About ten minutes ago I was watching entourage, and I started to think to myself why we do have these obsessions with theses shows? When I say “these shows” I mean shows about living a glamorous life. Shows that are close to reality shows but a little fabricated (I consider Real World one of these shows because despite what some may believe a lot of it is scripted). Personally, I would want my life to be like Vincent Chases’ life in the show called Entourage. Entourage is a show loosely based off of Mark Walberg’s life and how he came to be the star he is today. In this show Vincent Chase (Playing as Mark Walberg) goes everywhere with his two best friends and his older brother. And when I mean everywhere I mean everywhere (Dates, red carpet, interviews, they live together, parties). As I am quickly changing to the next episode, I think to myself how sweet would be if my friends and I had the same lifestyle? I mean is it safe to say that we enjoy these types of shows because we are envious of what they have? Shows that are so close to reality, that we want to just reach out and claim it for our own life. But then again it raises another question. Would this want to be the life one would want to live? Paris Hilton or OJ or any other celebrity, there life is constantly under a microscope under review and that is something most people would not enjoy. The main question I want to ask, although you can response to any question raised above: ), is this some life you would want to live? Is the juice worth the squeeze?
5 comments:
Do you think that this obsession with "real life" shows about glamorous people is an indication that the viewers are not satisfied with their own lives? Real life itself should be so much more interesting than vicariously living the life of some celebrity, but many people prefer to fantasize about having better looks, more clothes, bigger houses, more friends, more sex appeal, and more money. What would it be like? But it's not real; it's a media creation. Why don't people know this and stop wasting their time in a fantasy?
Maybe it is the principle of living in a fantasy that's the reason people continue to watch these shows. I personally am an Entourage fan, mostly because the show is funny, and also because film is the industry I want to go into. I consider Entourage a depiction of something to look forward to, but also a warning of things that people face in a competitive, wealthy, and cutthroat industry. I don't think Entourage is that far off from the truth about life in Hollywood. Show's like Real World, however, I think are way off, and likewise Entourage has done considerably better in success than Real World.
But more on "wasting time in fantasys." If you are a person who watches a show like this strictly because it's escape from normal life, what's wrong with that. I have a good friend who spends much of his free time playing Guitar Hero, the video game. His mother complains that if he spent all the time he does playing that game on real guitar lessons, he might actually accomplish something. It's a valid point, but realize that he doesn't actually want to play guitar, it's of no use to him. He doesn't want to make a career out of being a rock star, but the game allows him to escape reality when not working, to enjoy a rock star fantasy. The same goes for a person who enjoys a show like this.
The reason people are so caught up in tv shows such as Entourage, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, and many other various hit shows, is that we want to escape the reality of our own lives. The hour we sit and watch one of these shows, it gives us the ability to empathize with the characters and forget about the problems and stresses we have dealt with throughout the day. Everyone deals with stress a certain way rather it is reading a book, running, or watching a tv show. I'm not supporting watching a lot of television but one must realize that it is a type of stress reliever that helps us escape if even for just one hour as long as they understand that this is not reality but as cec said, a "media creation."
I know this may sound a little bit weird, but I think these T.V shows give me at least some hope. Our lives are sometimes so heavy with all the work that we have to do as students that an escape to T.V is necessary. Watching somebody elses drama and problems is a way to make ourselves feel as if our lives could be worse. Also, the romances on these shows give me hope to believe that everything that should happen does. To know that Meredith and Derrick fight but will inevitibly end up together makes me happy. Even though the situation might not be real, and would only happen in a scripted life, it is still nice to keep that hope alive that certain life events do end up working out.
I don’t think that we watch these shows to escape our own lives. I am a huge Grey’s Anatomy fan and I watch it because I find the show entertaining and it gives me that hour to watch TV and relax to take a break from homework. But I do agree this is strange that we are obsessed with watching shows about other people’s lives. For that matter, I think it is so weird how we are obsessed with celebrities. I was talking to my friends the other day and if we truly think about it, a celebrity is a person just like us. They make their living by singing or acting, however, we have to know everything about their lives. Buy why? What is the point in gawking over someone else? That is why I like celebrities like Denzel Washington and Matt Damon who purposely keep their personal lives away from the media. They exemplify what celebrities should be like which would prevent everyday people acting as though celebrities are some kind of superhero.
Post a Comment