Friday, January 08, 2010

Demented fairy tales

The demented stands for the women who actually campaigned to be on the Bachelor and fairy tale, because I lost count of the number of women who used that termt to describe the situation. Twenty five women competing for the attention of one man.

It's a train wreck of low self-esteem and impossible expectations. A scary number of women admitted to being ready to marry some man they'd never met before, because they deserved him, and they wanted kids right away.

And as I watched the show, I thought, more of these women need to be romance novels. Our genre takes a lot of crap for sustaining unrealistic expectations, but the vast majority of romance novels describe a relationship worked out by two people interacting a lot, overcoming obstacles and getting to know each other and falling in love because of who the person is, not what they've seen on TV.

But then again, if the bachelor show found twenty five intelligent, reasonable women, there wouldn't be much of a show.

And I'm going to try never to watch it again. It sort of makes me angry.

7 comments:

Stephanie Doyle said...

Sinead... hitting me where it hurts hardest... going after the Bachelor! I LOVE that show.

Here's why...

Wink, smile, and squeeze a guy's bicep then say... "Hey there you got registry for those guns."

I burst out laughing just thinking about that line.

Although I'm sure the women who begin this process don't think that #1 enjoyment that most people get from this is mocking them.

And truthfully - I do believe most are there for their 15 minutes rather than the guy.

But you are right. I'm always astounded by the women who are looking at their watches and thinking... okay. I'm twenty... fill in age here... it's time to be married so I can have my 2.5 children.

Eileen said...

I'm SOOOO not a reality TV girl so I don't really get the appeal in the first place. The dating ones just seem so demeaning to everyone though.

Stephanie Doyle said...

Also - because I'm slightly nutty about this show - this year's bachelor I think is as equally desperate as the women. He thinks he should be married and he doesn't understand why he isn't.

I thought maybe he'll choose the better fits. The quieter girls that might suit him more. Girls he might actually date in real life...

Nope - he picked the blond, big breasted "model" who claims that all women hate her because she so beautiful. (Yeah - that's why) A woman he has NO chance with.

Which just goes to show that men are first motiviated by sex/appearance. And on a show like this that leaves no time for real communication - they will default to those instincts.

Maureen McGowan said...

I laughed at that girl, too, Steph. In what universe did she think that would be a good opening line? Or the you and land your plane on my landing strip anytime... **Shudders**

I so desperately wanted to avoid this season. Could not stand the pilot guy last season. I questioned Jillian's judgement about many of the guys, (but loved Ed), but her accusing pilot dude of being fake was right on to me. He's like a freaking Ken doll -- only the Ken dolls of my youth had more personality.

Then the night it was on, I was dutifully editing my ms, and made the mistake of checking my twitter feed and Melissa Francis, damn her, tweeted about the woman named Vienna and her mother daughter days with her dog. I laughed out loud at Mel's tweet and decided I just had to run down and set my DVR to record it.

OMG Just when you thought they couldn't pick a group of sillier women. Just when you thought there might be fewer obviously augmented breasts and lips this season. Just when you thought they might have a season without a casting people who clearly need psychiatric help...

And now I've seen it, I'm not sure I'll have the willpower to look away.

Plus, sounds like something happens this season that was the plot of one of my early scrapped (thankfully) projects. One of the contestants sleeps with a crew member!

That was my book plot, dammit. For a flipside, if memory serves. Yah, like that would've sold. Not. Except in my case it was a guy contestant, sleeping with a female camera operator, until I decided it wouldn't work because impossible to make either character sympathetic.

Maureen McGowan said...

LOL, Steph.

He is SO DESPERATE AND SAD AND NAIVE.

My fiance is in that room! (Idiot.)

And yes, women hate me because I'm beautiful, too. It's a burden.

Molly O'Keefe said...

I'm with Eileen on this one and frankly I have no time to watch dating comepetition shows because I'm too busy watching dancing and cooking competition shows.

Anonymous said...

It's a trainwreck, but so hard to look away.. and I hate to admit it, entertaining..

I loved the landing strip line... seriously, awful stuff... and he's just sort of dumb...

But it is funny.. I should have had a drink before I watched, that was my biggest mistake.,

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