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Insurance Company Lansing, Michigan, and

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Jackson National Life Insurance Company

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of New York purchased New York.

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A quick warning before we get started. There's

0:19

some language in this episode that may not

0:21

be suitable for kids.

0:35

We've become bored with watching

0:38

actors give us phony emotions. We're

0:41

tired of piratechnics and

0:43

special effects. While

0:45

the world, Ian habits

0:47

is in some respects counterfeit,

0:51

There's nothing fake about Truman

0:53

himself.

0:54

No scripts, no coupons.

0:57

It isn't always Shakespeare, but it's genuine.

1:02

It's a life. Pay the music up.

1:12

321

1:15

quick cut to F boy Island.

1:18

Women have been forced to tolerate

1:20

the manipulative douchebaggery of

1:22

F boy's for far too long.

1:26

And that's why we're here. Welcome

1:28

to F. Boy Island.

1:29

Okay.

1:32

Basically down. Lady,

1:34

The three of you are hoping to find love.

1:36

F Boy Island is a reality

1:38

TV show set on an island where three

1:40

women try to find nice guys among

1:42

a group of self proclaimed F boys

1:45

or players. And the clip we

1:47

opened with is from the fictional movie,

1:49

The Truman Show. in which a guy unknowingly

1:52

grows up in a world completely manufactured

1:54

for TV, but you didn't see that

1:56

quick cut coming. It's a classic

1:58

through line move. start with

1:59

a bang to hook the listener's

2:01

attention. We thought it was clever

2:03

way to drawing both die hard reality

2:05

TV fans and skeptics. who

2:07

weren't sure if they were gonna listen to this episode

2:09

at all. Why are we telling

2:11

you all this? Well, you'll

2:13

have to keep listening to find out. Nothing

2:16

like a good cliffhanger. Am I right?

2:18

To get paid? My

2:19

name is Galocca Voalte.

2:21

I am a reality TV casting

2:23

director. for the last

2:26

nearly twenty years.

2:27

We spent over an hour getting to know Galoka

2:30

before casting her for this episode and

2:32

another hour interviewing her. but

2:34

you'll only hear a handful of sound

2:36

bites

2:36

from her. I started out

2:38

in the grand old days of reality

2:41

TV. Music in something

2:43

playful. My

2:45

first sort of significant project

2:48

that I worked on was season two of

2:50

Joe Millionaire. And

2:51

since then, you know, I've gone on

2:53

to cast everything from Masterchef

2:57

to work on, let's make a deal, to root

2:59

cause drag race, to f boy island,

3:01

to a million dollar listing, to the

3:03

real housewives of New Jersey. It

3:05

kind of runs the gamut. I

3:09

absolutely

3:09

love casting FY Island.

3:12

So during the casting process, I mean,

3:14

we are asking people about the most sort of

3:16

rogue rationally things they've

3:18

ever done and trying to figure out what's

3:20

their story, what's their motivation

3:21

for being here. Yep.

3:23

I'm just here to clap. Like, you look good.

3:25

I look good. We look good together. I love the

3:27

cheese. I love the merino. I know every which

3:29

way to get I know physical touch mental games,

3:31

all that. They're like, this is just between

3:33

us. Right? And I'm like, yeah. Me and the camera

3:36

and the producers and the network executives.

3:37

Yeah. Just between us.

3:42

I think

3:42

that one of the things that people just need to remember

3:45

is that, you know, you are seeing

3:47

reality for the most part that's

3:49

been edited together with, you know, suspenseful

3:52

music to kind of create the mood and

3:54

anticipation for the next scene and put

3:56

in

3:56

a certain order for context

3:57

to make it feel more exciting and more

3:59

dramatic.

3:59

If you watched the unedited

4:02

footage all the way through, it would be quite

4:04

boring.

4:05

Too suspenseful music from the top.

4:10

Bringing equipment to Truman shows,

4:12

something that really gets the listener invested.

4:15

We

4:15

accept the reality of the world with which

4:18

we're presented. It's

4:20

as simple as that.

4:23

and anything.

4:28

anything

4:34

We accept the reality of the world

4:36

with which we're presented.

