Rebecca Rants on
The Bachelor
Rebecca Brodney, Staff Writer
photo via mlive.com
It is 8:00 PM on a Monday night. The
typical Meredith gal has just returned to her
dorm, apartment, or house after a grueling
day, still shell-shocked from waking up that
morning. She shrugs her backpack off of her
shoulders and onto the floor before grab
bing the remote and plopping down on the
couch. Suddenly, there is a blood-curdling
squeal that reaches the ears of everyone
within a three-mile radius. No, it’s not an
axe murderer or a spider. It’s worse. It is
The Bachelor on ABC.
The show itself has a rather Harem-esque
premise to it. There is one man and 25
women vie for his love, attention, affection,
and potentially a proposal. At the end of the
season, this year’s bachelor, Ben Flajnik,
age 28, will choose one of these women to
spend the rest of his life with (in theory)
and ask her to marry him. For the most
part, Ben seems like a decent guy. He has
shaggy hair, chocolate brown eyes, inordi
nately white teeth and touts that he would
like to be with a woman who is independent
and strong. He also is a big hit for the ladies
looking for a sensitive man.
Ben disappoints the viewers when they
observe that he has kissed a total of five
women in that one episode. When they tell
him that they fear he is losing interest, he
explains, “Just focus on our date!” in his
soothing voice to console them. There are
several things disturbing about the show
aside from the premise itself. First of all, the
vast majority of contestants are white (or
orange, judging by the spray tan) and be
tween the ages of 20-30, condoning racism
and taking an attitude of “find love while
you are still young and beautiful!” Secondly,
the women who are older than the rest
are portrayed as being very desperate. For
example, Rachel, 28, flings herself at Ben in
a steamy make-out session complete with
the camera zooming in on the their tangled
tongues.
Why do we watch? After all, by continu
ing to do so we are approving of racism
and misogyny. It strongly resembles the
phenomenon that surrounds a car crash in
which people cannot avert their eyes. Real
ity television is likely to be just as staged
as Cats, on Broadway, which is common
knowledge. Perhaps it is because of this
that the show still holds a large number of
viewers. Regardless of whether viewers are
single or taken, they feel better about their
own love life. After all, real emotions, good
or bad, are still better than the overly con
trived ones depicted on the show.
Award Show Season
Matilyn Healy, Staff Writer
Award show season is upon us, and it is officially time to acknowl
edge all of the familiar and unfamiliar people of the film industry.
There are seven major award shows that take place in the months
of January and February including the People’s Choice, Golden
Globes, and Academy Awards.
Four of these shows have already aired in January: the People’s
Choice Awards, Critic’s Choice Awards, the Golden Globe Awards
and the Screen Actor’s Guild Awards. The People’s Choice Awards
honored favorite movies, actors, TV shows, and acknowledged a
few artists in the music industry. Some of the most stand-out win
ners included Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 for
favorite movie, Johnny Depp for favorite movie actor, Emma Stone
for favorite movie actress and How I Met Your Mother for favorite
network TV cotttedy show.
Next up were the Critic’s Choice Awards. These awards focused
solely on the film industry and took a deeper look into what goes
into creating an award winning film. Some of the noted awards
were The Artist for best picture. Rise of the Planet of the Apes for
best visual effects, and “Life’s a Happy Song” from The Muppets for
best song.
The Golden Globes followed with more great awards. This show
closely resemble the Academy Awards in categories and nominees.
Outstanding awards included Meryl Streep for the best perfor
mance by an actress in a motion picture (drama) for her role in
Iron Lady, The Adventures of Tintin for best animated feature film
and Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris for best screenplay (motion
picture). Because of the nominees and carefully chosen winners, it
is clear which movies stuck out in 2011.
But why should Meredith College students watch these award
shows? Besides figuring out who were the best and worst dressed on
the red carpet, these award shows are “useful for students to have
a sense about the type of films the industry rewards,” says Dr. Alisa
Johnson, Meredith College’s film professor. It is useful for theater
students to pay attention because “watching [the award shows] is a
wonderful way to understand what good acting is and about the art
of acting,” she remarks. This also helps students interested in di
recting because they can pay attention to what movies win for best
director, screenplay, and overall. Visual arts students can appreci
ate the shows because, “it is very useful to watch who gets recog
nized for cinematography, special effects, and sound,” Dr. Johnson
adds, “we often take the amazing work of the soundtrack for grant
ed.” These shows, however, are not only for students interested in
making films a part of their careers. It is a fun way to root for your
favorite actor, actress or movie while appreciating all the work that
went into them as Dr. Johnson reminds students, “films are not just
for entertainment purposes, they are works of art that should be
appreciated.”
Make your predictions for the upcoming shows including the
Directors Guild of America Awards, Writer’s Guild of America
Awards, and the Academy Awards, all airing this month.
Ast( Gigi
"
t a our final issue of last semester, Gigi received a response to the advice she gave to “Help a girl out.” To read what “Help a girl out” asked Gigi visit
ttp://issuu.com/themeredithherald/docs/ii.2_final_layout or pick up a copy of the Nov 2, 2011 Herald.
Dear help a girl out,
If I was on the club scene and saw my professor, I would be embarrassed just as much as you are feeling right now. Remember, you have a life outside of
classes and a professor should respect that, as long as it doesn’t interfere with your school work. You should know that a professor also has a life outside
of classes. And if he did indeed see you there, he is probably worried that you saw him there and could be feeling embarrassed as well. Don’t skip class
just because you are feeling embarrassed; just brush off the encounter. You don’t have to mention to him that you saw him there. If you run into a pro
fessor again at a bar or club, use your club name instead of your real name when giving it out to people in case he asks around who you are.
HOLLA,
Gigi .
Gigi, Gigi, Gigi,
Why would you be embarrassed if your professor saw you at a club? I wouldn’t be embarrassed if you saw ME. I go out all the time. In fact, I’m helping
to RUN a dance on Saturday over at State. I love running into my students in the real world, getting beyond my attendance sheet. I even go out of my
way to have lunch occasionally with my graduates, now colleagues, at their high tech jobs. What I fear from your Q&A is that it perpetuates an authori-
ty-mmion understanding of school. As a faculty, it’s my job to help you become co-owners of the knowledge I have, to bring you to my level, or beyond
It. As a college, we do linked courses, study abroad, service projects and God-knows what else, to pry your vision of education out of the classroom. We
want you to leave the safety of mernorized facts and join the real adult world of living thoughtfully and with compassion and all the rest of that stuff in
the college mission statement. And if you have to see me at yoga or pushing a grocery cart to wreck you illusion that I’m attached to the chalk board,
good. So, you don t have to dance with ME, but. . . Til see you out here at the dance, whenever you are ready.
Barry V