I watched the second episode of The Bachelor for the 2010 season, featuring Jake Pavelka as this year's bachelor.
The Bachelor show incorporates a number of women who try to win over the man--in this case-- Jake. The goal is that by the end of the show, Jake will find a wife. Women get voted off each week by Jake. Essentially, he dates all of them at once in order to try to find his true love and marry her.
I found that, at the root of the show, the women are using their bodies and looks (beautiful as they are) in order to get to know Jake. The talking and conversation always came after some kind of sexy play, drawing Jake toward them so they could get "time to talk" with him. While outward beauty is a good thing, I think that American culture has devalued it and what makes it beautiful.
I wonder how many previous bachelors have had successful marriages. Seeing what I've seen of The Bachelor (only in week two!) I'd doubt many. I saw a small clip of Jake at an interview after he found his wife, whose name wasn't mentioned. He admitted that he went on the show to find love, but truthfully, "fell in love with several women over the course of the show." But in the end, only one is picked. Seems more like a problem than a solution to me.
So, I see broken people in a broken world. They look for the right things: love, affection, and trust. They just look in ways that I think will eventually send them to their doom. The sense of purpose for the secular world is extremely "me-based." I'd like to see purpose in which everyone fits and everyone has their place. The problem with The Bachelor is that everyone is given the same grounds (as possibly Jake's future wife) and the sense of community is gone. It's a competition, not a group of women friends who care about each other. If The Bachelor were to be redeemed, I think it would be more involved in promoting talking to get to know each other rather than the romance and sexuality of it.
I do realize that I am very sinful and broken as well. It's not "only the sinful Bachelor people" but the sinful human race. And redemption will come from Christ.
Discussion questions:
1) Why is it that many people enjoy watching highly dramatic, immoral shows as opposed to steady, moral shows?
2) Do Americans at large truly value the idea of "getting to know someone?"
3) How can relationships be redeemed, especially considering the rising divorce rate?
The problem also may be the the bachelor falls into LUST with these girls... instead of true love. It is possible obviously to love more than one person. Perhaps its even possible to fall in love with more than one person... but several in such a short period of time doesn't seem right. The fact that his attention is divided between so many woman in such a limited amount of time, Jake cannot possibly do what he truly came to do- find a wife.
ReplyDeleteThe previous show of the bachelor, yes I watched, Jason falls for two women. But once the lights and cameras are off, the person isn't competing with another woman, she doesn't have to be the woman he wants her to be.
The show is for entertainment at the expense of confusing love and lust and actually doing emotional damage. Woman are drive from fame and vanity to be on the show. Hence, this season, one woman was kicked off because she said she was there for Jake, for love, but instead, got with a staffer. Unfortunately, it sounds like a great idea- to find a spouse- but not the public way the show goes about it.
I will admit that I faithfully watch the Bachelor every week and have watched the last couple of seasons as well. I know that it is a cheesy show that doesn't show peoples real feelings or attitudes. The women do anything they can to draw attention to themselves, whether it is throw themselves all over Jake or get into cat fights with the other girls, all they want is attention. I think viewers like me and many other people enjoy watching the show because of all the drama and hype. Of course, we know that this situation would never happen in real life, but we are still drawn to the drama and the "tough decisions" that Jake will have to make in order to find "true love." As Christians, we need to remind ourselves that this is a show fully emerged in the empire. This is not a true display of love, but rather a show of love that the contestants are doing for popularity, and the show is doing for ratings. The majority of the bachelors and bachelorettes have not stayed with the person that they picked which goes to show the shallowness of this show and the way it deceives people into believing that they are "in love."
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that one of the women got thrown off for falling for a staff member. Is that such a horrible thing? I mean, in this case, the connection between the two was probably shallow, but that's not necessarily the case. What is she honestly fell in love with the staffer? Now, instead of her love being celebrated, she will be ridiculed forever because she betrayed Jake who essentially owned her for the length of the show. In other words, the woman's value is in her relation to Jake, not her actual self. Thus, Jake must be served to find love, rather than following Christ's example of love by service.
ReplyDeleteGreat comments, everyone. I wonder to what extent The Bachelor functions like pornography. Pornography takes something that God created good--sex--and twists it, in the process requiring the actual physical participation of actors and actresses. Likewise, as Karlie points out, The Bachelor takes something that God created us to rightly desire--"love, affection, and trust"--and manipulates the bachelor's and bachelorettes' emotions for our viewing pleasure. The Bachelor is just more "kosher" for prime time TV...though if the stereotype is true that women are more concerned with emotional connections rather than cheap physical connections, maybe The Bachelor is just prime time porn for women? The empire definitely has an interest in tapping into that stereotype if it can draw more viewers and therefore charge more for advertising during the show.
ReplyDeleteInteresting point about moral and immoral shows, Karlie--but is there such a thing as a perfectly "moral" show? Even Saturday morning cartoons are trying to sell certain values to viewers that may or may not line up with Kingdom values.
I feel as if this show in a way proclaims that 'whorism' (if thats even a word) is good! Let me clarify something first, when I say "whorism" I don't just mean sleeping around with more than one person, I mean giving your very heart, sharing your heart with more than one person. Do you think that this could be considered being a whore?
ReplyDeleteIf society says that dating multiple people at once is ok, should we say its ok?
The Bachelor and The Bachelorette seems to support the idea that this idea of dating multiple people at once, giving a piece of your heart to more than one person at a time is ok. And as a community of believers, what do we say? What do you think of this?