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Megan McGinnis
Professor Finkel
MEDC 5310
15 April 2013
The Bachelor: Looking at Love Through Rose-Colored Glasses
The reality television series, The Bachelor/The Bachelorette, has created a
cultural stigma since it first aired in 2002. The premise of the show follows the lead on
their quest to pick a spouse from a field of 25 potential love interests. Their journey to
love is filled with elaborate dates, exotic locations and, of course, lots of drama.
However, the show simply portrays an unrealistic portrait of dating and relationships that
is not at all comparable to the real world. Maybe that is why after 24 seasons of the show,
the final couple has only married twice. Using Silverblatt's keys, this author will show
that The Bachelor/The Bachelorette series promotes unrealistic views of courtship and
marriage while also conveying a latent message that only good-looking Caucasians can
attain true love.
Romantic love is a captivating concept in our culture. It serves as the main
ingredient in most songs, films and television shows. In Media Literacy: Keys to
Interpreting Media Messages, Art Silverblatt discusses the idea of cultural myths,
“Cultural myths are a set of beliefs which may not be true, but nevertheless tell us about
ourselves and our culture” (96). The cultural myth that is prevalent in The Bachelor/The
Bachelorette is the all sufficiency of love. This is the idea that people are totally
dependent on the love of another person to feel any value or self worth. The show really
plays this up; in the contestants introductory videos they often say how love is the only
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thing missing in their lives and they feel broken without it. The all sufficiency of love
also demonstrates that losing your partner should be completely devastating (Silverblatt
97). This is dramatized in the show by the “diaries of the departed videos” and many
tearful limo rides after elimination. It is really hard to naturally believe that these
contestants are so devastated after being rejected by someone they barely knew. These
contestants claim to develop feelings early on, and even those eliminated the first few
weeks appear to be completely devastated when they do not receive a rose.
In addition to promoting the necessity of romantic love, The Bachelor/The
Bachelorette leads the audience to believe dating and courtship should be a fairytale. This
is implanted in the minds of contestants and expressed through private interviews and
voiceovers. In an interview, former contestant Ashley Spivey stated, “I love a good love
story, and I feel like this is the perfect fairy tale” (Carbone). Season 23 winner, Jef Holm,
also referred to the process as a fairytale during his interviews, “I like just the person that
she is. I feel like Emily gives me the feeling that people write fairy tales about”
(Carbone) It should also be noted, Holm and Spivey’s comments were made during the
first episode of their respective seasons. Besides competing with 24 other contestants, the
show does depict the fantasy of falling in love. The contestants always seem instantly
attracted to the lead and appear to have no differences or points of argumentation with
them. The producers really want the viewers to believe in the possibility of a whirlwind
romance and falling in love after a short period of time. However, these couples come
into contact with few real world situations and barriers. In addition, the dates on the show
are elaborate and completely unrealistic.
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The Bachelor/The Bachelorette sets unrealistic standards for dating by sending the
lead and their love interests on elaborate and expensive dates. Most of the excursions are
nothing like what would happen in real life. Contestants are flown all over the country on
jets, attend private concerts and go bungee jumping each and every season. Also, every
season of The Bachelor features a date where one woman is given millions of dollars
worth of jewels and treated to a shopping spree by the lead. Not only are contestants
treated to elaborate dates in America, they are taken all over the globe. In past seasons the
final rose ceremonies have taken place in exotic locales such as Thailand, Curacao and
South Africa. This can cause viewers to have unrealistic expectations of their partners
because they do not normally do these elaborate things. In the real world, people simply
do not have the time and money to recreate these “fairytale” dates. Real people have jobs
and do not have a television show paying for all their expenses. Also, it is easy for
contestants to get caught up in the idea of falling in love with someone when they are
taken to exotic locations and participate in high adrenaline dates.
The premise of the show is also diluted by the mindset of the contestants and the
producer’s manipulation. Past contestants have said it is really easy to get swept up in the
process and try to force a love connection where there is not one. The show’s voiceovers
put a lot of pressure on the lead and the contestants to get engaged at its conclusion. For
example, on the first night of every season the host asks the lead if they think their future
spouse is in the room. Also, the contestants always say they expect to be engaged to the
lead at the end of the process and constantly refer to them as their future wife/husband. It
seems like the show pushes the idea that the final couple must make a major commitment
as quickly as possible, before even getting a chance to date in the real world. It is also
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difficult to get to know someone when cameras constantly surround you. Even though we
only see two hours each week, every interaction between the contestants and the lead is
recorded. This makes it difficult to have deep, intimate conversations and may cause
some contestants to put on an act for the camera and not display their true personality.
Many contestants come to the show with ulterior motives. They do not want to find love,
they simply want to have fun or perhaps carve a path to fame.
