show contest, of course they want people to buy the thing right away... because we won't remember this artist/object/thing 5 minutes from now. Ugh.
That’s so true, they put up a QR code on the screen you can scan to instantly buy their pieces and everything
Wow. I’m (frighteningly) impressed with how consistent this is with the overall Amazon “culture”, even down to what you wrote about the judges being disappointed and desperate for something they’re not getting from the mere mortals on the show. Good branding consistency, I guess? This tracks with what I know about Amazon corporate, even down to their interviewing process.
Eventually, where does all that disappointment lead? If people tune out, will they double down?
Oh interesting, they bring on a VP from Amazon in the last couple episodes to help judge and they all have to pitch their brand to her 🤮 I do wonder how involved they were with planning the show!
I just watched a Netflix series like this except it was a metal working competition and I had the same exact thoughts about it, like the challenges they’re put through in the show are so unreasonable and then people kept getting eliminated because their art didn’t fit the prompt literally enough and I was like……. Art is literally about personal interpretation and expression???? And the guy who won was literally the most boring one there artistically but he won’t because of kid technical ability and because he nailed the prompt every time. So sad to watch honestly