“Why did they get married? For weeks, cable network FYI has had viewers of its hit reality series “Married At First Sight Novel Read Online Free” repeating that question as they followed the exploits of three couples who first met as they exchanged their vows in the pilot episode.
The series, based on a Danish show of the same name, bills itself as an “extreme social experiment“, in which strangers are matched based on the results of compatibility tests and invited to live as husband and wife for a month before they marry. decide if they will. remain married or file for divorce.
As Jezebel’s Kara Brown laid out all the reasons why this is an insane premise with little valid sociological merit (sample size too small, selection process questionable, evaluation numbers), the show embarrasses the audience. the foot of the letter. Understand that this task requires a suspension of disbelief as great as the distance between the bodies of the ziplines and the canyons they overlook.
Now that we’ve established that, we can discuss last night’s ending, in which the three couples: Cortney and Jason; Jamie and Doug; and Vaughn and Monet – make their declarations of divorce or continuance of marriage.
Full disclosure: I only found out about this show yesterday and wasted an entire afternoon watching reruns before its two-hour finale. (An additional warning: if you plan to watch this series online and don’t want to be spoiled, stop reading here.)
For the uninitiated, 20-somethings Cortney and Jason are the youngest and by far the most compatible couple. They move into a neutral space together and immediately begin collaborating on decorations, navigating Jason’s busy schedule as an EMT to have “date nights” and kiss.
Jamie and Doug, in their thirties, are mischievous and the least compatible when Jamie cries and freaks out when they first see him. “I’m not into that,” she whispered to her friends as she put on her wedding dress. Doug, with an unwavering nature and an inexplicably stubborn love for Jamie, doesn’t care that she can barely stand his touch during their first days together.
Vaughn and Monet are also in their early thirties. They have instant sexual attraction and don’t seem to agree on much else. Watching a show like this in an afternoon makes an already hectic process even tenser.
Never mind that the series is clearly written, its storylines are tightly controlled, and the actions of its actors are often dictated by the expert four-person team that put them together. Never mind that the most obvious lesson “Married At First Sight Novel Read Online Free” teaches us is that America is a real Truman show only three to five years after the green light.
If you stick with it, as couples are constantly pressured to do, this show will suck despite you. And as she turns to couples to solve their problems and “outsmart the odds,” she becomes increasingly aware that the experience isn’t really about them. It’s about you.
It’s no secret that romance-themed reality TV series cater to an amorous demographic. In her New York Times glowing essay on ABC’s “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette” franchises, Roxane Gay makes the call:
We’ll watch, laugh at the show, and secretly try to fill in the ways we’re hollow. […] Few of us want to die alone, with this space inside of us. The real shame of “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette,” the absurd theater of rom-coms, the overflowing passion of romance novels, is that they know where we’re cutest and just aim for that. place.
Where “The Bachelor” preys on its contestants’ insecurities by presenting itself as brutal competition with a marriage proposal as its ostensible “prize,” “Married at First Sight” reverses the process and begins with marriage and lowers the level of agency that dating tends to provide.
This show alleviates the uncertainties of “dying alone” in initiating relationships with “till death do us part” statements and a sense of legal obligation.
Now that both the acid-dating scene and quick-marriage models exist, our culture has a broader picture of the kinds of intense loneliness, hope, and fear that can lead us to start or end a marriage. Perhaps most important, we have new ways to informally examine public attitudes toward marriage, its sanctity, and its social value over time.
Judging by their on-screen performances, these couples are neither strange nor out of the ordinary. They are ordinary workers whose long shifts, traumatic upbringing and failed relationships in the past have left them jaded and suspicious.
Then why did they get married, without seeing them, without spending the time? Why would anyone start at the end and go backwards, hoping to achieve lasting love? Because the odds seem as equal as in previous failed relationships. Because too many bad partner choices can make anyone question their judgment. Disorder, the promise of free and near-constant relationship advice can be tempting if you have no earthly idea what you’re doing.
All is fair in a reality TV romance with the possible outcome of a quick divorce. I won’t spoil the results of each curious pairing. I’ll just say that at the end of last night’s finale, the team of four “experts” seem pretty happy with “marriage at first sight” as a viable relationship option.
FYI seems to think so too, as the show has been greenlit for a second season. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that skeptical viewers of this show would have you think that strangers choosing their partner to marry might not be as crazy as they thought. But after watching these couples overcome communication barriers, trust issues and the limits of attraction, viewers will no doubt wonder what they would do if faced with the same final decisions.