tv paper- due friday!!!

7/31/2019 Tv Paper- Due Friday!!!

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Never to be Married

There are a multitude of controversies that we hear about within our society. Several of

the controversies we hear of seem to derive from some of the reality shows that come on

television. Although most of the controversies deal with celebrities or spiritual evangelist

speaking out about a topic that seems to be relevant to biblical principles, it is rare that we hear

of those which deal with love. As reality television continues to expand, many shows portray

women as objects and as if they are not worthy of having the attention of a man unless it is

because of their appearance. One show that exemplifies this concept and further portrays women

as if they are inhuman to the point where men can move from one to the other without feeling

any remorse is The Bachelor.

The Bacheloris a reality television series that debuted in 2002. As previously mentioned,

the show depicts one male bachelor and approximately 25 female contestants. The bachelor goes

on multiple dates with the female contestants each week, picking and choosing which dates

have pleased him the most. In the first rounds of the so called game, the women are all with

the bachelor at the same time. Then, after many of them are eliminated, the dates turn into one-

on-one dates or two-on-one dates. These also turn into eliminations. When the show gets down

to the final four female contestants, the bachelors go to the hometown of the women to visit their

families. This causes one more to be eliminated, simply based on whether or not the bachelor

liked the contestants family. The final three women get the opportunity to go on an exotic all-

night getaway with their male counterpart. When one of the last three is eliminated and it gets

down to two, the bachelors family is brought on the scene to help him decide who is best for

him, with little knowledge of who the women truly are. Generally, the final cut comes from the

bachelor to propose to the winner asking for her hand in marriage


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The Bachelorhas been promoting the idea of winning love for the last fifteen years. This

show, which has since had spinoffs such as The Bachelorette and Sweet Home Alabama,

primarily depicts one man who has the opportunity to go on multiple dates with pre-selected

women all the while trying to determine who would be suitable for their life partner. The reality,

in my opinion, of what this show depicts is the fact that the women, who are the contestants of

this reality game show of love, are allowing themselves to be taken advantage of because the

man is allowed to date one girl and then the other. This, in turn, allows the men and women to

converse with one another but never have a true connection with, at least during the trial run of

who the bachelor wants to date. The idea of bouncing from one woman to another makes it seem

like they do not care about the contestants emotions. Due to the fact that the camera is ongoing,

especially after a date, what the men say about their dates could ultimately go to prove what may

or may not be a likeable trait. If a contestant views the show after it has been on the air and they

hear what was said, it could lower their self-worth.

Since the winner of the show is chosen with a proposal of marriage, it goes to show how

upsetting the runner-up must feel after being left with nothing. More than likely, the runner-up

has become emotionally attached to the bachelor and could suffer from mental issues, especially

that of jealousy and perhaps even depression. Furthermore, the simple fact that the man she, the

runner-up, must have grown fond of chose another woman could make her feel a strong sense of

rejection, like she is not good enough. Regardless of what the issue is, it is apparent that many

women in the world feel as though they are not good enough, whether it be based on beauty or

weight. Lets imagine for a second that this were how things worked in real life. A woman,

woman A, and a man are dating for about four months. At that time, he invites the woman to

his house to meet his parents. When she gets there, to her surprise, there is another woman,


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woman B he has been dating there as well. They all have a pretty good time and nothing is

really said about this other woman not belonging there. Then, he asks both women to come to

him. They stand in front of him and he proposes to woman B while woman A is standing

right next to her. You can see how that could be very devastating to her psyche. Everything she

thought about herself could be shattered in that very small amount of time.

With that being said, what about the other 23 women? The winner gets the male

contestant. The runner-up gets a lot of disappointment. What would the other 23 women feel

when they are eliminated? Think about the first woman that is cut. The male contestant doesnt

have any real time with them, so the elimination has got to be based on looks alone. When there

are young adults and teenagers watching this program, it could act as a learning tool for people

still trying to fit into the world. The world already teaches young people that if you are

overweight, you wont fit in. That is partially the reason that so many women are bulimic or

anorexic. According to bulimia.com, approximately 7 million girls and women struggle with

eating disorders in the United States. This includes anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating disorders.

