Article written by Dylan Bell.
Reality tv, in this writer’s humble opinion is an atrocity, but to millions across the world reality tv is entertaining, and for some unknown reason, enjoyable, I’m sure we all know at least one person who can’t get enough of what television believes reality is.
Now you may be confused by the title of this piece, to put your minds at ease it simply refers to the tactic that the majority of reality shows, especially dating ones, use called tear bait. If you are fortunate enough to not know what this means I shall elaborate, it refers to when reality shows will put contestants into situations that will result in them crying and then follow them getting as many of those sweet money making tears on camera as possible. You may be thinking ‘that’s awful they wouldn’t do that,’ well I’m sorry to tell you that you are wrong.
When investigating this tactic reality shows use, a question popped into my head, why on earth do they do this? The obvious answer being it gets good ratings. But why, why do people enjoy watching this? The idea of tear porn, referring to people who enjoy seeing others cry on tv, weather sexually or otherwise, is disturbing especially when you consider that a lot of people like the tears. For some it’s the whole reason they watch these shows, but why?
Well I cannot give you a definite answer, and it is not my job to present ideas as solely factual. However I can speculate to my hearts content and one theory I believe is that it makes the viewers forget their humdrum everyday lives and be a part of titillating drama. Tear porn is just one aspect of this, there are many different tactics reality shows use to target these same phenomena, such as the all too famous cat fights littered through shows such as The Real Housewives series, or even the sexual appeal of sculpted bodies in shows such as Jersey Shore, Love Island and far more then I care to count, all of these aspects draw in viewers who just want to get lost in some senseless drama.
The show that I personally believe to be the worst and exploiting these tactics, especially tear porn, and feel free to disagree with me on this, is The Bachelor and Bachelorette series. This series and others like it try to show the pursuit of love, however it appears that according to this show unless you are a pencil thin woman with enormous titties or a man who’s chest you could grate cheese on, love just isn’t for you. Now what does this have to do with tear baiting? Nothing or at least very little, I just like ranting about how terrible this show and its premise is.
In all seriousness the Bachelor series do use these tactics, particularly the tear bait and sculpted bodies, though they are not above pulling cat fights if ratings drop below a certain threshold. The Bachelor and the Bachelorette use tear bait, and sequentially tear porn, so often including one infamous series in which one of the woman was told something very upsetting and indeed we did feel a tad sorry for this woman, but then because the cameras wouldn’t leave her alone she ran to bathroom to hide and cry in peace, but they did not let her, they stood outside that bathroom door with the microphone and camera getting every tear and every sob. They did not relent in there pursuit of ratings and this is just one example of this ploy.
I personally do hold reality shows accountable for the terrible acts they display; however I also believe that more responsibility belongs to the viewer because as long as we keep watching these acts and watching these sweet money making tears, they will never stop pushing contestants to cry and cry and cry for our amusement and at the end of the day that’s why they do it, because they know we love to absorb those tears, much like how a flower absorbs water to grow, reality TV uses the tears of its contestants to become an even greater monster.
The truth is, we are very unlikely to be rid of reality television anytime soon, if at all. However, that doesn’t mean pointing out these acts is wrong, on the contrary I believe that if we demonstrate these acts enough using social media and the power that comes with it we can show just how inhumane they truly are. We can progress enough that we no longer need tears in our entertainment. I could be alone in this, but I hope I am not, and I hope that those who read this will agree that even if reality tv will never die we can at the very least try and dispose of the abhorrent tactic of tear baiting.
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