Like other students, my roommates and I go out on the weekend, and plan to drink away the turmoil of the week. We order a pizza and, in the early hours of the morning, find ourselves gathered in the living room, ready to chill and unwind. For a house of five, it may seem that it would be very difficult to settle on a show that we all can agree on. But, per our routine, we turn on an episode of Love Island and begin our drama consumption.

Love Island, with all due respect, would fall into the self categorization of “trash.”It is a consumable mass of drama, superficiality, tears, and “love” triangles that put highschool relationships to shame. It's no surprise that this genre of television does not attract a reputation of value and merit, but that does not deter its popularity amongst viewers. 

The genre of reality TV is wide in its range. But I want to  specifically focus on what is trash. I'm not talking about Survivor, or Naked and Afraid, shows that display real skills. Instead, I am talking about the shows that utilize dramatized exaggeration, and drama that is oftentimes absurd. The Bachelorette, Love Island, Dated and Related, Too Hot To Handle, to name a few. These shows have amassed large followings, enough that they are continuously renewed for new seasons. So what makes this “trash” so addicting for viewers?

The common factor amongst these “trashy series” seems to be the level of drama involved in each episode. The appeal is in the fights, the tears, and whatever other occurrences generate drama amongst the characters. Each episode is left on some sort of cliffhanger, where you must continue watching to find out what happens next. However, the title of “reality” might be a little misleading. Producers tactically edit, and manipulate the contestants’ , words, and narratives to fuel the drama. Arguably, it becomes an act of art; to take nothing, and edit it until it becomes something. And it works. The addicting factor is the drama that the audience can watch from afar, t yet they feel intimately connected with.

The addicting drama causes a sense of connection between audience and “character.” As the character development unfolds on the screen, a sense of friendship can feel like it's formed, as if the audience truly knows this person who they've watched develop. Despite the reputation that those on reality TV shows are “clout chasers,” “fake,” and “entirely superficial,” these characters are able to attract viewers that form a loyalty to their TV persona.

As a psychology student,I find it interesting to dive deep into the thought processes behind what motivates people to pursue a reality tv persona. Especially the concept of having intimate moments of one's life broadcasted to the world, since real moments of my life would be used for people to judge in a mass number. We are quick to make whole character judgements about the people that appear on the screen. Despite their monologue perhaps lasting 30 seconds, before the first episode e is all the time we need to categorize them into a hierarchical ranking of favorite to least. And, as the show progresses, the fun is to see if their character develops enough to move themselves on said hierarchy. It seems the audience becomes the more superficial aspect involved with reality TV. We demote or promote people in rankings due to one: how they look, and two: the dynamics of the drama that in any way involves them.

Arguably, reality TV exploits the lives and emotions of real, thinking, feeling humans. That is easy to forget, when instinctively, these characters are self categorized into actors by the audience. You are on TV, but when does the line cross from a person who is on a TV show, into ‘actor?’ But don’t get me wrong, I do think that there are boundaries crossed when a person's intimate emotional moments are streamed and edited to the world. Producers just tend to take full advantage of the fact that drama attracts an audience. Additionally, shows such as Toddlers & Tiaras, and Dance Moms for example, capitalize on the vulnerable emotions expressed from literal children. Thus, there is no shortage of issues within this genre, yet, easily overlooked.

I love to binge “trashy” shows that display drama entirely cringeworthy. Because of these shows, the negative things in my life become irrelevant for the duration of the episode. The crying girl on the screen, who has been screwed over by the latest douchebag, has it worse than me for a moment. And I can laugh with them, cry with them, and root for them. My hot, or maybe warm, take is that “trashy” reality TV is so bad, it's good. 

Header: Aglaia Joithe