Big Brother however, is differently marketed. Whereas the celebrities, like Paris are made famous from their labels or clothes and wealth, Big Brother promotes generally average citizens from Britain to take part in a room for three or so months. They are encouraged to dress up and take part in all sorts of activities that daily life outside the house would not promote. Having watched a number of episodes on and off, I could see the attraction in Big Brother if you're bored. Or if Russell Brand is on, or even a saucy love affair is brimming. But the general housemates consist of cat fighting women and generally unhinged people (the whole point of the program.) Not to say that there have been some actual nice housemates in the past. But to have just 'nice' housemates would make it very boring.
What encouraged my interest in my boyfriend's love with Big Brother, was his absolute, die-hard love with film. He can be very critical over art and culture, that I myself have enjoyed thoroughly, but nonetheless, I absolutely respect his opinion and taste. His knowledge shows years of pouring through his books and his DvD collection says more than I can express. His has more Dvds on his shelf than any of the film students at the numerous universities I've met. But to express such an interest puzzled me. To be so ruthless over his analysis over celebrities, film and music I've learnt that he's pretty expressive when it comes to things he loves or hates. So when asking (pretty passionately on my side) why an earth he likes to waste his time watching Big Brother rather than writing about all his cool avant-garde movie obsessions, he shrugged. But that's what explained it to me. We have no idea why we enjoy trash tv. It's a pure indulgence, that at the very heart of it is entertainment. It doesn't have a plot or meaning, no movement or particular cause, even my relatives tuned in, excited at the prospect of seeing Joe from S Club (my child hood icon) explain her aggressive behaviour to the viewers.
He will never enjoy The Hills like I did. But I will never enjoy Big Brother. It's a matter of taste. But I do ensure, that we will never understand why Lauren Conrad is famous, publishing self help books and bags. Or why those twins, had a moment of fame on Richard and Judy, unaware of what people and magazines were truly thinking. Everyone would have forgotten most winners and housemates over the years. But I guess that's the idea, something to engage in with fellow teenagers or grandmothers about the love affair, or the gigantic fight, that girl from Hearsay had with the rapper from the 90's. ho hum.