4:39

Since the pandemic descended on the

4:41

world, Many of us spent a lot more time

4:43

watching TV, and you've probably

4:45

noticed that one genre really

4:47

blew up. Reality TV.

4:51

You know, I I know for myself my

4:54

own business. I couldn't even keep up with the

4:56

demand for work. if you're

4:58

doing a competition show, you're filming a

5:00

way, you're living in a hotel, the cruise

5:02

living there, you're on location. So if we're already

5:04

filming in a bubble, was

5:06

so much more cost effective and our budgets

5:09

are not as big as scripted

5:11

shows. There is no shortage of

5:13

options. everything

5:13

from home makeovers to dramatic,

5:16

real housewives, to cooking competitions,

5:18

to searches for love on an island.

5:20

In all different languages, all

5:23

over

5:23

the world. Now, it's no

5:25

secret that the reality part of

5:27

reality TV is questionable. Every

5:30

show to some extent is edited produced

5:32

and curated for our eyes. But

5:34

then again, so is our

5:36

show. So are the news channels you

5:38

tuned into? the websites you read online,

5:40

the dating and social media apps you scroll

5:42

through on your phone, and algorithms

5:44

tailor what each of us see shaping

5:47

and siloing our sense of reality.

5:49

We live in divided times when the

5:52

answer to the question, what is

5:54

reality depends on who you

5:56

ask. Reality TV

5:58

is one place in our media landscape

5:59

where boundaries sometimes blur.

6:02

Many of us, me included, on

6:04

the edge of our seats wanting to know.

6:06

The winner of survivor Cook Islands.

6:08

The second singer, unmasking.

6:11

Oh my gosh is.

6:14

The winner of the great

6:16

British Bake Off is I

6:18

read the last both. Just say my name. Just say

6:20

my name. These have this rounds. Absolutely.

6:23

Bob.

6:34

News, entertainment, relationships,

6:36

politics, our lives

6:38

are all deeply affected by the

6:40

editing of reality. So

6:42

in this episode, we're gonna filter

6:45

three themes of our modern world through the

6:47

lens of reality TV. Love,

6:50

the American dream, and the

6:52

rage machine.

7:05

Hi. This is Doty in

7:07

V Spod in Germany originally

7:10

from Kansas City, and you're listening

7:12

to Through Line at NPR.

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a moment in time where there's so much

7:45

important news, and it is constantly

7:47

changing. That's why up first

7:49

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7:49

you. It's NPR's Daily Morning

7:51

News podcast. In about ten

7:53

minutes, you can start your day informed.

7:56

Listen to

7:56

UpFirst on the NPR One app or

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wherever you get your podcast.

8:05

Part one, the

8:07

rage machine.

8:15

Imagine

8:15

you're a peasant in

8:17

the time of the Roman empire

8:21

You

8:21

might be feeling some anger towards

8:24

the people in the upper classes because

8:26

you want that they have and

8:28

there's no way you're ever going to get

8:30

that. So you know that you are going

8:32

to live and die

8:33

as you are.

8:37

Gladiators

8:38

did something

8:40

to kind of keep the peace. Right?

8:42

It

8:42

appeased people. Here's

8:47

somebody you can look down

8:49

on. You know, you can feel a little bit

8:51

better about yourself, a little bit less

8:53

angry. Similar

9:01

emotions, you know, that people might feel

9:04

if terms of that expression of anger,

9:06

you know, watching the two real

9:08

housewives screaming each other. And

9:14

any modern day cable oos. Great.

9:16

Does this as well? Major beef inside a

9:18

golden corral. dozens of customers

9:20

get into a brawl all over a

9:22

piece of meat. We

9:26

use entertainment. to cope with modern

9:29

life.

9:29

People have always done that. We're

9:33

looking for somewhat of an escape.

9:37

in

9:37

order to keep viewers, the

9:40

boundaries keep being pushed

9:42

more and

9:42

more and more. I've never

9:43

seen an animal that violent,

9:46

that close-up before. I mean, I've really

9:48

felt scared for my life. So

9:51

now we're appetite for those types

9:53

of pseudo bloods

9:55

for words has really increased. I'm Joe

9:57

Robin, and this is fear factor. Since

9:59

you're about

9:59

to see were extremely dangerous and should

10:02

not be attempted by anyone anywhere,

10:05

anytime.

