While college basketball fans devote hours to creating the perfect March Madness bracket, others in America create “Bachelor Brackets.” These brackets, a feminine version of Fantasy Football, allow fans of ABC’s “The Bachelor” to predict and track winners of the reality show.
An enormous following has made the series one of the most successful reality television franchises. It is in its 12th year and 18th season, with offshoots in 13 other countries. The show revolves around an eligible bachelor, who is tasked with choosing his future wife — or at least girlfriend — through a series of elimination-style dates.
The show has even touched Hillsdale’s culture, as one of the current season’s contestants graduated in 2004 as a member of the theater department and Chi Omega sorority.
The show, which plays like a car wreck in that you almost can’t help but watch the sheer horror, shows what is wrong with the culture of love today. While the show has avoided sexism — thanks to “The Bachelorette,” ABC’s sister program — it presents the epidemic to which so many in today’s society have fallen victim: everyone NEEDS to be in love. Having a significant other is the definition of happiness.
First of all, the show is downright phony. Contestants are forced by producers to act a certain way in order to create character archetypes and attract audiences. Many have attested to this after their time on the show. Creator Mark Fleiss even confessed this truth on a “20/20” special on March 5, 2010.
Even if contestants were not prodded to act obnoxious or reserved or head-over-heels in love with Mr. Bachelor, forcing the “falling in love” process could never happen naturally on “group dates” — which actually mean one man and three women — or with the eyes of the world watching. Most viewers of basic intelligence understand the Hollywood-esque quality of the fabricated series, but even still, that people condone this attempt at “love” is indicative of a society that has love all wrong.
Modern literature, pop music, and movies all revolve around the importance of “being with” another person. Lyrics that croon, “Baby, I need you” and “My life would suck without you” imply that a life without a boyfriend or girlfriend is an empty life. This is simply not true.
In Rachel Bertsche’s novel, “MWF Seeking BFF,” she provides evidence from countless studies that affirm that it is not relationships with significant others that provide the most happiness and affirmation in a person’s life. Study after study showed that meaningful friendships provided the test subjects with the most fulfillment.
Of course, loving another romantically is not a bad thing. But it is not the act of merely “finding” or “having” a boyfriend or girlfriend that is important, like society might have young people believe. Real relationships take work and commitment — more than accepting a rose requires.
Going on a show like “The Bachelor” proves that going to extreme measures to “find love” is acceptable. It shows that kissing 25 girls a day will surely help you decide which one is “right” for you. After all, that must be why the only couple still together are last season’s winners (for a whopping one year), and why all the other relationships failed, many before their season had even aired, right?
Viewers must stop glorifying a movement that advocates desperation, fraud, and empty “love,” before “March Madness” takes on a meaning truly representative of its name.
