2002-02-08 11:16 p.m.

The 'Real World' - aren't reality shows great?

OK, today's entry is going to be on reality shows. Honestly, I find them to be incredibly interesting. Why is it that we are facinated by watching real people on TV? Because it's real life, right? Because it's not acting, it's kind of celebrating the dramas and conflicts of everyday lives and showing that the 'Real World' can be just as interesting as TV and the movies. Right?

Well, interning for the creators of The Real World/Road Rules/Making The Band is really showing me a lot about 'reality'. OK, I have to say, I am still a fan of reality shows and will always be. I do not dislike reality shows just because I know how they are made. But, I will no longer look at them the same way. Oh, and in case anyone's wondering, no, they are not scripted. No one tells the cast members the story they have to act out. What you see really did happen. But that does not mean that what you see is what you think you are seeing. Because of time, it's obvious that everything the cast does will make it to a show, but still, the stuff you see is exaggerated. Things are portrayed differently than they were orginally intended. Quotes may be taken that were meant for something totally different, but used to mean whatever makes the story better. The people who appear as bitches, aren't necessarily. and those who appear as jerks, aren't necessarily jerks either. 'Reality' shows are about as real as the story editors decide them to be. But you can't blame them, they are trying to make a show, they are doing their job, creating conflict and drama. Just, let this serve as a warning: if you're planning on trying to be on a reality show, know that you are signing your life away and that you no longer have control over how you are portrayed, and that everyone will forever think that you are however they portrayed you.

It's very cool to be in a place where you can think and believe however the heck you want to. I like the fact that you may interact with gay people and no one treats it as a weird thing. Not that I'm saying I think being homosexual is a totally non-weird thing, 'cause I think it is, but I love the fact how people don't seem to judge as much here. I also love how everyone has high hopes of making it in the film industry one day. It's perfectly normal to say that you want to go into film, everyone is just trying to get by and to make it. Back at ACU, people kind of have this impression that Hollywood is evil and all that it does is corrupt people. Saying you want to work in film only makes people look at you funny,as though you are a 5 yr old talking about being an astronaunt when you grow up.

So, yeah, L.A. and all the expirences here so far are really good for me, I think. I do miss the country and seeing land and empty spaces that isn't just full of more and more city, but this is a great place to get away from the image I have to uphold in order to be myself at school.(how do things work this way? isn't that kind of contridictory? yeah, I think so too!) I don't think through all of this that I will find a meaning to life or anything, but it's just nice to know that there really are other people in the world who aren't stuck in their religious meanings to everything all the time.

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