The Fairy Godmother Lives In Your TV

I was surfing this afternoon to get my mind off things when I came across this article in the Time on-line journal about the proliferation of relality TV shows that focus on helping poor unfortunates.

Personally, reality tv pisses me off. Many "reality" shows look like badly scripted soap-operas--same cheezeball production values, same bad makeup and wardrobe, same boom shadow in upper left corner of the shot.

The thing is, though, soap-operas are considered as low-brow--the provice of unhappy housewives, giddy immature college students, and second-shift workers.

Moving them to prime-time makes them more respectable. But they have the same level of strum und drang as one might encounter on maybe Guilding Light or the Young and The Restless...with the exception of someone being an international spy and all that....

But what seems much more insidious is the proliferation of reality tv shows that prey on the sypathies and classism of the bourgeoisie. Let's face it--watching mega-charity enthusiastically bestowed on those we perceive as less fortunate or downright unfortunate plays into our sense of superiority; it gives us a false sense of charity. If we watch it, we can believe we are part of the solution, not just gawkers at a car wreck--as we might be if some of these folks lived down the street from us.

But I'm also quite disturbed about the message this stuff sends to people who are in dire circumstances. Years ago, I noticed a disturbing trend among middle/working and lower classes--get injured, file a big lawsuit, kick back and collect "mega-bucks" for your pain and suffering. What do y'all think was behind the whole finger-in-my-chili episode at Wendy's??? Pure greed and the perception that the court system is something of a Fairy Godmother....

Now, though, it is the reality tv show that is the Fairy Godmother. If you write your letter, and send in your videotape, and you are sorrowful enough, chances are Ty What's-his-pretty-face and his equally pretty and well-meaning, high-earning buddies will come over and spread the love.

And the condescension.

Maybe it really does make some people feel good to know that corporate sponsors are forking over some goodly bucks in the name of charity.

I'm always skeptical about corporate charity on this level anyway. Like Tommy Hilfiger jeans, it can be viewed as using poor people as billboards: "look at us! Look how (fill in the blank Corporation) made our new life possible!"

So, is it really charity, or is it some insidious form of corporate promotion?

Nowdays, though, my disgust at un-reality tv keeps me from watching most tv in the first place. Between the pap of un-reality and the gross-out factor of icky crime dramas (CSI and Law and Order being the two biggies of this genre) I'd rather watch the icky crime drama. Going "ew! that's gross!" is far more satisfying than having a corporation's false charity prod me to crocodile tears.