I have a confession to make – I am a huge sucker for reality tv. It’s my deepest guilty pleasure. Mostly because it’s easy, senseless, television that I can have in the background if I want to completely turn off my mind and disconnect from the world. The most addictive substance, of course, is The Real Housewives franchise which allows viewers into the fabulous lives of America’s elite social societies. I’ve also fallen deep into the RHOBH spinoff, Vanderpump Rules. The show is a delicate mix of Real Housewives meets The Hills – with less responsibility and life lessons and more trash and mediocrity. The show follows a group of not-so-young waitresses and bartenders who work at Lisa Vanderpump’s high-end lounge as they try to make it big in Hollywood. Okay, “try to make it” is giving them way too much credit, but you get the premise the show is going for. So what’s my problem with the show? It’s true that it’s senseless, easy, trashy television but behind it lies a much bigger message for it’s younger audiences – the fact that you can find success in life by having no goals, ambitions or morals. That’s my problem with Vanderpump Rules and the level of mediocrity that it celebrates every week that it’s on-air.
Clearly, what I’m presenting is nothing new. After all, shows like Jersey and Geordie Shore, The Real World, Big Brother and The Bachelor still have long running success. But there’s a difference – those people have taken a break from normal life to be thrust into extraordinary situations to produce addictively dramatic reality tv. The cast of Pump Rules however, are just living out their lives at Sur restaurant and there happens to be camera’s there.
The show opens up by introducing all of the main persona’s of the Sur staff and they all explain that their current job at Sur is simply something that is supporting them as they reach for their dreams. Like most young Hollywood folk, these people aspire to be actors, models, producers, stylists and entrepreneurs. The show – much like The Hills – presents a flashy, fast-lane world of luxury, glam and opportunity for these young and beautiful people. Something most of us only dream of having access to. Because of the high profile of their boss, Lisa Vanderpump, the cast members are granted access to some of the biggest names in Hollywood. With oodles of potential at their fingertips the majority of the cast has done….absolutely nothing to help advance in their dream jobs. It’s unbelievable, the show is now in it’s fourth season and all but 1 of the original cast has stayed exactly where they were when we first met them. I’m not hating on restaurant/bar work as a career, but I guarantee that most waitresses and bartenders are either working for something bigger in life, or would make something amazing out of themselves the minute the opportunity struck. But, the staff over at Sur have literally no ambitions – or at least if they did, they are all gone now, considering if they stay at Sur, they stay on the show and rake in the dough.
It’s no secret that reality tv profits enormously from people willing to expose and create drama within their social circles, but theres something about the content on Pump Rules that is both addictive and sad. The main cast are all in their early 30’s which is really hard to remember sometimes because they all act like 20 year olds who just left home for the first time. All but maybe 2 girls on the show are completely defined by their relationships to hot, young and completely aimless bartenders at the restaurant. The three major relationships on the show have all been rocky with drama since the beginning – with every single man cheating on their girlfriend at some point – the show is fuelled by endless sex scandals, some of which are quite sickening. The relationships don’t end though, because they are all emotionally dependant on each other. Dependant on the companionship and terrified of having a go at life on their own. Which as a result sets these ladies up as terrible examples of the 21st century woman and even worse reflections on the modern man. It seems like none of these people really notice how low their own self esteem is and the success of the show only reinforces this dangerous behaviour.
The concept of friendship is almost nonexistent as well. With genuine, friendship ending, betrayals that have really effected these people’s lives going on at a regular pace. There seems to be no level of security or support between this group of people – especially when it comes to the young women who would rather tear each other’s accomplishments down in the name of becoming popular. Sounds familiar right? Remember though, these people are in their 30’s. It seems like every season forks out the same rolodex of problems – who cheated on who this year? Whose best friend turned their back on who? Whether it’s someone cheating with their best friend’s significant other, or vicious bullying on a mass scale, this bunch has literally no scruples. What’s worse is, rather than using their newfound wealth and attention to advance themselves, their careers and their relationships, everyone is just laying stagnant, making nothing of themselves and certainly not helping raise each other to new heights. Of course I realize that some of these events are set up by production to create juicy addictive situations, but it’s clear that most of the content is very real.
What could be argued as even more disturbing is the encouragement the cast gets from their matriarch, Lisa. She’s a hard headed powerhouse of a woman who claims she rules with an iron fist and doesn’t let anyone get away with bullshit. But, this only goes so far. You see, without this trouble making crew – who regularly disrespects her business and her clients – she wouldn’t have a show. So, even though she slams the hammer when things go too far, this behaviour is certainly encouraged to an extent. It’s unfortunate that this kind of behaviour is normal when it comes to shows profiling the “real” lives of young people and the real world in general but this is where we are today. I know full well that this is trash television and so do most of us. But, what about the younger viewers? I vowed by The Hills when I was 16 and I really thought that my life as a twenty-something would be just like that – luckily for me and my friends, The Hills still stood on some moral grounds. Vanderpump Rules however, shows young boys and girls that this behaviour is okay and can get you far in life and love – essentially celebrating mediocrity
Cinema Freak 