The Bachelor. One of reality TV's most successful ventures.
Debuting in 2002, it is the longest running reality romance show (Reisner). 18 seasons if you count its spin-off The Bachelorette, and still today enjoying incredibly impressive viewership ratings. Even in it's lowest-rated season (the 8th), there were 9 million viewers (Goldstein).
I have to admit that I was an avid fan of the show. I religiously tuned in every monday night, and gossiped about the contestants with my girlfriends, and predicted who would be the chosen fiance every week. I was completely caught up and thoroughly embarrassed that I loved it so much.
Then one episode (I think my fourth season in) I had a strange epiphany: I'd seen this before. These phrases, these conversations, these 'emotions,' were all something I could, at this point, have written myself, because, I realized,...every season is the same.
If you have ever watched the show (any season, really any episode) you'll have heard some or all of the following: (some of these come from Lisa Newlin's Blog)
“I’m really starting to feel something for him”
"I think I'm falling..."
How can each season have such repeated moments with entirely different casts of people, entirely different past experiences and backgrounds; ending up with the exact same dialogue, without a script?
The first reason for such repetitiveness is: familiarity.
The producers design for repetitiveness because viewers appreciate reliability/familiarity/routine. The show has come up with a formula that they know works. So the producers edit and cut the footage, and in some cases direct the contestants so that they fit into the mold that will produce similar results and the producers have proven is successful.
Robert Thompson, founding director of the Bleier Center for Television & Popular Culture at Syracuse University said, "Counterintuitively, imposing a structure is the smartest way to keep viewers engaged. Producers need to force each season to essentially replicate the season before it" (Goldstein). Bottom line - Because people like the familiarity. Our (real) lives are chaotic and messy, especially in the realm of romance. Thompson continues, "What The Bachelor does is take present-day romance—a liberating, confusing, overwhelming, free-for-all—and lace it back up into a corset."Caitlin Duffy, a Ph.D. candidate in psychology at Northwestern University said that humans seek out ritual because, “From a social psychology standpoint, [the ritual] presents a stable, predictable world. We like to have rules and script to follow... Especially when it’s something like romantic relationships that are so important to our lives and happiness and well-being" over which we have so little control (Goldstein).
We like the rules, we appreciate the strict structure, ceremony, and ritual. In an almost carnivalesque way, when those rules are slightly bent, we love it even more; plus it gives the advertisers an excuse to claim, "the most dramatic episode yet."
So the producers know how much we love familiarity and they edit/tailor the footage to fit the same formula every season. But I am going to venture that they can actually predict the contestants' behavior to be similar in every season.
Which leads us to the 2nd reason for repetitiveness: the psychological set-up.
This show can be replicated season by season because its specific rules set up a particular psychological environment. My theory here is that even if they didn't edit the shoots, the producers could basically predict the behavior of the contestants because of the psychological maze they are stuck running through. They are in a controlled environment, doing essentially a pointed study on John Bowlby's "Attachment Theory". I believe "Attachment Theory" can explain much of the predictable, patterned behavior exhibited on the show.
John Bowlby's Attachment Theory:
Traditionally studied in children, the basic concept of "Attachment Theory" is this: if an infant has a caregiver who fulfills his/her physical and emotional needs, then that caregiver becomes a secure attachment figure in an infant's life. A child will not feel secure enough to be independent or explorative unless he or she has a secure attachment to their caregiver. The caregiver acts like a basic rod of security, helping the child face surprises, opportunities, and challenges life presents simply by being a secure base. Without a secure attachment figure in a child's life, neurosis and even psychosis may occur.
1) "Everyday Activities"
Contestants on the Bachelor have everyday activities that are not "everyday activities." All of the contestants live together in one big house. They are not allowed to text, email, facebook, or be in any contact with friends outside of the house, etc. Their "everyday activities" are wholly centered around one man (or woman) even when he (or she) is not there. The contestants are contractually obligated to operate with the sole purpose of romantically pursuing the star of the show.
2) Perceive Triggering Conditions
Contestants are only allowed a small allotted time with the star, on restricted and planned out dates. Then they have to watch and listen as other contestants return to the home and converse about their dates and their developing romantic relationship (their growing attachments) with the star. These conversations inevitably ...
3) Provokes Anxiety
Without emotional security, anxiety follows. This is the trigger and basis for many of the conversations about other contestants (comparing each other, being jealous of others, etc.) which are repeated throughout the show and season to season. These, of course, are natural responses to the situation which breeds more lack of attachment.
4) Seeks closeness to Partner
The contestant, who had one perception of his/her attachment to the bachelor/ette now questions where they stand and engages in attachment-seeking behavior. He or she seeks to be physically and psychologically closer to the person to whom they want to be attached. At the next regulated ceremony, where they are allowed time with the star, the contestants ask for affirmation/security in his/her feelings about the contestant - "do you still feel the way you felt on our last date?"
