Finding True Love on TV: The Reality of The Bachelor
ABC’s The Bachelor is a widely popular reality show that has aired for 20 seasons and has produced various spinoffs such as its twin program, The Bachelorette, Bachelor Pad, and Bachelor in Paradise. Created by Mark Fleiss and hosted by Chris Harrison, the show is designed around a single eligible bachelor who is looking for love. 26 women are brought in as “contestants” on the show who compete to win the man’s love through a series of planned dates and excursions to various unique locations. Throughout the weeks of competition, the bachelor eliminates the women at set intervals until only one is left. At the end of the season, he may be expected to propose to the last remaining woman, one …show more content…
Hermeneutic code is made up of three stages which enable the viewer to “interpret and follow a story” (O’Donnell, 2017, p. 84). The first stage is the enigma which asks a question or questions to engage the reader and to invest them in the plot. The enigma posed in The Bachelor asks whether the man in the show will be ready and able to find love. More importantly, however, it asks which of the women will be able to win over the man’s heart. The viewers may pick out women who they like or identify with to root for at this early stage. Having characters who the viewers can identify with is an important part of the show’s narrative as it keeps people watching from week to week. The viewers may even sympathize with the woman’s feeling of heartbreak when they are inevitably eliminated from the show. This leads into the second stage of hermeneutics called delay, which “stalls or postpones the solution to the enigma” (O’Donnell, 2017, p. 84). The competition is drawn out and often over-dramatized during so-called “rose ceremonies” in which the bachelor gives out roses to each eligible woman until all roses are gone. The remaining woman or women are sent home as the bachelor has made it clear that he does not think that he could fall in love with them. In the overall narrative of the show, this elimination …show more content…
The couples Trista and Ryan along with Jason and Molly have been happily married for years now (Zhao, 2015). Jason was brought back in the most recent season to give advice to the newest bachelor, Ben, about how to make the most of the show (Fleiss, 2016). These couples did achieve the dream of finding love through the show. For them the reality seemed to have worked, but for the hundreds of other contestants the reality is causing more harm than good. In his article, “’Harsh 'Reality ': Bachelor 's Emotional Impact?”, Joseph Brownstein quotes managing editor of momlogic.com Gillian Sheldon. She says, “These people are not actors…those emotions were very raw and real. It’s very hard to take real people and put them in these scripted positions,” (Brownstein, 2009). The effect of having to deal with rejection on that scale when put in a high stakes competition can be damaging to a person, and this is part of the reality that you actually do see on the show. The women leave immediately from the rose ceremonies and sob in front of a camera while leaving the set in a limousine. It creates a great deal of drama, and it is an aspect of the reality of The Bachelor that seeps into real
ABC’s The Bachelor is a widely popular reality show that has aired for 20 seasons and has produced various spinoffs such as its twin program, The Bachelorette, Bachelor Pad, and Bachelor in Paradise. Created by Mark Fleiss and hosted by Chris Harrison, the show is designed around a single eligible bachelor who is looking for love. 26 women are brought in as “contestants” on the show who compete to win the man’s love through a series of planned dates and excursions to various unique locations. Throughout the weeks of competition, the bachelor eliminates the women at set intervals until only one is left. At the end of the season, he may be expected to propose to the last remaining woman, one …show more content…
Hermeneutic code is made up of three stages which enable the viewer to “interpret and follow a story” (O’Donnell, 2017, p. 84). The first stage is the enigma which asks a question or questions to engage the reader and to invest them in the plot. The enigma posed in The Bachelor asks whether the man in the show will be ready and able to find love. More importantly, however, it asks which of the women will be able to win over the man’s heart. The viewers may pick out women who they like or identify with to root for at this early stage. Having characters who the viewers can identify with is an important part of the show’s narrative as it keeps people watching from week to week. The viewers may even sympathize with the woman’s feeling of heartbreak when they are inevitably eliminated from the show. This leads into the second stage of hermeneutics called delay, which “stalls or postpones the solution to the enigma” (O’Donnell, 2017, p. 84). The competition is drawn out and often over-dramatized during so-called “rose ceremonies” in which the bachelor gives out roses to each eligible woman until all roses are gone. The remaining woman or women are sent home as the bachelor has made it clear that he does not think that he could fall in love with them. In the overall narrative of the show, this elimination …show more content…
The couples Trista and Ryan along with Jason and Molly have been happily married for years now (Zhao, 2015). Jason was brought back in the most recent season to give advice to the newest bachelor, Ben, about how to make the most of the show (Fleiss, 2016). These couples did achieve the dream of finding love through the show. For them the reality seemed to have worked, but for the hundreds of other contestants the reality is causing more harm than good. In his article, “’Harsh 'Reality ': Bachelor 's Emotional Impact?”, Joseph Brownstein quotes managing editor of momlogic.com Gillian Sheldon. She says, “These people are not actors…those emotions were very raw and real. It’s very hard to take real people and put them in these scripted positions,” (Brownstein, 2009). The effect of having to deal with rejection on that scale when put in a high stakes competition can be damaging to a person, and this is part of the reality that you actually do see on the show. The women leave immediately from the rose ceremonies and sob in front of a camera while leaving the set in a limousine. It creates a great deal of drama, and it is an aspect of the reality of The Bachelor that seeps into real