10:06

Anything often without a second thought.

10:08

Oh, this looks funny, this looks interesting,

10:10

but then it can go over to

10:12

the crew.

10:15

My

10:15

name is doctor Janice Vervani. I

10:17

am a licensed clinical psychologist.

10:19

I

10:20

think it was really my interest

10:22

and anxiety that led to my interest

10:23

in reality TV.

10:39

everyone here is waiting for the same

10:42

thing, the stroke of midnight.

10:44

Happy New Year two thousand. This

10:47

is July. At

10:50

the dawn

10:53

of a new millennium, audiences flocked

10:55

to theaters to watch a new movie

10:57

called Gladiator. set in an era

10:59

when real life blood sports were entertainment.

11:01

And

11:01

a reality show debuted on

11:04

American television that

11:06

launched the pseudo blood sport era of

11:08

reality TV. It

11:09

was called

11:11

survivor. We

11:12

can survive executive producer, Mark

11:15

Burnett. Survival

11:16

is a

11:17

morality play.

11:20

You are asking the

11:22

people that

11:23

you have ousted to

11:25

give you the gift of a million dollars. We

11:27

would

11:27

imagine this tape comes from a two

11:29

thousand an interview with Mark Burnett and the

11:32

Television Academy Foundation. What

11:34

immediately appealed to me was

11:36

the idea of your building in

11:38

society on

11:40

island, Allah, Swiss family

11:42

Robinson Robinson Crusoe,

11:45

Lord of the flyers, If

11:46

you've never seen the show, here's the basic

11:49

premise. You're on an island with a bunch of

11:51

people you've never met before, divided

11:53

up into competing tribes, and you

11:55

have to find a way to survive. Sure,

11:58

there's also a TV crew there, but you're

12:00

still pretty much on your own trying to build

12:02

shelters, start a fire, find

12:04

food, All you're given are the bare

12:06

essentials, a few tools,

12:08

and a bag of rice. In case your

12:10

search for coconuts and fish comes

12:12

up short, The tribes compete in

12:14

physical challenges, and the losing

12:16

tribe goes to tribal council, where

12:18

one person is voted off by everybody

12:20

else. When just a couple

12:22

people are left, everyone who got voted

12:24

off chooses a winner who

12:26

gets one million dollars. I

12:28

always

12:28

think about the importance of the year two

12:31

thousand and Y2K and

12:33

Technophobia. as being

12:35

really sort of indelible to

12:38

survivor. I don't

12:39

know that it's necessarily gonna

12:41

be a computer problem. I think it's

12:43

gonna be a social and people problem.

12:45

There

12:45

was a lot of social anxiety

12:48

about the fast and the

12:50

rapidly increasing pace

12:52

of technology and how that is

12:54

impacting everyday life.

12:56

have we become so dependent on

12:58

computers that our society

13:00

is at risk if they fail? My

13:02

name is Rick Helgates. I am an associate

13:05

professor a film and media

13:07

studies at Columbia University. I

13:10

find it very fitting

13:12

that then we get this show

13:15

which is all about like

13:17

a return to nature and

13:19

like, can you build a fire?

13:30

I

13:30

came from, you know, a working

13:32

class a hood in Miami, you know. So

13:34

I'm like, great. How bad could

13:36

it be? To

13:38

quote the lion king I laugh in the face of

13:40

danger,

13:45

I am

13:46

doctor Jitya Heart. I

13:49

am a nuclear engineer. I

13:51

was on survivor season

13:54

twenty eight.

13:59

We're doing three

13:59

tribes this year, and their divided base

14:02

on qualities that it takes to

14:04

win this game. Bringing I

14:06

don't know the damn name. Beauty, brains,

14:08

and bronze. Brains, Rudy, Braun.

14:10

I'll do that one time again just because sure

14:13

I messed up.

14:15

I

14:16

absolutely had a holy fucking shit

14:18

moment. hungry.

14:20

Actually, the hunger was not the worst

14:22

part. It was that I felt like

14:24

nobody was being nice to me. Not

14:26

only the

14:27

people I was playing with, but I felt

14:30

like the crew hated me. You know,

14:31

like, when you walk into the cafeteria,

14:34

and you sit at a table, and you just

14:36

feel like people are just barely fucking tolerating

14:38

you.

