“The Bachelor” is a reality TV show that was created by ABC in 2002. 23 seasons later, the 2019 cast features Colton Underwood, a former professional football player, and the 30 women competing for his heart.
“The Bachelor” seems to be one of PLNU’s favorite TV shows. Boys and girls of all years gather in lounges and rooms each week to watch the ABC classic. Not only does “The Bachelor” provide entertainment, it brings people together to discuss and compare their opinions on the show.
“It’s a great show, my mom and I bond over watching it.” said Madyson Goss, a freshman media communications major.
This seemingly addicting show has been bringing mothers and daughters together like this for 16 years. The dream date cliché show is seemingly addictive and people at PLNU can’t get enough of it.
But, I will never watch “The Bachelor,” and here’s why. “The Bachelor” feeds in to the media’s oppression of women. It is a show which relays the message that women should be pitted against one another and vie for male attention.
“The Bachelor” lends itself as a platform for the devaluation of women in film and TV. Both men and women who watch this show are allowed, encouraged even, to rank the women they think best suit the man.
The show also provides little diversity in the women it puts on the show and contestants are typically judged on their appearance. The problem with this is that it promotes the denial of women’s full capacity for individual, intellectual and creative achievements. Instead, it creates a platform where women are simply prizes that the man gets to choose from.
What is also interesting to look at is the success rate of the marriages from the show. Only about 4 couples from the 24 seasons have gotten married and are still going strong.
The reason “The Bachelor” is problematic isn’t just because of it’s contrived encounters and fake dialogue, but because of the pressure it puts on young girls. “The Bachelor” depicts images of weak, desperate women whose goals are to allure a man, which can be damaging to the young women who watch this show.
Written by Point Loma Nazarene University student Emma Moore.
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