My Dearest Darlings a television phenomenon has reached your
screens; the deplorable “The Only Way is Essex” format is unsurprisingly plundered
from your American cousins. This is yet another incarnation of reality TV which
plays to the lowest common denominator. Painfully crass and transparent ‘dramatic’
set pieces are constructed under the guise of so called ‘reality’ allowing the protagonists
to squirm and wriggle with embarrassing ineptitude for your prurient
entertainment.
I hoped that this unbearable spectacle would fade due to its
excruciating and unpleasant exploitation of the main players but alas the craze
has captured the television audiences’ imagination. Not satisfied by making
the working class Essex types appear to be inane uneducated plebeians the format
has moved on to exploit the inane yet apparently (though you’d barely know it)
educated: “Made in Chelsea” invites the ridiculously named and unimaginably privileged
‘stars’ the opportunity to make total and complete fools of themselves.
I can only imagine what it is that draws you to spend your
valuable time gazing at the screen whilst this hideous portrayal of humanity is
broadcast. Is it that you see yourselves as “them”? Is it that you vicariously
live your lives through the endless superficial banality of their so called
problems? I can’t imagine that you console your selves by assuming that this is
reality TV. It surely cannot fool even you into believing that these people are
experiencing ‘real life’.
The obvious and main reason why this format has been
fashioned is I assume because it is cheap and requires next to no creativity,
and it is this that is my point. Such is the current cultural life you engage
with that your so called ‘reality’ entertainment is completely fabricated. For
some inexplicable reason you have lost the ability to engage with fictional
characters meticulously created by true artists. The skill and dexterity of
your film makers or novelists has been jettisoned. You apparently prefer to
engage with ‘real’ figures placed in ‘faked’ situations with the aptitude of a five year old tabloid journalist. Sad My Darlings as you deserve so much more…
With Despair Ms Coco LaVerne x