Race on "Big Brother."

[Jim Devine <jdevine@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

There's an interesting story in today's (July 20, 2000) Los Angeles TIMES
about the "reality" show "Big Brother," in which 10 people are crowded into
a house and filmed all the time, with 24 hours of filming distilled down to
a 30-minute show. I haven't watched the show, but was stimulated by the
news story. It's summarized by a quote from the executive producer (Douglas
Ross), "William [Collins] is passionate abut his views on race and class in
America. He has said ... he would feel it would be a waste if those issues
were not addressed." Collins is very outspoken on the show, sometimes
giving various other participants (including the other Black) a hard time.
What's interesting about the story is that it _never_ quotes Collins
himself, so that his concerns about race and class are ignored.  On top of
that, in keeping with US obsessions, the issue of class doesn't show up at
all except in the above quote. It's all about others' responses to Collins,
including the possibility that he might be voted off the show. So by his
standards, the story is a waste. Or maybe it's an example of media
self-censorship.

Jim Devine jdevine@xxxxxxx &  http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine