Life throws weird curveballs and things happen that you’d never expect! Why am I suddenly being so deep and profound, you ask? Well, till a week ago, I had NEVER watched Bigg Boss. I used to look down upon people who wasted one hour everyday for three months every year to watch, what I considered, the worst reality show EVER! But things changed, and today I’m hooked. I started watching it for work and now I cannot stop.
But the thing is, even though every night, from 10.30 to 11.30 PM, you’ll find me screaming animatedly at the stupidity of these people in the house, I still stand by the fact that the show is utter, absolute crap. Let me tell you why.
Reality Shows, In General, Are Harmful!
First things first, let’s talk about reality shows in general. A previous research has shown that exposure of as less as 40 minutes to a reality show with relational aggression can make you even more aggressive. While I’m sure it is not the only factor in making our generation more aggressive, it just might be one of them; considering how we view and believe to an extent that their behaviour, fights and reactions are seemingly ‘real’.
Who Are These People We See In The Show?
Now, about the people in the house: More often than not, people in the house are mere nobodies of the ‘glamour’ world. They are people who have tried and failed or the ones who now need an image makeover, or the ones that can create the drama that we’d love to watch. But for the past two seasons, commoners (people not from the media industry, per se), have appeared as well – the ones who are using the show for their five minutes of fame, or notoriety, should I say? After all, no publicity is bad publicity.
Voyeurism Is The New Black!
The thing is, sitting on our sofas, we think we’re getting a bird’s eye view of human psychology. We assume that the fights, the back-biting, the friendships, the arguments, the relationships are all real and we take it as a reflection of the society we live in today. But the dirty truth is that we don’t watch it for any healthy reason, we watch it for the plain voyeuristic pleasure of seeing people pull each other down and fight amongst themselves like animals.
Yes, seeing people make out in the dark, whisper insults against others, intentionally create fights among two people just for the sake of it and act in a downright unacceptable manner makes us feel like we’re better than even these ‘stars’ and people who, in our heads, have it all. Seeing Gauhar Khan cry, Kushal Tandon throw things or Hina Khan belittle other women has only helped us justify our own occasional horrible behaviour. After all, if these famous people can act like this on national television, why can’t I, in my limited social circle?
We Now Play God…
Another thing is, the show helps us develop what I think is a twisted form of the God complex. Imagine this, you hate a contestant and when s/he is eliminated from the show, the pleasure you get from being right and telling other viewers, “She or he deserved it, I voted against her” is amazing. But isn’t that a form of God complex?
Next Level Sadistic Pleasure
Physical and sexual sadism is now passé. We now crave mental sadism – seeing people cause other people pain and drawing pleasure from that is our thing to do. Shilpa Shinde made Vikas Gupta cry by torturing him and we as viewers enjoyed watching Vikas’ plight. Shilpa-Vikas are only one example but the show is in its 11th season, so you can imagine the number of examples.
I do not even want to get started on the nation’s Bhai – Salman Khan, acting like the judge, jury and executioner on the show. That requires another long post in itself. But for now, all I do want to say is that the show is the lowest of lows for any form of televised entertainment and it needs to stop, NOW.
I, now, rest my case. Thank you.
Peace out. *mic drop*
GIFs: Giphy
