Netflix's new reality TV series Love is Blind features single men and women taking part in what is proposed as an 'experiment' in the context of the show. The experiment involves pairs of men and women sitting on opposites sides of a wall, in connected so-called 'pods', and getting to know each other solely through conversation--no sight of one another involved.
The participants gradually narrow down their conversations to a single partner they want to speak with, and if the man proposes to the woman and she says yes, they are at last allowed to see each other and placed on a fast track to a pre-honey moon and wedding. Lots of intense emotional expression ensues throughout the series, as is the norm for reality TV. This show, however, is posited as an experiment on love...so, should we take it seriously?
10 NO: It's Still Reality TV
The hosts and the participants may refer to the show as an experiment all they want, and it very well may be--but that doesn't change the fact that it remains a reality TV show, and certain things come with reality TV. The show will always prioritize making money, which means scenes that sell will be featured over scenes that may be more to the truth of what's actually happening between people. Reality TV is both reality, and fiction.
9 YES: Their Feelings Are Real To Them
When asking what we should talk seriously, we should get specific. Can we take the entire show, as an entity, to be an expression of truth? Maybe not. Does that mean everything in it is false? Surely not! People think they are in love with people all the time, 'pod' or no pod. Who is anybody to say that these people have not fallen in love with the other? Is it likely that they have? Probably not. But them thinking that they have is perhaps not all false.
8 NO: When They Are In It For Money
Sometimes it feels as though some contestant are either faking being in love, or brainwashing themselves into thinking they are in love. Why would they do this? Well, it would seem that a paid-for vacation to Mexico is involved in accepting a marriage proposal! For most contestants, this does not seem the case--unless they are very good actors and their emotional turmoil over their 'lover' is a farce.
One person up for debate, however, is Jessica--Jessica is flaky from the start, dropping one man for another and then vowing her love for him when her preferred option doesn't want her anymore. It begs the question...are you pushing yourself? Why?
7 YES: Money And Fame Are Addictive
Even if Jessica stays in the show because she wants the attention, or the money, it does not mean we should take her any less seriously as a person. The show dangles romance in happiness in front of the contestant's faces, getting them hooked on the idea that a fairy-tale ending is possible. It's hardly surprising that people don't take it well when they find that a Cinderella-story isn't in the cards for them. If they can't have true love, they cling to the next most romantic thing—materialism. They make up for broken-heartedness with refusing to be empty-handed.
6 NO: Poor Hosting
If the show were truly a psychological experiment, it would be nice to have more...well...discussion of psychology. At all. Unless one googles them, it is completely unclear who the hosts of the show are, and even when they make an occasional appearance it is mostly to show themselves as examples of the ideal couple. Are they supposed to be a part of the experiment themselves? Some kind of ideal with which to bait the contestants and keep them interested in continuing the exhausting ordeal?
5 YES: Treat It Like A Real Experiment
If you see the show not as an experiment concerning whether or not love is blind but instead as a study of people who are taking themselves seriously in a pursuit of whether or not love is blind, then it's almost a completely different show.
Contestants proposing after three days can be seen as a symptom of human desperation, or delusion. We can begin to focus on what would drive a person to behave this way, and ask what things we think might cause us to do the same.
4 NO: These Are Adults
People should have some sense of self-awareness. The contestants knew what they were signing up for when they entered the show, and so we should not completely strip them of their agency. To say it isn't their fault and they they have been coerced into behaving they way they do is to infantalize them and give all power to the creators of the series.
3 YES: Take It Seriously As Acted Entertainment
Reality series focused on dating often attract a certain type of people. If we are making fun of something for being unrealistic and absurd, we should also consider that the type of people that would be drawn to such a thing may not actually be taking it very seriously themselves and may be hamming things up for the cameras. Therefore, it might be appropriate to take it seriously as an entertainment show, but not necessarily as reality.
2 NO: They Are Puppets
The wedding scenes are a perfect example of the puppetry involved in reality TV. For every couple, the moment comes at the point of their wedding, when they are standing at the alter with all of their families watching, that they have to state whether or not they will marry the person before them. It seems that some contestants were showing signs of reservations early on, but waited until they were stood in a public room, at the worst time possible, to say how they felt. The most sensible reason that caused this is coercion from the producers. For what makes better TV than public humiliation?
1 YES: You Weren't There
If you're going to watch reality TV, you might as well go with it. Some of it is cringe-worthy and viscerally painful, yes. But at the end of the day, you weren't there. You don't know what happened. You weren't sitting in a pod, listening to someone's voice from the other side of a wall, and you haven't felt what kind of connection that forms. Sure, there were cameras flying above their heads the entire time this supposed-intimacy was occurring...but again, why are you the value-setter for what kind of intimacy that makes? Even if the premise is ridiculous, not everything that results necessarily is.
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