While waiting for my tea to steep, I browsed through some of the recent tabloid articles about our lovely Bachelorettes and was surprised to see so much negativity being directed towards some of the girls - both in news and social media. Suddenly I started to feel...not so great. So much so that I felt the need to come here, jump up on my horse and white-knight for these fair maidens for a sec. Although I'm sure they are more than capable of sticking up for themselves...I mean, did you see how Jacinda gave Sam the business after the Groundhog Date disaster? What a boss.
"You are correct, but I will allow you to proceed." All hail Queen Jacinda.
Let me start by saying that I love this show. I love watching it, recapping it, and from what I can tell, you guys don't mind reading about it either. I think this year's cast (because that's what it is: a carefully selected cast of characters) is great: a colourful mix of beautiful women, each with her own story to tell. With so much time devoted to Sam's story, it's a shame that we don't get to hear more about their lives, but that's the way it goes with TV, innit?
HOWEVER: I am very aware that what we are seeing every Wednesday and Thursday night is a carefully manufactured love story between Sam and *insert winner here.* It is the story that the producers want to tell, not necessarily an accurate representation of the weeks spent confined in Bach Manor.
And it seems to me that the inability of a portion of the audience - viewers and commentators alike - to recognise this difference, between actual reality and the "REALITY" we are being presented, is what is now resulting in such vitriol being directed towards some of the women. It only takes a cursory glance at social media to see that they are being torn to shreds over their depiction on the show and it's not OK.
For example, let's take a look at what is behind the "bitchy" "rivalries" "!!!" that are getting so much media coverage: During filming, these girls live together 24/7. They only leave the house when on dates and are allowed one supervised phone call home a fortnight. It's only natural for there to be conflict in this scenario. I certainly don't expect all of these women to be BEST FRIENDS 4EVAAA merely because they've been thrown into a virtual prison together. Some viewers might like to think they're all sitting around the manse, giggling and braiding each other's hair, but I'm more realistic.
But back to that story-telling element: Producers love conflict and drama. Drama equals dollars. However, some conflicts will play to the audience better than others. People don't want to see Heather or Snezana being nasty about other contestants, because they're being framed as the frontrunners. Nobody wants to see Sam end up with a raging bitch, after all! But if it's someone like Emily? Sure, pile it on! More bitchface reaction shots! More comments about other girls that are clearly edited because. they. are chopped. up. like this.! Have you noticed how often we hear Emily's comments, not actually see her say them? Mm.
Is she a RAGING MEGA BITCH, or just getting food out of her teeth? WE'LL NEVER KNOW.
"But Jess, have you read your recaps? Surely you're a part of the problem?" Ah, good question my lovely, which brings me to why I felt compelled to write this rambling mess. When I recap the show, to me it feels as though I'm commenting on fictional characters, rather than real people. Because once again: we're not seeing what these girls are really like, we're seeing what the producers want us to see. As an example, how many of you knew that Krystal is a mum? Anyone? Because they sure as hell are going out of their way to remind us that Snezana is a mother, but Krystal's son wasn't mentioned once during her time on the show.
Anyway, in my mind there is a clear distinction between the real-life women, and the characters on my TV screen. Just because I refer to her as Shitstorm doesn't mean that I think Sandra is a horrible person, funnily enough she actually reminds me of one of my closest friends. And as for the aforementioned Bitchface Heard Across Australia? I happen to LOVE Emily's facial expressions, hence why I include so many frames of them: they are truly one of my favourite parts of the show. My husband cracks up whenever they cut away to an Emily reaction. More bitchface, I say! But every story needs a villain, and much like Laurina last season (who was my favourite, incidentally) unfortunately this season the producers have decided that the duty falls to Emily. Is it fair? No, of course not, and no one is being more vocal about this than Emily and her family, who must be having a difficult time watching. If it's any consolation to them though, I'm sure I'm not the only viewer who would love to see more of Emily outside of her being the "princess."
Ultimately what I'm trying to say is that I hope that my recaps have been read in the humourous tone in which they were intended, but I have to acknowledge that my words may come across as genuinely hurtful appraisals of the contestants and if this is the case, then I apologise unreservedly.
Before I return to our regularly scheduled snarking, just a final reminder to be cool out there, interwebz. It might be fun to fire off a nasty tweet whilst enjoying tonight's episode, but remember that these women exist outside of the Bach Manor bubble.
The Bachelor Australia airs Wednesday and Thursday nights from 7:30pm on Channel Ten.
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