A Shot At Love
I watched A Shot At Love with Tila Tequila on MTV. Talk about some quality television. This show has a classic premise: Girl wants to find true love, makes other singles compete ridiculously for her affection. What makes this show different?? One, Tila is famous for having millions of friends on myspace, which makes her what, a d list celebrity? Also, the big twist of the show is that Tila comes out as bisexual, and both men and women are competing for her affection.
The episode I watched focused, as many reality shows do, on humiliation. First, the contestants had to race to see who could eat their plate of cow testicles the fastest, the winner getting one on one time with Tila. Then Tila decides to have everyone help her with the eliminations by explaining to the group who they think is the least compatible for her and why. It was heart warming.
The show used similar filmic forms as many others. There is of course, the interview with the camera shots, where we get to see the inner thoughts of the contestants, and why they hate that other girl or why they arent getting a fair chance, making the viewers feel as if they really know these people. Then there is the wonderfully dramatic music whenever someone hurts Tila's feelings. Always a nice touch. The episode I watched also contained several flashbacks to earlier episodes. There would be a flash of white light, and magically we are transported to the past, which is black and white, just to make it perfectly clear that we are no longer mid-elimination in Tila's living room.
I watched an afternoon rerun on MTV, which was filled with commercials for acne cream, axe body spray, target, cell phones, and occasionally music. I picture the target audience for this show to be exactly my wonderful gentlemen neighbors: college students who have nothing better to do all day but lounge around and watch whatever is on MTV. MTV advertised during the program as well, scrolling words across the top of the screen, often over contestant's faces, announcing the start time of some other quality MTV production. It was distracting.
The show does view its characters through a male gaze. Every single girl is thin with big boobs, wearing plenty of makeup, and usually wearing minimal clothing. Even in the interviews, the ladies where revealing shirts, and the camera is sure to capture her cleavage, while the male interviews are often from the shoulders up.
One thing I always think of when watching reality tv is I wonder how much film is edited, or how boring their days are between cat fights and humiliating competitions. I would love to see how reality tv is edited together to form the wonderful storylines we love to hate.