14:38

No. No. No. No. My bad. Yep.

14:40

Like that. As a black woman in engineering,

14:42

I've been at that table. a lot.

14:44

She has the decisiveness of

14:46

a leader. She has the bossiness

14:48

for sure, but she doesn't exactly have

14:51

it all here. I

14:54

felt

14:54

kinda like a cog

14:55

in the machine.

14:56

It feels

14:59

like the fantasy of survivor is

15:01

that you had this like pre

15:03

civilization society that

15:05

magically conforms to everything you already sort of

15:07

believe about society, but it naturalizes it.

15:10

So it's not like producer interference. It's

15:12

not sexism. It just so happens to

15:14

be that young dudes

15:16

dominate the game over and over and over. In my

15:18

tribe, I was the youngest woman,

15:20

and that to me is a

15:22

position of weakness in

15:24

any society. It's a

15:26

show where you're supposed to vote people off.

15:29

Right? You're

15:30

supposed to form a a bond connection

15:33

and

15:33

a very

15:35

real bond in connection is

15:37

shared history and shared experience.

15:40

It's very easy to other people.

15:42

In

15:43

my season, three black people there

15:45

were only four. Three

15:48

black people went out in a

15:50

road. And I was like,

15:51

if I'm gonna go home, I'm

15:53

a go out with the bang. Why they had people garden? You know, I was

15:56

like, the middle patient, and then you left the middle

15:58

patient alone, and I went crazy.

16:01

Beauty

16:01

listeners will get the Jhatia's dumping

16:04

her tribe's only bag of rice

16:06

into the fire as an active

16:08

revenge. It's what

16:10

happens when you leave crazy people alone.

16:12

It's

16:13

entertaining. It's TV, so do

16:15

I don't feel bad forward, I wish I had

16:17

to be more careful

16:18

talking about mental health. I

16:21

think part of it was I

16:23

was feeling like they were treating

16:25

me like something was wrong with

16:27

me.

16:29

Everything that you saw on

16:31

the TV show happened, but

16:34

there were a lot more things

16:35

that happened that you did not see, that they

16:37

have to boil down. Then I

16:39

understand, they had to make a

16:40

character, they had to make a story.

16:42

Fourth

16:45

person voted out a survivor, Kaguya,

16:48

you need to bring your torch. Good

16:50

luck you guys. when

16:52

you're eliminated and the minute

16:54

your torch is extinguished, the

16:57

music shifts, it goes to

16:59

cobalt blue lighting. is

17:01

where they're walking off into the jungle

17:03

and disappearing, it's a blue,

17:06

cold, death color.

17:09

figuratively, they're

17:10

dying.

17:11

And then there's a moment

17:13

of vacuum, emotional

17:16

vacuum. vacuum

17:17

Reality television

17:23

reality television is

17:25

really predicated on

17:27

sort of playing on our emotions.

17:31

The emotional connection is

17:33

the primary goal of reality television

17:35

as opposed to some other

17:37

forms of media. what

17:40

keeps people coming back to reality

17:43

television is there there has to be some

17:45

source of conflict and tension.

17:47

So creating anxiety. Actually,

17:50

what I'd

17:52

love to do is take a little trip

17:54

through psychological history. So

17:58

let's

17:58

go back.

18:06

hero shima seen from

18:08

the air after the atomic bomb

18:10

blast that virtually erased the city

18:12

from the earth. as far as the

18:14

eye can see, stretch scenes of

18:17

desolation and ruin.

18:21

Coming

18:23

out of

18:23

World War two where, you know, the

18:25

not just this country, but the world had witnessed

18:28

some of the most awful atrocities

18:31

that one can think of. I still have

18:33

that smell of of burning

18:35

bodies, you know, in

18:37

my nose.

18:38

It's smell. scalable.

18:41

You know, people were

18:42

still grappling with questions about

18:44

the Holocaust, ashes, older

18:48

ashes. There was

18:49

a real desire, especially in this

18:51

country, to sort of understand, like, what

18:53

makes people do the things that they

18:55

do? Could ordinary people

18:59

do

19:00

evil. It is

19:03

May

19:03

nineteen sixty two,

19:05

an experiment is being ducked in the

19:07

elegant interaction laboratory at Yale

19:10

University. The idea

19:10

is that they're gonna record people

19:12

being people and placing them in very sort

19:14

of strange bizarre situations. So

19:16

subjects of forty males between the ages

19:18

of twenty and fifty residing in the greater

19:20

New Haven area.

