reality TV
Love and Surveillance: Dating Shows Channel More Than Reality
Netflix released multiple reality TV shows in 2020 that feature beautiful people blissfully succumbing to the power of being watched.
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Poisoned Rose: Why the “Cruel Optimism” of “The Bachelorette” Still Draws Us In
In a time that’s more mediated than ever before, love is a contrived TV show for us all.
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Go Low: The Time for Civility Is Over
We don’t pay our representatives to be scared, hiding behind the apron strings of civility.
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Polish and Privilege: “RHONY” Illuminates the Class Divide in America
Extreme economic disparity in America is the problem. RHONY just makes it visible.
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If “Selling Sunset” Is One Big Happy Family, What’s with the Sexism?
In Selling Sunset, once you join the family, you are free to pursue the golden dream–but that can come at a cost.
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Trauma Fishbowl: Reality TV Is Costing Survivors More Than Privacy
These events are a stark reminder of the price of fame.
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Eugenics as Entertainment: “Indian Matchmaking’s” Lighthearted View of Caste Oppression
Indian Matchmaking reveals all the isms associated with arranged marriages—colorism, casteism, sizeism, ableism, and classism—without criticizing any of it.
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“Too Hot to Handle” Is a Conservative Nightmare of a Reality Dating Show
The premise is simple: for the duration of the season, no one can have sex.
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She’s so Pure: “The Bachelor” Still Has a Virginity Problem
Madison’s “purity” rhetoric illustrates a much broader, scarier problem with her virginity-focused narrative arc.
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“Love Is Blind” Shows There’s No Bisexual Boom for Black Men
Televison’s “bisexual boom” hasn’t yet reached Black men.
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