I've been watching a reality TV show called "Boy Meets Boy." It's a dating show. All the contestants are men who are trying to win the heart of the main man, James.
And it's full of twists! Some of the contestants are straight men who are trying to win the heart of the main man, and a trip to New Zealand. And some of the contestants are gay men who are trying to win the heart of the main man, and a trip to New Zealand.
The bigger twist: James doesn't know that some of the contestants are straight.
The biggest twist of all: During the final episode, we learn that James himself is STRAIGHT! The whole show was a put-on, designed to show how shallow and meaningless reality dating shows are. He says to the man he picks, "All of you were looking for love, but you were looking in all the wrong places." Instead of ending with the last two men walking off into the desert together to consummate their love, we see an empty stage of broken dreams and betrayed promises.
Has America finally been taught the horrible truth: that Reality TV is no closer to the truth than fiction? Are we finally aware that all our dreams won't come true, that we can never trust the ones we care about, and that deception is the mainstay of our existence?
Posted by cbsisco at September 2, 2003 11:07 PMi think what we really learn from this show is that angry as someone might pretend to be about being tricked, in reality they enjoyed it because it was so sneaky. and that's the whole point of a reality show, so that you can be a voyeur who watches something that goes out of its way to amuse you and shock you and at the end provide you with a curve ball. at heart i think the viewing public craves deception and, ultimately, betrayal because it gives them something to talk about. it provides a connection in any "real" social situation which is generally what people are searching for anyway.
Posted by: michele at September 3, 2003 12:14 AMI was utterly shocked that James turned out to be Straight! I feel that Boy Meets Boy has lied to me and all of those poor gay boys who cried because James dissed them. Little did they know that, unlike Wes, the supposed winnter, they were being spared a world of heartache and disillsionment. Damn you James!
Posted by: Kristina at September 3, 2003 11:55 AMso often in the past year I have been fooled by just the opposite, a gay boy pretending to be straight, as man after man seems to be checking me out on the subway but really is checking out the guy behind me. this reality show is sadly not my reality.
Posted by: didofoot at September 3, 2003 12:42 PMNuh-uh! James is NOT straight. My whole household watched the final episode last night, and even uber-hetero roommate BJ was able to peg the remaining straight fellow. James picked adorable little pixie-boy Wes, just like I wanted him to, and they *did* go off into the desert to consummate their love. The final exchange was exactly this:
Wes: let's go
James: Where?
Wes: I don't know (smirk)
James: (reciprocated smirk) Okay
(ooooh, aaaahhh)
Why you lie, Cody? Why you gotsta lie?
Posted by: kati at September 3, 2003 12:46 PMoh kati, kati, they fooled you too! I'm so sorry I was the one to clue you in. It is too terribly sad that the producers would cause so much anguish.
Of course James is straight. He never kissed a man until the show, and he was completely naive about things that come naturally to every gay man. His aversion to physical contact with men was blatant. Remember when he kept his back to Franklin while he was changing? He didn't even peek to see his possible future boyfriend's package. What gay man would do that?
I think Michele is right; we are obsessed with deception and trickery--in entertainment, in politics, in our personal lives--and the sad fact is that revelation never satisfies. We lie. We cheapen. We die.
Posted by: cody at September 3, 2003 06:14 PM