I hated so called reality TV from the outset. I had a share house when the first Big Brother came out & my housemate Lee had been obsessing about having the TV to herself that night for ages. A special house constructed with cameras in the walls? Nightmarish. Horrific. Why would anyone voluntarily submit themselves to this?
I went out for a walk so I wouldn’t have to be subjected to it. I heard a big cry go up around the neighborhood and when I got back Lee breathlessly informed me about every last thing the amateur actors had done in the show. It was like the invasion of the body snatchers. Everyone had become pod people. Ghastly.
Perhaps as you say its a fifth column into the proletarian brain that bypasses rational thinking. It would not surprise me at all. TikTok is the same and I’ve never watched that either.
That’s a great memory, you were a smart cookie off the bat 😂 I remember being excited about Big Brother, especially because I’d just read 1984 for the first time beforehand. When I watched it, I was disappointed. Somehow, I didn’t expect it to be mostly about little interpersonal dramas - without much reflection on how the presence of the cameras made people feel.
The one guy who used his newfound attention to make a political statement was absolutely ridiculed. (I think he came out to his eviction with tape over his mouth to stand up for refugees)
I’m sure there are some niche reality shows I haven’t heard of that do more interesting things, but the Big Brother level of depth seems to be standard.
TikTok immediately makes me feel like I have ADHD 😂 I can’t do it either…
I mean, I don’t know if it was intentional that all that entertainment bypasses rational thinking, but that certainly seems to be the lasting effect.
For example, I’ve some comments on instagram comedy videos from younger viewers, and I don’t think they even understand things like satire anymore. They take so much at face value.
I’ll shut up ranting at you now - thank you so much for reading 😊
Thank you for introducing me to Metamodernism! It's given me a different perspective on what I believe is simply a decay of post-modernism into an endless recycling and reinterpretation of modernist and post-modern cultural products (see: endless film remakes or "reboots", faithful recreations of 20th century musical genres, etc.).
I could be convinced otherwise, but I feel that Mark Fisher really captured the feelings of Gen X and Millennials when he said we were "mourning a future that never happened", because the 20th century promised so much in terms of technology and culture which simply didn't happen. It wasn't a deliberate misdirection though; the compounding growth and the inertia of progress during that period seemed inevitable.
However, in 2025 we have the internet, we have "good enough" medicine to keep us mostly healthy, but capital "P" Progress just stalled.
Out of this cultural (and economic) stagnation has come a retreat into the comfortable, which I argue is in part responsible for the creation of the "Post Truth" world. Uncomfortable truths cause anxiety, and demagogues have been ready and waiting to offer a more "comfortable" world view, where uncomfortable truths are dispatched by safe and familiar ideas, deftly communicated through catchy slogans.
I’m so glad you enjoyed reading about metamodernism! Same, increasingly in the 2000s I’ve wondered “what could possibly come next? Is there anything new, at all?” Culture has felt like a recycling bin to me at times.
I’ll have to delve into Mark Fisher’s work…that’s a sad but accurate description of how it’s often felt. Our melting pot utopia has felt like a broken dream since…I’d say 9/11.
And agreed - our screens and endless opportunities for distraction/entertainment sure seem to be stalling our desire for actual progress. Still, we can never totally predict the future. I’m very interested in whether Gen Zs/Alphas/Betas will get tired of their online lives as they age, and get more into fucking shit up IRL 😂
I hated so called reality TV from the outset. I had a share house when the first Big Brother came out & my housemate Lee had been obsessing about having the TV to herself that night for ages. A special house constructed with cameras in the walls? Nightmarish. Horrific. Why would anyone voluntarily submit themselves to this?
I went out for a walk so I wouldn’t have to be subjected to it. I heard a big cry go up around the neighborhood and when I got back Lee breathlessly informed me about every last thing the amateur actors had done in the show. It was like the invasion of the body snatchers. Everyone had become pod people. Ghastly.
Perhaps as you say its a fifth column into the proletarian brain that bypasses rational thinking. It would not surprise me at all. TikTok is the same and I’ve never watched that either.
Thank you for your thoughtful comment!
That’s a great memory, you were a smart cookie off the bat 😂 I remember being excited about Big Brother, especially because I’d just read 1984 for the first time beforehand. When I watched it, I was disappointed. Somehow, I didn’t expect it to be mostly about little interpersonal dramas - without much reflection on how the presence of the cameras made people feel.
The one guy who used his newfound attention to make a political statement was absolutely ridiculed. (I think he came out to his eviction with tape over his mouth to stand up for refugees)
I’m sure there are some niche reality shows I haven’t heard of that do more interesting things, but the Big Brother level of depth seems to be standard.
TikTok immediately makes me feel like I have ADHD 😂 I can’t do it either…
I mean, I don’t know if it was intentional that all that entertainment bypasses rational thinking, but that certainly seems to be the lasting effect.
For example, I’ve some comments on instagram comedy videos from younger viewers, and I don’t think they even understand things like satire anymore. They take so much at face value.
I’ll shut up ranting at you now - thank you so much for reading 😊
Thank you for introducing me to Metamodernism! It's given me a different perspective on what I believe is simply a decay of post-modernism into an endless recycling and reinterpretation of modernist and post-modern cultural products (see: endless film remakes or "reboots", faithful recreations of 20th century musical genres, etc.).
I could be convinced otherwise, but I feel that Mark Fisher really captured the feelings of Gen X and Millennials when he said we were "mourning a future that never happened", because the 20th century promised so much in terms of technology and culture which simply didn't happen. It wasn't a deliberate misdirection though; the compounding growth and the inertia of progress during that period seemed inevitable.
However, in 2025 we have the internet, we have "good enough" medicine to keep us mostly healthy, but capital "P" Progress just stalled.
Out of this cultural (and economic) stagnation has come a retreat into the comfortable, which I argue is in part responsible for the creation of the "Post Truth" world. Uncomfortable truths cause anxiety, and demagogues have been ready and waiting to offer a more "comfortable" world view, where uncomfortable truths are dispatched by safe and familiar ideas, deftly communicated through catchy slogans.
I’m so glad you enjoyed reading about metamodernism! Same, increasingly in the 2000s I’ve wondered “what could possibly come next? Is there anything new, at all?” Culture has felt like a recycling bin to me at times.
I’ll have to delve into Mark Fisher’s work…that’s a sad but accurate description of how it’s often felt. Our melting pot utopia has felt like a broken dream since…I’d say 9/11.
And agreed - our screens and endless opportunities for distraction/entertainment sure seem to be stalling our desire for actual progress. Still, we can never totally predict the future. I’m very interested in whether Gen Zs/Alphas/Betas will get tired of their online lives as they age, and get more into fucking shit up IRL 😂