TV for Science: Big Brother 2012
I used to experiment on people for a living. This included time spent watching them through a two-way mirror to detect when they would cheat on a task, so it's not a huge stretch that I might find a show like Big Brother interesting.
The show and I go back a fair way, to season 2. I'd pretty much ignored season 1 for all the reasons you'd expect someone to avoid reality television, even though at the time it was still fairly new. But it was wildly popular and I was curious to see what the attraction was so I decided to watch season 2 For Science. It's these kind of urges that make me read the Twilight books (and god help me The Da Vinci Code *shudder*), so it's not always a fun thing for me.
Watching BB2 I learned many things. Chief amongst these was that it gave viewers the opportunity to validate their opinions of other people. A mass social skills exam if you will. One could discuss the behaviour of Housemate X with strangers (which I did, For Science) and be reassured that they too agreed that the contestant in question was creepy, or a bitch, or seemed too nice to be true. And weren't they being horrible to Housemate Y? In short - instant gossip material, but it felt relatively natural because these were "real" people. It was ridiculously easy to chat to people, something I found extremely difficult at the time.
I say "real" people because what you see on the screen is the result of the efforts of many to construct a narrative which may bear little or no resemblance to reality. But I found that craft of manipulation interesting too; it was production design in the raw. With the opportunity to observe how housemates behaved in the wild once they left, such machinations became more apparent.
I've been lucky to have additional insider information on the show because my cousin is a cameraman/soundguy and has worked on most of the seasons. And though he said it was staggeringly boring work (the entire crew fell asleep one night for six straight hours) it paid the bills for a solid three months at a time which was not to be sneezed at.
Over the years I've attempted to watch again, to see how it had changed with the housemates now much more aware of the game and less likely to forget that they were being filmed and recorded constantly. It's awfully dull to watch drunken amateur porn interspersed with pie fights and It's A Knockout knockoffs. I didn't last long - there wasn't nearly enough psychological torture for my liking, and I failed to sustain interest long enough to get to know anyone enough to care.
But bombarded with ads especially during the Olympics, I felt my curiosity piqued again, particularly as they seemed to be making an effort to have interesting people on board. I gave it a go, and have found keeping up with most of the programming no great hardship. It has even been entertaining on occasions. I believe I'm supposed to express shame at this point? Surrender my Geek card?
So I'm enjoying and appreciating the entertainment value of most of the various tasks, rewards, and punishments. Arranging for one housemate to deliver electric shocks to another reminds me warmly of my history of psychology days. I enjoy analysing each task to see how it's been designed to extract maximum drama. Even the apparently boring "Road Trip" task put pairs of housemates together for long periods of time, forcing them to interact when they might not otherwise have spoken privately.
I'm enjoying the process of getting to know the individuals, or rather the process of observing my opinions about them change over time. I don't pretend I'm getting to know people, but I'm getting the hang of the characters. I've enjoyed being wrong - in the beginning I assumed that Zoe was doomed because she snored and hugged too long and hard. It was sad but inevitable that poor Charne would get the flick. It's always the most organised person who goes first. Someone with OCD would seem to be marked for slaughter.
Random thoughts:
Can Ryan *really* be that dumb? Really?
I wish BB would stop giving extra food to Ray - I *want* to seem him explode and get chucked out (without harming anyone, natch).
Can Bradley grow up in time to stop getting strangled?
Can Ben avoid eviction this week? I do hope so.
Stacey is awesome. I luff her now, but it took me a little time to get there.
I'm becoming surprisingly fond of Layla now she's stopped shouting all the time.
It goes on. Let's face it, primate brains were evolved to deal with this sort of thing. I have a large and active social group, but I'm always miles behind on comings and goings (ok: gossip). I think this show is allowing me to stretch some withered parts of my brain. Humans are interesting things, and watching them has become something of a novelty.
PS If anyone's wondering, I feel no confusion in my mind between BB the tv show and BB my much loved brother.
The show and I go back a fair way, to season 2. I'd pretty much ignored season 1 for all the reasons you'd expect someone to avoid reality television, even though at the time it was still fairly new. But it was wildly popular and I was curious to see what the attraction was so I decided to watch season 2 For Science. It's these kind of urges that make me read the Twilight books (and god help me The Da Vinci Code *shudder*), so it's not always a fun thing for me.
Watching BB2 I learned many things. Chief amongst these was that it gave viewers the opportunity to validate their opinions of other people. A mass social skills exam if you will. One could discuss the behaviour of Housemate X with strangers (which I did, For Science) and be reassured that they too agreed that the contestant in question was creepy, or a bitch, or seemed too nice to be true. And weren't they being horrible to Housemate Y? In short - instant gossip material, but it felt relatively natural because these were "real" people. It was ridiculously easy to chat to people, something I found extremely difficult at the time.
I say "real" people because what you see on the screen is the result of the efforts of many to construct a narrative which may bear little or no resemblance to reality. But I found that craft of manipulation interesting too; it was production design in the raw. With the opportunity to observe how housemates behaved in the wild once they left, such machinations became more apparent.
I've been lucky to have additional insider information on the show because my cousin is a cameraman/soundguy and has worked on most of the seasons. And though he said it was staggeringly boring work (the entire crew fell asleep one night for six straight hours) it paid the bills for a solid three months at a time which was not to be sneezed at.
Over the years I've attempted to watch again, to see how it had changed with the housemates now much more aware of the game and less likely to forget that they were being filmed and recorded constantly. It's awfully dull to watch drunken amateur porn interspersed with pie fights and It's A Knockout knockoffs. I didn't last long - there wasn't nearly enough psychological torture for my liking, and I failed to sustain interest long enough to get to know anyone enough to care.
But bombarded with ads especially during the Olympics, I felt my curiosity piqued again, particularly as they seemed to be making an effort to have interesting people on board. I gave it a go, and have found keeping up with most of the programming no great hardship. It has even been entertaining on occasions. I believe I'm supposed to express shame at this point? Surrender my Geek card?
So I'm enjoying and appreciating the entertainment value of most of the various tasks, rewards, and punishments. Arranging for one housemate to deliver electric shocks to another reminds me warmly of my history of psychology days. I enjoy analysing each task to see how it's been designed to extract maximum drama. Even the apparently boring "Road Trip" task put pairs of housemates together for long periods of time, forcing them to interact when they might not otherwise have spoken privately.
I'm enjoying the process of getting to know the individuals, or rather the process of observing my opinions about them change over time. I don't pretend I'm getting to know people, but I'm getting the hang of the characters. I've enjoyed being wrong - in the beginning I assumed that Zoe was doomed because she snored and hugged too long and hard. It was sad but inevitable that poor Charne would get the flick. It's always the most organised person who goes first. Someone with OCD would seem to be marked for slaughter.
Random thoughts:
Can Ryan *really* be that dumb? Really?
I wish BB would stop giving extra food to Ray - I *want* to seem him explode and get chucked out (without harming anyone, natch).
Can Bradley grow up in time to stop getting strangled?
Can Ben avoid eviction this week? I do hope so.
Stacey is awesome. I luff her now, but it took me a little time to get there.
I'm becoming surprisingly fond of Layla now she's stopped shouting all the time.
It goes on. Let's face it, primate brains were evolved to deal with this sort of thing. I have a large and active social group, but I'm always miles behind on comings and goings (ok: gossip). I think this show is allowing me to stretch some withered parts of my brain. Humans are interesting things, and watching them has become something of a novelty.
PS If anyone's wondering, I feel no confusion in my mind between BB the tv show and BB my much loved brother.