5) Partner Responds Positively
In the rules of the show, it is the essential premise that continues the show: the star CANNOT affirm any individual contestant until the season finale. It is in their contract to not say the words, "I love you" or to indicate in any way they have chosen one candidate before the final episode. The bachelor/ette cannot affirm completely and is contractually obligated NOT to show a secure attachment to anyone individual.
6) Can Reduce Anxiety, but cannot eliminate it. Here is the predictable, and unfortunately entertaining aspect of the show: watching people deal with anxiety in their insecure attachments.
The entire premise of the show imposes a constructed neurosis on the contestants: a constant struggle with secure attachment which will lead them to predictable (film-able) attachment-seeking, often wild or desperate behaviors and conversations that make for good TV.
So, why do we continually watch this repeating soap opera? In our own chaotic and unstructured lives (especially love lives) we want something stable. We love the familiarity, the formula, the repetition, the ritual, the structure. We enjoy watching others squirm under the pain and anxiety of an insecure attachment because we ourselves experience so much of it. Especially in romance. We watch them struggle as a catharsis and validation that our own feelings are so painful and complicated. We watch others make the same, repeating mistakes in the love arena, maybe so we don't have to make them. And we keep watching through the end of the season for the pay off: at the end someone ends up with a secure attachment that we are all ultimately searching for.
Debuting in 2002, it is the longest running reality romance show (Reisner). 18 seasons if you count its spin-off The Bachelorette, and still today enjoying incredibly impressive viewership ratings. Even in it's lowest-rated season (the 8th), there were 9 million viewers (Goldstein).
 |
| Figure #1: Jimmy Kimmel meme pointing out the show is not actually about "finding true love" |
Then one episode (I think my fourth season in) I had a strange epiphany: I'd seen this before. These phrases, these conversations, these 'emotions,' were all something I could, at this point, have written myself, because, I realized,...every season is the same.
If you have ever watched the show (any season, really any episode) you'll have heard some or all of the following: (some of these come from Lisa Newlin's Blog)
“I’m really starting to feel something for him”
"I think I'm falling..."
"I'm not here to make friends"
“We have a real connection”
"...here for the right reasons"
“I didn’t expect to fall in love” (this one's my favorite. you didn't? you're on a TV show for the express purpose of falling in love)
"...On this Journey..."
“I didn’t think it would be this hard”
"This is the most difficult decision yet"
“My walls are really starting to come down”
“I didn’t know I could feel this way”(Newlin)
"In the most Dramatic Event in Bachelor/Bachelorette History..."
The first reason for such repetitiveness is: familiarity.
The producers design for repetitiveness because viewers appreciate reliability/familiarity/routine. The show has come up with a formula that they know works. So the producers edit and cut the footage, and in some cases direct the contestants so that they fit into the mold that will produce similar results and the producers have proven is successful.
Robert Thompson, founding director of the Bleier Center for Television & Popular Culture at Syracuse University said, "Counterintuitively, imposing a structure is the smartest way to keep viewers engaged. Producers need to force each season to essentially replicate the season before it" (Goldstein). Bottom line - Because people like the familiarity. Our (real) lives are chaotic and messy, especially in the realm of romance. Thompson continues, "What The Bachelor does is take present-day romance—a liberating, confusing, overwhelming, free-for-all—and lace it back up into a corset."Caitlin Duffy, a Ph.D. candidate in psychology at Northwestern University said that humans seek out ritual because, “From a social psychology standpoint, [the ritual] presents a stable, predictable world. We like to have rules and script to follow... Especially when it’s something like romantic relationships that are so important to our lives and happiness and well-being" over which we have so little control (Goldstein).
The formula of the show is in its structure, it's predictability; there's safety and satisfaction in the ritual of it all. We don't actually care about the individuals, we care about the process. Through editing (after the first night of introductions) the producers cut out nearly every element of unique identifiable traits/characteristics/conversations of the contestants, especially if those unique characters break their mainstream attractiveness. Many times, at the end of the season, people will remark something to the effect of, "I didn't know she was funny!" Or in the case of season eight Bachelorette, Emily Maynard, a close friend of hers relayed that "More than anything, she's passionate about her faith" (Carbone), but we never saw that passion of hers on television because it was potentially controversial. A large part of her personality was completely hidden/cut from the aired material.
They have to flatten the "characters" to make them universal; the less distinct the contestants the more viewers can live vicariously through them, the more viewers can impose themselves into the adventures/romance in the show.
We like the rules, we appreciate the strict structure, ceremony, and ritual. In an almost carnivalesque way, when those rules are slightly bent, we love it even more; plus it gives the advertisers an excuse to claim, "the most dramatic episode yet."
So the producers know how much we love familiarity and they edit/tailor the footage to fit the same formula every season. But I am going to venture that they can actually predict the contestants' behavior to be similar in every season.
