The 'Real' Truth

If a young American has never seen an episode of MTV’s series “The Real World,” it’s probably because he or she has been too busy making fun of it. Much pleasure awaits those who have the time in their day for some harmless “Real World” bashing (in other words, poking fun at seeing a supposedly uncontrived soap opera). But nonetheless, the inherent charm of watching a group of twenty-somethings whine and complain about their meaningless relationships and the arduous task of “finding themselves” without any form of acting is completely undeniable. With the tenth season underway and another just now casting, it’s obvious, yet surprising, that such a simplistically voyeuristic idea has lasted for so long.

It is uncountable how many times in “The Real World”’s ten seasons the audience has been treated to the shenannigans of angry boyfriends, disorderly roommates, lazy roommates, more angry boyfriends and perhaps some angry girlfriends. “When you put six or so young people in a house together, there are certain conflicts that are unavoidable...in that way I guess ‘The Real World’ could be called repetitive,” said Morgan Fahey, the supervising casting director for the eleventh season of “The Real World” (currently casting), in an interview with The Crimson. Different shapes and sizes, metaphorically speaking, thus seem to create the freshness from season to season. “It’s something about identification...the issues may be repetitive, but they’re universal...it’s always fresh because these problems are always there with the audience,” said Fahey.

The casting, of course, is the ultimate factor in creating a mixture of personalities unique enough to keep angsty teens awake for the show. Exactly what the casting directors are looking for is as vague a concept as that of what the show is really about. Some of it is quite clear, however. “Matching a personality with another, usually contrasting one is the most important thing. One hole fills another.” Many have complained over the years that the show has a racial or sexual “quota” for each season. The response to that is obvious, but nonetheless crucial. “We’re not going to cast six straight, white frat boys from Iowa. One of those might work in a certain situtation, but not as a rule. This person has this thing in their background...this person has that...these pairings are how we make a cast,” commented Fahey.

Quite easy to argue is that while sometimes the show comes off as overly whiny and annoying to watch (the Miami season, or the current New York season for example), it is definitely sometimes extremely successful. In one of the series’ most popular seasons, New Orleans, Julie created an incredible stir in the house as she attempted to define herself outside of her existence as an undeniably hard-core Mormon, and a student at the world’s premiere Mormon institution, Brigham Young University. Watching her change and become exposed to all the scandalous goings-on of her housemates was definitely the most entertaining “subplot” ever on “The Real World.” “Julie had obviously led a very sheltered life. She would have had a fascinating growth arc with just about anyone we stuck her with,” said Fahey. It was probably good, then, that she was paired with the likes of the ever-drunk Melissa and the fabulously gay Danny.

Another huge task in keeping the show interesting is the comparison of it to the onslaught of reality shows. “We were the original reality show, and I think it’s completely different from everything else. There is no objective and no competition in ‘The Real World.’” Simply put, humankind is naturally very curious, and we will always want to see other people’s lives played out before us. However much we lash out against voyeurism as an increasing problem for our society, there is no denying that we will always love viewing people screw up their lives with the safety of a recliner and TV-time snacks. “It’s a chance to see the difference between what people do and what they are thinking...watching people experience each other and learn more about themselves will never grow old,” said Fahey assuredly. Though they don’t have a direct effect on the format of the next season, the events of September 11 could possibly shape some of the issues of the seasons to come. “It’s a nationalized drama, and so of course it has affected the issues we discuss at open call tables and such...and we have received more submissions from Arab-Americans and Muslims than usual.” Seeing a Middle-Easterner on the next season of “The Real World” would be very unsurprising.

It’s hard to sum up why “The Real World” is such an odd gem of a show. It certainly is trite and ridiculous about 80 percent of the time (one wonders what these people are really like), but the appeal is undeniable and almost inexplicable. It might only be said like this—seeing an extension of a person’s self-analysis perhaps makes us feel less trite and ridiculous, because we don’t have to announce on camera our inner feelings. Regardless, it’s likely the world will keep tuning in for more and more “Real World,” even if it’s only to see attractive twentysomethings battle it out for emotional attention.