The Pick Up Artist
The series is over and Kosmo won. And I have one less thing to look forward to during the week.
I suppose the allure of the show, at least for me, is in part due to the fact that it's based in Austin. The show is littered with settings that I, myself, was a part of not so long ago. There's definitely a strong sense of vicarious enthusiasm I associate with the show, not to mention, a small bit of after-shame that arises from such enthusiasm.
Many people accuse the show of being trashy, an affront to women, chauvinistic in the sense that it portrays women as creatures easily fooled by the trickery of men. I will not disagree with any of these. But in the end, under the not-so-original pick-up lines and flashy peacockery of these guys, the show is really about getting what you want out of life and overcoming, nay, obliterating the walls that separate you from your goal.
When I was in grade school, people always use to tell me, "You can be anything you want to be." I'm sure we've all heard these uplifting remarks from an encouraging teacher or mentor figure at one time or another. But in all honesty, how many of us actually bear witness to this on a regular basis? All common sense, and even some legitimate sociological studies have indicated that people are most inclined to hover in their relative positions in life. Now, whether this is due to a lack of motivation or a lack of opportunity is something else to be questioned altogether. But certainly, it goes against sound reasoning to think that a miserable person would prefer to stay miserable. So really, you CAN'T be anything you want to be, and I think that most of us know this. I, for example, will never play in the NBA.
It is this that makes the contestants of the Pick Up Artist all the more inspiring.
To take an example from my own life, it's like being a lowly Surgical Assistant in an OR, holding legs and fetching blood, taking orders from everyone, to being the guy who's giving the orders, who's saving lives. This is of course an overly optimistic view of what goes on in the OR, but you get the drift.
I'm a firm believer that the greatest barriers exist within you. It took a lot of these guys to do what they did and I applaud them for it.
Perhaps you think I'm giving too much praise to a show so tasteless and mainstream, but I personally believe that TV is only what you get out of it. I agree that some of the programming is inane and misguided in every possible sense, but then again communication takes two. So let's not pretend as if the viewers are blameless.
A professor once told me that depression is evolutionarily selected for because it prevents the affected individual from attempting heoric or even borderline-stupid feats that may eliminate him/her from the gene pool. This has nothing to do with anything. I just remembered it and thought it was something interesting to share.
I suppose the allure of the show, at least for me, is in part due to the fact that it's based in Austin. The show is littered with settings that I, myself, was a part of not so long ago. There's definitely a strong sense of vicarious enthusiasm I associate with the show, not to mention, a small bit of after-shame that arises from such enthusiasm.
Many people accuse the show of being trashy, an affront to women, chauvinistic in the sense that it portrays women as creatures easily fooled by the trickery of men. I will not disagree with any of these. But in the end, under the not-so-original pick-up lines and flashy peacockery of these guys, the show is really about getting what you want out of life and overcoming, nay, obliterating the walls that separate you from your goal.
When I was in grade school, people always use to tell me, "You can be anything you want to be." I'm sure we've all heard these uplifting remarks from an encouraging teacher or mentor figure at one time or another. But in all honesty, how many of us actually bear witness to this on a regular basis? All common sense, and even some legitimate sociological studies have indicated that people are most inclined to hover in their relative positions in life. Now, whether this is due to a lack of motivation or a lack of opportunity is something else to be questioned altogether. But certainly, it goes against sound reasoning to think that a miserable person would prefer to stay miserable. So really, you CAN'T be anything you want to be, and I think that most of us know this. I, for example, will never play in the NBA.
It is this that makes the contestants of the Pick Up Artist all the more inspiring.
To take an example from my own life, it's like being a lowly Surgical Assistant in an OR, holding legs and fetching blood, taking orders from everyone, to being the guy who's giving the orders, who's saving lives. This is of course an overly optimistic view of what goes on in the OR, but you get the drift.
I'm a firm believer that the greatest barriers exist within you. It took a lot of these guys to do what they did and I applaud them for it.
Perhaps you think I'm giving too much praise to a show so tasteless and mainstream, but I personally believe that TV is only what you get out of it. I agree that some of the programming is inane and misguided in every possible sense, but then again communication takes two. So let's not pretend as if the viewers are blameless.
A professor once told me that depression is evolutionarily selected for because it prevents the affected individual from attempting heoric or even borderline-stupid feats that may eliminate him/her from the gene pool. This has nothing to do with anything. I just remembered it and thought it was something interesting to share.
posted by Peter at 11:21 AM
2 Comments:
the power of social influence:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE1DA1E39F936A15752C0A9629C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1
damnit. i forgot that there was one last episode of pick up artist left, but now i know who won
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