Reality Television’s Hidden Complexity
I had never been one for reality television. In high school I often opted for reading books or watching Gilmore Girls in my free time. I was a slightly pretentious high schooler who found it cooler to read The Bell Jar on the bench outside my driver’s ed class instead of scrolling on my phone. I thought it was more interesting to spend my summer evenings obsessively reading Sally Rooney instead of watching Love Island. I thought reality television was entertaining but shallow. I thought it to be below my intelligence. Insufferable.
This summer I spent my first summer in Madison. It was the first summer I didn’t live with my family and felt the true freedom long summer days can offer. I lived with my best friend in our quaint apartment near the park. I filled my weekdays with working, weekends with tanning in the sun, and almost every week night with Love Island.
In the Spring, my roommate and I watched season six of Love Island USA. Throughout our time being friends she had slowly gotten me hooked on various reality television franchises. It started freshman year when I watched Golden Bachelorette and season one of Secret Lives of Morman Wives. It was nice, semi-mindless entertainment to soften the tough transition to college life. Plus, it was something for us to talk about over General Tso’s chicken in the dining hall.
This Spring, I immediately got hooked on Love Island.. I found the show absolutely preposterous and fascinating. We watched the whole season (which is 36 hour-long episodes) in only a month. Just in time for this year’s season to start.
We went to a watch party on premiere night, wearing our island-themed outfits. It was a Tuesday night in June and we stayed out until 2 a.m. It truly felt like summer in a college town. Most nights we would watch at 7:35 p.m. sharp while eating our dinners and candy salads. Some nights we would go over to our friend’s air conditioned apartment to watch together (our apartment did not have air conditioning). The night of the Casa Amor recoupling will go down in infamy; we were screaming at the top of our lungs. I nearly threw my phone at the TV.
What struck me most about Love Island was how much it brought people together. Anywhere I’d walk from June-July I would hear someone talking about it. Keeping up with the show is a time commitment. It aired every night except Wednesdays, which was Aftersun day, and Saturdays. Episodes are at least an hour long, sometimes an hour and a half. It swallowed up most of June. Plus, my roommate and I started watching Love Island UK at the same time, the addiction was strong. Yet, so many people kept up with this commitment and everyone had strong opinions about the islanders. While I do think there are many unethical aspects of the show, I can’t deny that I appreciate the sense of community it cultivates.
I found that reality television, especially Love Island, is anything but shallow. In fact, I would venture to argue that the notion that reality television is shallow is rooted in misogyny. The cultural belief that things women enjoy are inherently unintelligent or superficial has deep roots in American society. It’s acceptable for men to drunkenly scream at football games, yet it’s embarrassing for women to drink Aperol Spritzies and watch Love is Blind. It’s normal for men to go to strip clubs on a Friday night, yet it’s disgusting for women to watch the heartrate challenge on Love Island. This ideology is largely unconscious, driven by an intergenerational habit for belittling femininity. It’s not a stiff truth, but it is a popular pattern, its effects seen in our everydays lives. The truth is, nothing is actually shallow, everything represents a broader phenomenon that is waiting to be explored.
No matter if it’s right or wrong, entertaining or not, reality television is a sociologically rich place. It is a televised representation of our cultural values and attitudes at the time. It can act as a time capsule of the way of American life, love and relationships. There are also extremely complex relationship dynamics on display in almost all reality television shows. While they’re surely overdramatised, they do demonstrate actual dynamics in hundreds of people’s lives. Between the over-the-top challenges, contestants on Love Island have vulnerable conversations with each other, they navigate conflict in both healthy and unhealthy ways, they apologize and they hold grudges, they betray each other and they comfort each other. They are unabashedly human for all of America to see.
Aside from Love Island, I’ve indulged in countless other reality shows over the past few years. I now have a matured perspective on various media. I don’t view certain types of entertainment as above others; there is value in all different types of entertainment, even reality television. Fun is a good enough reason to enjoy something. And, I’ve come to realize not only is reality television fun, it is actually extremely nuanced. Unlike openly academic literary texts, reality television’s complexity hides beneath its flashy veil, only to be uncovered by those who look close enough.