Married away
On Tuesday November 27th at 8pm I watched the show Married Away on the Style Network. Married Away is an hour long ‘reality’ show which showcases two new couples each episode. The show follows each couple, their families, and their wedding planner to far off places around the world where they are having the wedding. Quoting the shows website, “Uniting two families in holy matrimony is one thing, but bringing together two very different clans in a distant locale is quite another. Between the planning, the culture clashes and the jagged nerves, there's room for plenty of high drama. Because when unfamiliar languages, cultures and traditions come into play, executing a wedding can be quite a challenge!”
The show is produced by Endemol. The particular episode I watched was titled “Bonjour & Buon Giorno”. The two couples featured on the show were Leslie & Rich and Rob & Natasha. Leslie & Rich are a “non-traditional” couple as the narrator and they themselves put it. They are in their late thirties and Leslie was the pursuer throughout the relationship even up to the proposal; she asked him. Rob & Natasha meet while studying abroad and after the semester was over Rob decided to join her on a trip to Paris. At the end of this trip, knowing he had to go back to Florida and she was returning to her home in Russia, and knowing he “didn’t want to be without her” as he put it, Rob proposed. They returned to Florida together to live in Rob’s mother’s house. Leslie & Rich choose Italy for their wedding, and Rob & Natasha choose Paris. I have to be honest, I was a little let down by the show. It really wasn’t as exciting as the websites description wants you to believe. I guess if I want drama I have to watch good ‘ole I love New York. Anyway, the show is clearly geared towards women, with all the commercials for things like eharmony, slimquick, Dove chocolate, Playtex bra, a Hallmark movie about a boy who wants a husband for his mother for Christmas, department stores like Marshalls and T.J. Maxx, and KY massaging oil. The stories on the show are really upbeat. The lighting and style is ‘natural’ or not really messed with. The editing and music both are used to help tell the story and tell the viewers how to feel ‘cue close up and sappy instrumental music’. There were a lot of action shots of the two couples and their families exploring the cities, which I enjoyed. The scenery was nice. Also the cameras followed the wedding planners around who were frantically trying to get everything perfect. One thing, I have to say, that struck me and that I liked, was that the show wasn’t strictly focused on the bride like other wedding shows I have seen. Neither of the brides were portrayed as bridezillas which is the premise of most wedding stories. The only stereotypes and/or ideas and ideals I saw coming from this show were the heteronormativity and the apparent stereotyping of women through the commercials chosen to be aired during the show.