Melanie Hill on BB2 (longish article)
Marjorie
Marj
If you see people walking around wearing black armbands next week, don't be
surprised; they are merely reality TV diehards mourning the passing of
Survivor and Big Brother.
The two programmes have attracted so much attention, I am left wondering
what the next reality sensation will be.
Big Brother and Survivor gave us such TV gems as Paul telling Helen he has
"lived his life like an international rock star", Eve stealing tampons and
tomato sauce and Liz's talk of her dream sanctuary, where people relearn the
importance of living. I imagine these can only leave viewers wanting more.
However, I find it interesting that it was a woman who swiped the £1m
Survivor prize while a girl and a gay man are competing to win Big Brother.
In our fundamentally sexist, homophobic society, viewers seem to have left
their prejudices behind.
So far, every version of Big Brother has been won by a white, straight, male
contestant.
That was true of the UK series last year, although the fact a black man,
someone of mixed race and a lesbian made it to the final four gave me some
hope.
Wouldn't it be a great achievement if we could be the first nation to have a
woman winning Big Brother?
Or would it? Helen has managed to gain the affection of the nation by being
innocent and dizzy and we have enjoyed watching her place her delicate
little foot in her great big mouth.
We are sorry for her in a patronising way and feel protective towards her.
Helen is popular because she is totally non-threatening in terms of her
intellect and her girl-next-door looks.
If this type of woman won, how much damage would it do to the feminist
movement?
And what would this say about the public perception of women?
If a woman is to win, surely it should be for being an intelligent,
independent and modern woman - not for being scatty and childlike.
Don't get me wrong: I, along with the rest of the nation, adore Helen. Her
innocent view of the world is very appealing. But I adore her in a
patronising, maternal way.
Then there is Brian. He may be a white male but the fact he is gay means he
represents an important minority group.
For a homophobic nation to want a screaming homosexual to win would be a
massive achievement and a huge step forward.
More votes were cast in last year's Big Brother final than voted in the
general election so we should not underestimate how significant this poll
is.
Maybe the gay population have come out in force, refreshed, perhaps, by
Brian's naivety. Surely he must be the only twentysomething in the UK who
has never tried any sort of drug.
It is difficult for me to imagine how the remaining contestants must be
feeling right now because, last year, I was freed a week earlier in the Big
Brother proceedings.
Liz's eviction seems to have upset the equilibrium - the strain was
beginning to show last night when Helen and Brian began bickering fiercely.
In my final days, tensions were running high but we took comfort in knowing
our positions in the house; this gave us a sense of stability in the
bizarrely surreal environment of the house.
I am sure the remaining housemates are counting the hours before they can
leave.
I found myself becoming obsessed with the most mundane, trivial things - I
would spend half a day fantasising about going to the supermarket.
It is amazing what you want when you have no way of getting it.
Once they are actually out, Helen, Brian and Dean might experience some
adjustment problems like we did.
I discovered I was unable to sleep without the dazzling studio lights.
I also lost my appetite - all the food in the outside world tasted so rich
compared with the blandness of the cuisine on offer in the Big Brother
house.
Helen, Brian and Dean might find the outside world too noisy, having become
used to hearing only one or two voices over the past few weeks.
I found I could not stay in a room where there were more than two people
speaking. I didn't turn on a TV or stereo for weeks because I found them too
loud.
It took me about a month to adjust properly to being out of the house and it
took even longer to live with all the attention I was getting.
I bumped into Amma last week and she seemed to be dealing with it just
fine - maybe this year's motley crew were just more prepared for the
experience than we were.
So as one chapter closes, another begins.
I think the application forms for Big Brother 3 will be available in the
next few weeks.
What sort of people will be interested in putting themselves forward?
Who could bear to be scrutinised 24-7? Who could handle the character
assassination or be happy with being manipulated?
Who would want to be pointed at and whispered about in public? Who would
want to be grabbed in the street and treated like public property?
Strangely enough, I'm sure thousands of people are already lining up like
lambs to the slaughter, desperate for their 15 minutes of fame.
Alex Quant
news:lvD87.6449$o_.8...@news1.cableinet.net...
> from www.guardian.co.uk/bigbrother
> Marj
>
> If you see people walking around wearing black armbands next week, don't
be
> surprised; they are merely reality TV diehards mourning the passing of
> Survivor and Big Brother.
> The two programmes have attracted so much attention, I am left wondering
> what the next reality sensation will be.
<snip intelligent and somewhat envy ridden article>
Seems Melanie hasn't got over the fact she lost! Being intelligent,
insightful and concious of my own sexism and racism, I would STILL choose
Helen over Mel as I value charming, bright personas over a cool, envious
and snobbish ones.
AlexQ.
~ My virtual gallery @ http://www.alexq.worldonline.co.uk/gallery_a.htm ~
~ Remove BLOCK from al...@alexq.worldBLOCKonline.co.uk before emailling ~
Dan Garrett
"Alex Quant" <al...@alexq.worldBLOCKonline.co.uk> wrote in
> Seems Melanie hasn't got over the fact she lost! Being intelligent,
> insightful and concious of my own sexism and racism, I would STILL choose
> Helen over Mel as I value charming, bright personas over a cool, envious
> and snobbish ones.
Couldn't agree more. Helen was 100 times more fun to watch than the
patronising, pubic-hair plucking, mong-faced dullard that is Melanie Hill.
Dan
Marjorie
Marj
"Dan Garrett" <daniel....@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:yNG87.2749$ip4.8...@news2-win.server.ntlworld.com...
JoeTheBlow
better to watch than the BB2 squad. But now, the BB1 lot seem all like a
bunch of artificial, posing dullards to me, while Brian and Co seem
brilliant.
Wonder if the BB3 lot will have a similar effect in 10 months.