In February of 2020, the world was forever changed. No, not from a horrible pandemic. Well, yes, the pandemic too, but I present a more culturally significant event: The premiere of Netflix’s “Love is Blind”.
Presented as a social experiment, the aptly-named show attempts to determine if love can be blind. To test this, they select 30 conventionally attractive single people from a certain city and place them into a controlled environment.
These 15 men and 15 women are put into a gender-segregated living situation. For 10 days, they go on mini dates with their potential partners in “pods,” which are essentially just rooms facing each other so the contestants can hear their date, just not see them.
Oftentimes, couples who emerge from the pods will express to their friends and family how emotionally connected they feel to their partners, attributing their bond to the pods. To the viewers it appears that the pods are a place for drinking, painting and awkward and premature proclamations of love.
However, the contestants assert that they “got deep” in the pods, which unless it was kept from views would consist of the occasional trauma dump. So, from a viewer’s perspective, they only get to the emotional depth of a kiddy pool.
Nevertheless, a few of these brave individuals enter an engagement without seeing one another. After they are engaged, the pair is allowed to meet for the first time. They then are whisked away on a tropical getaway before being forced to live with their new partner for the weeks preceding their weddings.
Here’s the craziest part: They must decide whether they get married at the alter after knowing each other for 38 days. So, most relationships end tragically and traumatically in front of their family, friends and all of America.
It is an utterly ridiculous trainwreck, but it makes for great TV.
Perhaps under different circumstances, love can be blind. However, “Love Is Blind” has proven time and time again that love is not blind when it is produced by Netflix. The newest season of “Love Is Blind”, season 6, which aired its final episode earlier this week, was on par with earlier seasons — chockfull of drama yet lacking strong relationships.
Between poor casting and unrealistic timelines, the singles on “Love Is Blind” do not get a fair chance at finding love.
First of all, the individuals accepted onto the show are merely vessels for drama. These people are not ready for marriage. I mean, can we talk about how crazy it is that (SPOLIER!) Clay sweetly smiled at his fiancée at the alter just to say no to getting married to her?? His reason? He wasn’t ready to be married. But the man signed up for a reality TV show where the main goal is to get married! It’s absurd.
Sure, the production team checks out prospective contestants, issuing a mental health exam for example, but that does not certify that they will be good a partner.
Netflix needs the drama, so there are bound to be a few naturally messy and emotionally immature people placed into the experiment. It’s good business.
It’s also good business to only allow especially attractive people on the show. These people could all be models. So, it’s difficult to determine if love is blind when the grand reveal is a 10/10 woman. In fact, love is so unblind that two main plot points of the new season rested solely on women’s appearances.
On a different note, it’s heartwarming to see this season’s lone surviving couple, Johnny and Amy (who are absolutely adorable together), proclaim that “love IS blind” after their awkwardly staged wedding. However, their claim does not ring true for the other 28 contestants who did not find love blindly.
According to Business Insider, there are 9 couples from “Love Is Blind” that are still married. So, yes, in some cases love is blind, but I think it’s safe to say that they are the exception, not the rule.