Statistics show that 86% of women report the onset of the illness by the age of 20 years old. With

women being shown that they have to look good physically or they will never get the guy, why

wouldnt they be taking extremes to correct their weight problems? The worst part of the

situation is that twenty percent of the people with eating disorders die because of malnutrition.

As I have learned in my life, and as is apparent in every season ofThe Bachelor, true love

cannot be won or bought. Going back through the seasons, I have noticed a trend that every

single winner and bachelor break up after a certain amount of time. The young people that watch

this show and fantasize about being selected by the bachelor are being misled that they would

ride off into the sunset. They are led to believe that they would get married and have a wonderful


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life with the man that chooses them over all the rest. The fact is that there is only one bachelor,

within 15 seasons, who has married a contestant from the show. Season 13 bachelor, Jason,

married the runner-up instead of the one he chose with the final rose. The false hope that this

instills in its viewers seems to reflect a society that calls for compromised love. Further, the

assumption that the bachelor and his chosen-to-be wife will get married when, in turn, it is not

the case seems to give millions of hopeless romantics who watch the show the false hope that

they, too, could appear on a television show much like The Bachelorand find the love of their

life. The definition for true love as given by Webster Dictionary is unselfish loyal and benevolent

concern for the good of another. How would anyone expect to feel that way when you only know

the other person for a few days or weeks? In the Greek language, there are three different words

for love and they all mean love differently. First, we have agape. That would be and

unconditional love. This is also used in Christian theology for the love God has for mankind.

Second, would be phileo. This type of love is used for friendly or brotherly love. Philadelphia is

nicknamed the city of brotherly love because of the root word in the citys name. Third and

finally, the romantic type of love that we have for our spouses is eros. This is where the word

erotic comes from.

Not only are the women being objectified in this reality game show, but the men are

being shown how to treat women, too. I never had a true father figure in my life. That seemingly

small fact caused me to be influenced easily by what I saw on television. The way I saw men and

fathers acting on television is how I thought I was supposed to be. I thought that being good

enough would be sufficient. If I would have watched The Bachelorwhile I was in that state of

mind, I would have treated women like they didnt matter. Im sure that women are not the only

audience of this series. Teenage boys and young men that are in my past situation need to be told


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the truth about how women should be treated. Not only is the treatment aspect horrible, but

young men may also expect young women to line up for them and try, by any means possible, to

get his attention. This is not even close to how the real world is. I dont know how anyone would

be able to call this series a reality show.

I do have to give a little credit where it is due, however. The producers ofThe Bachelor

also created a spinoff entitled The Bachelorette. This television show has the same basic setup as

The Bachelor. The difference in the two shows is the gender roles. In The Bachelor, men choose

the woman that gets their attention and that they seemingly have feelings for. The Bachelorette,

on the other hand, has the female making the choice about the man that has gotten her attention

the best. Even though the producers made a wise decision when they made The Bachelorette, it is

still the same educational tool that the original series was. It is teaching the same information,

just to the opposite sex.

With all of the sitcoms and reality shows on television, there needs to be more scrutiny to

the ones that the youth of the world watch. If we want to teach our children and young adults

how to respect the other gender, we need to filter the information the y are given. We dont need

them watching television shows that explain to them that they can just pick and choose one of 25

girls or guys that impress them. We need to make sure that our children realize that it is just

acting and they shouldnt expect the process of finding love to be anything similar to the

example shown on these series. If we would teach our children what true unconditional love is,

rather than letting them watch these examples, there would be less divorce in our society. As

most adults know, there is about a 52% divorce rate in the United States. That could very well be

partially attributed to the lack of example and teaching. Also, it is possible that, with the right

knowledge, there would be less teen pregnancy and abortion. These may not be directly


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influenced by television shows like The Bachelorand The Bachelorette, but the amount of young

people watching these shows and learning how to treat the opposite sex does. Regardless, the

pressure of teaching the youth of America does not only fall on the shoulders of the parents, but

on the media as a whole, including the producers of these two shows and should be treated with

the utmost importance.

Work Cited

Gurze Books. Eating Disorder Statistics. Web. 1 May 2012. http://www.bulimia.com/

client/client_pages/eatingdisorderstats.cfm.

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