One of my favorite blogs is Nathan Bransford's blog. He's a literary agent and has good tips on working with agents. One of the quirks of his blog is that he regularly makes references to the reality show America's Next Top Model on his blog which crack me up... for example: America's Next Top Surprisingly Essential First Page (the Finalists)
I too watch the show, and though I'm a little more embarrassed to admit it, I find the crazy knowledge the show provides sneaking into everyday life. The picture above is of a Gap ad that I see on my way to work in San Francisco. I can't help it, I've started looking at this ad with the same scrutiny as the judges on the show. What the hell is going on with this woman's hair? Why does she look bored? There's no intensity in the eyes and what's with the mouth? Was this the best of a whole set of mediocre pictures. I'm so sorry Ms. Model up there on the billboard. Pre-ANTM I'd probably have thought that was a great picture. I don't mean to be so judgmental. Maybe it was just that the previous ad in that spot of Ai Tominaga as seen here on the blog Asian Models (the second picture down) was just so much more in tune with San Francisco and that part of town and the season. After all the poor model in the picture above is sitting there in her shorts in the cold and rain. It makes me uncomfortable.
Okay so what does all this have to do with Science Fiction? Many reality shows in particular focus on giving either judges or contestants the power to eliminate based on relatively arbitrary criteria. Could these shows move our society further away from cooperation and mentoring to get along to a cut-throat eliminate that which you do not like and somehow have the power to do so?
And what will we do with all the expertise we develop in areas that have no relevance to our daily life? Ten years from now will every picture look posed? Will everyone sit around thinking how bad the facial expression was on grandma in that group photo?
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