Which leads us to the 2nd reason for repetitiveness: the psychological set-up.
This show can be replicated season by season because its specific rules set up a particular psychological environment. My theory here is that even if they didn't edit the shoots, the producers could basically predict the behavior of the contestants because of the psychological maze they are stuck running through. They are in a controlled environment, doing essentially a pointed study on John Bowlby's "Attachment Theory". I believe "Attachment Theory" can explain much of the predictable, patterned behavior exhibited on the show.
John Bowlby's Attachment Theory:
Traditionally studied in children, the basic concept of "Attachment Theory" is this: if an infant has a caregiver who fulfills his/her physical and emotional needs, then that caregiver becomes a secure attachment figure in an infant's life. A child will not feel secure enough to be independent or explorative unless he or she has a secure attachment to their caregiver. The caregiver acts like a basic rod of security, helping the child face surprises, opportunities, and challenges life presents simply by being a secure base. Without a secure attachment figure in a child's life, neurosis and even psychosis may occur.
In the 1980s, Cindy Hazan and Phillip Shaver applied the idea to adult--specifically romantic--relationships. This is why we all "act like children" in trying to form romantic relationships. Adults are seeking the same type of security in a romantic relationship that a caregiver provides to an infant.
Below, on the right, is a diagram of an "attachment seeking cycle" or a security-based strategy that shows how people attempt to reduce their anxiety about attachment. The diagram outlines a normal human reaction sequence.
In reviewing this cycle, it becomes obvious why there are fundamental problems in the Bachelor contestants attempting to fulfill this cycle on the show, The Bachelor:
In reviewing this cycle, it becomes obvious why there are fundamental problems in the Bachelor contestants attempting to fulfill this cycle on the show, The Bachelor:
 |
| Figure #2 : attachment-seeking cycle |
Contestants on the Bachelor have everyday activities that are not "everyday activities." All of the contestants live together in one big house. They are not allowed to text, email, facebook, or be in any contact with friends outside of the house, etc. Their "everyday activities" are wholly centered around one man (or woman) even when he (or she) is not there. The contestants are contractually obligated to operate with the sole purpose of romantically pursuing the star of the show.
2) Perceive Triggering Conditions
Contestants are only allowed a small allotted time with the star, on restricted and planned out dates. Then they have to watch and listen as other contestants return to the home and converse about their dates and their developing romantic relationship (their growing attachments) with the star. These conversations inevitably ...
3) Provokes Anxiety
Without emotional security, anxiety follows. This is the trigger and basis for many of the conversations about other contestants (comparing each other, being jealous of others, etc.) which are repeated throughout the show and season to season. These, of course, are natural responses to the situation which breeds more lack of attachment.
4) Seeks closeness to Partner
Bowlby describes a scene with children: "In most young children the mere sight of mother holding another baby in her arms is enough to elicit strong attachment behaviour. The older child insists on remaining close to his mother, or on climbing on to her lap. Often he behaves as though he were a baby" (Bowlby, 260). The anxiety/jealously of having an attachment figure give attention to a "rival" transfers to adults.
The contestant, who had one perception of his/her attachment to the bachelor/ette now questions where they stand and engages in attachment-seeking behavior. He or she seeks to be physically and psychologically closer to the person to whom they want to be attached. At the next regulated ceremony, where they are allowed time with the star, the contestants ask for affirmation/security in his/her feelings about the contestant - "do you still feel the way you felt on our last date?"
5) Partner Responds Positively
In the rules of the show, it is the essential premise that continues the show: the star CANNOT affirm any individual contestant until the season finale. It is in their contract to not say the words, "I love you" or to indicate in any way they have chosen one candidate before the final episode. The bachelor/ette cannot affirm completely and is contractually obligated NOT to show a secure attachment to anyone individual.
6) Can Reduce Anxiety, but cannot eliminate it. Here is the predictable, and unfortunately entertaining aspect of the show: watching people deal with anxiety in their insecure attachments.
The entire premise of the show imposes a constructed neurosis on the contestants: a constant struggle with secure attachment which will lead them to predictable (film-able) attachment-seeking, often wild or desperate behaviors and conversations that make for good TV.
So, why do we continually watch this repeating soap opera? In our own chaotic and unstructured lives (especially love lives) we want something stable. We love the familiarity, the formula, the repetition, the ritual, the structure. We enjoy watching others squirm under the pain and anxiety of an insecure attachment because we ourselves experience so much of it. Especially in romance. We watch them struggle as a catharsis and validation that our own feelings are so painful and complicated. We watch others make the same, repeating mistakes in the love arena, maybe so we don't have to make them. And we keep watching through the end of the season for the pay off: at the end someone ends up with a secure attachment that we are all ultimately searching for.
 |
| Figure #3: 1 man secure attachment to 24 women; 24 women insecure attachment with 1 man |
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