The show’s producers also play a vital role in manipulating the cast. It’s the
producer’s jobs to make the show entertaining, so they plant ideas in the contestant’s
minds that will make the finished product as entertaining as possible. On Sean Lowe’s
season of The Bachelor, Ashley Palenkas was depicted as a crazy woman who is
obsessed with the book 50 Shades of Grey. However, in an interview with Take 2 The
Show, Palenkas said her persona was completely fabricated by producers, “They
convince you it’ll be great and you say ok, than they tell you to have a lot to drink so you
won’t be nervous to do it…I hadn’t really read the book and I was not a huge fan.” In the
same interview another former contestant, Natalie Getz, also discussed the producer’s
influence, “They try to convince you that you have to do something to stand out”
(Rihannon). Other former contestants have come out and spoken to the manipulative
nature of the show. Megan Parris has been one on the most outspoken former contestants.
In an interview with The Pittsburgh Tribune she said, "It is scripted. They basically will
call you names, berate you, curse at you until they get you to say what they want you to
say" (Cherry). The producers pick the contestants that bring the most drama, not the best
chance of making a love connection.
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Reality programming, such as The Bachelor, can depict its own worldview. Media
researcher, Silverblatt states, “Worldview can be a valuable key to understand manifest
and latent messages contained in media programming” (98). Cultural ideologies are an
important part of understanding worldview, Silverblatt says, “An ideology contains
assumptions about how the world should operate, who should oversee the world, and the
proper and appropriate relationships among its inhabitants” (98). The Bachelor/The
Bachelorette depicts a world where only good-looking, Caucasian people are given the
chance to find love. This worldview is adhering to the views of the dominant culture,
which is dominated by Caucasian characters. In 24 seasons, The Bachelor or The
Bachelorette has never had a minority lead, and only a handful of token minority
contestants each season.
In 2012, a group of potential African-American contestants sued ABC for racial
discrimination. The suit claimed they were not cast on the show because of their race and
this was a direct violation of their First Amendment rights. ABC won the legal battle, the
courts said it would be unconstitutional to force the show to cast minority contestants
(Gardner). However, the plaintiffs did achieve a small victory. Four African-American
contestants were cast on Lowe’s season of The Bachelor, which was the first season cast
post-lawsuit.
In addition to being mostly Caucasian, the women cast on The Bachelor are
generally considered thinner and more attractive than the average American woman.
According to University of Iowa researcher, Michelle Brophy-Baermann, the average
Bachelor contestant weighs 120 pounds, while the average American woman weighs 152
pounds. Brophy-Baremann also points out the heights of the men on The Bachelorette are
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above average. The average American man is around 5 feet 8 inches, while the average
contestant is 6 feet 1 inch (46). The concept of beauty and attractiveness is highly
showcased by the producers. Viewers constantly see contestants putting on layers of
make-up and showing off their bodies while getting dressed. The show plays up the idea
that attraction is more important than personality or an actual love connection.
Silverblatt states in his book, “Cultural myths can assume a mythic reality as
people buy into them” (97). The Bachelor/The Bachelorette series attempts to create this
mythic reality by trying to sell viewers on the fact that love is a fairytale. More
specifically, selling people on the idea that such an unrealistic premise can result in longterm romantic love. Overall, this show is unrealistic. It is not natural to go on elaborate
dates and fall in love at first sight, all while the lead has multiple love interests. Also, one
could interpret the show as saying love is only for certain kinds of people, mainly
attractive non-minorities. Viewers need to watch the show with a great deal of
skepticism, it is highly manipulated and forced in order to create drama. With The
Bachelor and The Bachelorette, ABC is selling entertainment and not love.
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Works Cited
Brophy-Baermann, Michelle. "True Love on TV: A Gendered Analysis of RealityRomance Television." Poroi. 4.2 (2005): n. page. Web. 15 Apr. 2013.
<http://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1023&context=poroi>.
Carbone, Gina. "Top 5 Love Cliches from The Bachelor Season 15 Premiere." Wetpaint.
N.p., 07 Jan 2011. Web. 15 Apr 2013. <http://www.wetpaint.com/thebachelor/articles/top-5-love-cliches-from-the-bachelor-season-15-premiere>.
Carbone, Gina. "Top 10 Quotes From The Bachelorette: "Emily Gives Me the Feeling
That People Write Fairy Tales About”." Wetpaint. N.p., 11 Jun 2012. Web. 15 Apr 2013.
<http://www.wetpaint.com/the-bachelorette/articles/top-10-quotes-from-the-bacheloretteemily-gives-me-the-feeling-that-people-write-fairy-tales-about>.
Cherry, Bobby. "'Bachelor' candidate from Sewickley Hills goes off script Read more:
http://triblive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_617830.html
Gardner, Eriq. "'The Bachelor' Racial Discrimination Lawsuit Dismissed." Hollywood
Reporter. (2012): n. page. Web. 14 Apr. 2013. <http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thresq/bachelor-racial-discrimination-lawsuit-dismissed-379100>.
Rihannon, Alexis. "Here’s How The Bachelor Producers Get The Girls To Act So Crazy
Read more: http://www.crushable.com/2013/02/19/entertainment/the-bachelor-spoilers/
Silverblatt, Art. Media Literacy: Keys to Interpreting Media Messages. 3rd. Westport,
Connecticut: Praeger, 2008. Print.