So in my occasional reality TV binging, I stumbled across a monstrosity. It’s on Fox (surprise!). It’s called Secret Millionaire and it makes me genuinely uncomfortable to watch. Of course I plan to use it in my classroom!
The premise is simple: get rich, privileged folk to mingle with those in “extreme poverty” for a week and then give to those individuals that they feel are most in need. Here are the actual lines displayed at the beginning of each episode with a couple of quotes from one episode:
For one week So and So will live undercover in poverty.
They will leave their possessions and identities at home.
People will be told that So and So are involved in a documentary about poverty.
They will have to survive on a welfare budget of $107.
“I’m really nervous about the story I’m going to tell people because it’s not true. I am a multi-millionaire trying to pose as an average Joe.”
“I guess my biggest fear is about safety.”
Maybe it’s the “scary” and the “sad” music that’s played when these millionaires first visit their temporary new homes. Maybe it’s the way that the poor are a sob story and two or three families become aw-shucks-feet-washing-idolaters for deceitful benefactors with open checkbooks. Maybe it’s the horrendous, stereotypical formula of the ghettoized neighborhood that reveals a few beautiful gems that deserve reward.
Part of why I’m fascinated by reality television is because it’s so far away from actual everyday experiences. There are these amazing fictions being constructed in the mundane that are interesting to look at. I like knowing about this microcosm of infighting on some island in Survivor. Or if that hem will hold on Project Runway. Or if the flight will be booked on the Amazing Race.* The problem is, I feel really uncomfortable watching the caricature of “poverty” that is edited for the prime time Fox audience. Suddenly, this reality feels a bit less familiar and a bit less lighthearted.
Looking at the show on iTunes (I’m downloading the episode where a husband and wife dare to live in Watts for a week for class discussion), I’m even more concerned by the types of comments made on the show:
We’ll see what the kids of South LA think about Secret Millionaire next week.
*Speaking of the Amazing Race, after seeing Slumdog Millionaire (another Millionaire?!?), I’m pretty sure that the reason the Amazing Race spends at least two episodes in India each season is because it’s easy to show cultural practices that look “crazy” to us westerners. Similarly, the sheer density of the cities used makes even us Angelinos gape in amazement at the insane life “over there.” I’d imagine I’d have as visceral a reaction to these episodes (and their constant reliance on the country as the “crazy country” trope) as I do to Secret Millionaire if I actually lived in Mumbai.