Big surprise. An interesting set of articles, starting with the New York Times, about just how much "reality" is found in a pair of reality TV shows, ABC's "Wife Swap" and Fox's copycat "Trading Spouses."
One Show's Unexpected Lessons in Reality
Online mag Salon follows with a bit more analysis, which notes the Red State-Blue State setups, and the fact that Blue State participants are given the short end of the stick.
Wives' tales
And if you want a preview of the perhaps predictable match-ups FOX has in store, check out a collection of casting call notices they collected:
One Show's Unexpected Lessons in Reality
The Cedarquists are portrayed as having "dropped out of society" to live in a "treehouse," and that is technically true - their home, which has no cement foundation, is indeed perched on the bases of 11 trees... "This is where you should play the stupid hillbilly music," Mrs. Cedarquist said, a reference to the "Dueling Banjoes"-style soundtrack that is, incongruously, laid over images of her Montgomery Center, Vt., home. "I really thought reality television was more real than it is."
Wives' tales
Both shows bathe red-state moms in an earthy, warm glow, while their blue-state counterparts are showered with lukewarm confusion at best, icy negligence at worst... The conflict that drives each episode is almost always drawn from the clash of the hippie (i.e., slovenly) or urban (cold, materialistic) values of the "blue" mothers and the warm, traditional, tough-but-cornfed, usually rural lovin' of the "red" mothers.
Like, for example, "families who are rappers." Do you think, maybe, they will be lucky enough to be paired up with the "families who reenact Civil War Battles"? They would also "love to meet families who are against the use of nuclear weapons." How would they get along with, say, "a tattooed couple who own a tattoo shop"? How do you think a mom who happens to be a female bodybuilder, or maybe a construction worker active "in feminist organizations" will blend with a family that's really into "bird watching"? Or salsa dancing?
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