![]() ![]() As Ariana herself described in an interview with Glamour, "It was like the air was sucked out of my lungs."Īriana has always been the least villainous in a cast where no one claims to be pure as the driven snow. ![]() While some claim to enjoy these shows for the petty drama and light shade, in truth, interest in the spectacle tends to spike the moment they tip into " horror reality," by which I mean the dramas in life that aren't petty at all encounters that materially tear your world and how you comprehend it inside out and upside down. "Raquel," DJ James Kennedy's fledgling "bambi-eyed" former fiance who Ariana and Scheana Shay basically adopted after their breakup) over at least seven months, and that the affair had been conducted while they were filming the season currently airing- the story seemed to expand and balloon like The Blob itself, consuming everything and everyone in its path, each new detail more jaw-dropping, more blood-curdling than the last. When the news broke that Tom Sandoval had cheated on Ariana, his partner of a decade- with whom he shares a home, in their home, with close friend Rachel Leviss (i.e. #Scandoval has been hailed as the biggest, darkest scandal in Bravo's history, and though I don't necessarily agree with this evaluation (Taylor Armstrong's husband committed suicide after his domestic violence was revealed on camera Erika Girardi's lifestyle was funded by money stolen from victims of corporate malfeasance), I understand why one would claim it is. If the show's earlier seasons drew comparisons to Friends, the tenth season recalls something more akin to an erotic thriller. That changed once Stassi Schroeder and Kristen Doute endangered Faith Stowers's life, and it hasn't stopped changing. And the great thing about the show is that historically, the drama has been emotionally high-stakes with little to no actual stakes. They were just hot restaurant workers who were profoundly messy in a deeply human way-one that often encroached on the inhuman. It's cannibal theater through and through, and what this formula means- what it necessitates- is that every now and again, someone gets their guts completely fucking ripped out.Īt its start, Vanderpump Rules was unique for the Bravo universe in that its stars were not disgustingly wealthy or pathologically ambitious or even altogether capable of really pretending to be. Reunions frequently take on the tone of Celebrity Deathmatch, though they're more often described as akin to the Superbowl. They battle in coliseums of toxic femininity, toxic dating and work culture, toxic marriages, toxic fandom and media culture. "Bravolebrities" are contemporary gladiators. Fame and opportunity are on the table if by no means guaranteed. From The Real Housewives franchises to Vanderpump Rules, Southern Charm, Summer House, and Below Deck, cast members don't sign up to participate in a competition, but to make characters of themselves and their conflicts, all of which are "real" and yet still constructed. Like horror, reality TV provides a container of escapism that doubles as a venue for confrontation and projection by its very form. I've long suspected that certain types of reality TV serve the same function as horror films, particularly the type cornered by Bravo. So it tracks that you increase your chances of survival (your capacity to cope) if you teach your nervous system how to stay cozy in chaos. In a world that wants us to bobblehead our way through life like good, happy consumers, horror is disruption, and disruption begets transformation, and transformation is an inevitable (albeit uncomfortable) fact of life. ![]() Horror spectators understand that there are valuable lessons to be learned about survival and discernment from these stories, that they can instill a way of looking and relating to the world that, in some ways, seems to pierce the veil of existence. Research on horror spectatorship shows that audiences value the genre because it offers a safe container to experience and confront terror, whatever shape it may take. ![]()
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