19:21

And that's gonna teach us something about

19:23

what makes people think.

19:25

This stands for prison experiment. The

19:27

Milgram

19:27

experiments. Two thirds of

19:30

volunteers were prepared to

19:32

administer a potentially fatal electric

19:34

shock when encouraged to do so by

19:36

what they perceived as a legitimate

19:38

authority figure. In

19:39

this case, a man in a

19:42

white coat. Three hundred seventy five

19:44

miles. I think

19:45

some time did I fall in there?

19:48

Milgram's findings horrified America.

19:50

They showed that decent American citizens

19:53

were as capable of committing acts against their

19:55

conscience as the Germans had been

19:57

under

19:58

the Nazis. There's

20:05

disagreement

20:05

around the interpretations of

20:08

these experiments. But knowing

20:10

that that's in some ways

20:12

foundational to what eventually

20:14

becomes a reality television, I think is really

20:17

helpful. because even if it gets diluted or, you know,

20:19

warped, there's always this

20:21

idea of we're going to help

20:23

you understand why

20:25

people do the things that they do or or how people

20:28

live. Let's

20:29

quickly fast forward through some early reality

20:31

TV. Let's start with the British

20:33

documentary seven up. World

20:36

inaction enters the struggling,

20:40

changing world of the seven

20:42

year old. During

20:44

the next hour, you will see the first in a series of

20:47

programs entitled American Family. We

20:49

brought these twenty children together for the

20:51

very first time. For

20:53

seven months, from May thirtieth nineteen

20:56

seventy one to January

20:58

first nineteen seventy two,

21:01

The family was filmed as they went about

21:03

their daily routine. But you always you're

21:05

kind of critical of yourself when you see yourself

21:08

on TV. There is no question that the

21:10

presence of our camera crews and their

21:12

equipment had an effect on the

21:14

louds. Viewing yourself, you

21:16

think. Oh, god. Say something intelligent. Just

21:18

don't sit there. Hi. My

21:21

name is Peter

21:23

Samuah. came from q r in nineteen eighty.

21:25

This is the true story. I'm in AHABA

21:29

educator. True story.

21:31

Seven strangers. pick to live

21:33

in a loft. And have the lives

21:35

taped to find out what happens.

21:37

Like, when people stop the implementer

21:39

Could you get the phone? Then start getting

21:41

re up. The real world.

21:46

The revolution begins

21:49

to

21:52

Standby. Ready? Take three, Mike, you are free. Start a

21:54

slow zoom in a little bit. When

21:57

you get to

21:58

the nineties, we have the

21:59

proliferation of cable channels.

22:03

MSNBC. Fox News

22:05

now the news you need to get your day

22:08

started. We sort

22:10

of moved out of the period of

22:12

Broad casting, you know, like sort of back in the day when there

22:14

were only four networks. And suddenly,

22:16

you know, there's tons of networks and

22:19

networks HAPP TO FIGURE OUT HOW THEY

22:21

KEEP PEOPLE'S ATTENTION. NO

22:23

JUSTICE, NO PEACE is WHAT THEY'RE

22:25

CHANNING. News

22:27

media itself becomes incredibly

22:30

sensational.

22:30

If it seemed like war yesterday, the

22:33

reinforcement showed up tonight,

22:34

truck bomb exploded in front of the government building

22:36

in Oklahoma

22:37

City. Breaking news, the space shuttle

22:39

Columbia was going over North Texas.

22:42

still emerging on

22:42

the next of the Paris around

22:45

midnight involving Ghana in the first of

22:47

Wales. News

22:47

media becomes a form of

22:50

entertainment in a way that I think is really different than

22:52

it

22:52

had been before. Yeah. I don't know

22:54

what you're reporting. This is a

22:56

AC. I have posted in the car. One thing

22:58

we have been noticing, again, it's very slow Pursuit.

23:01

Followed by numerous highway

23:03

patrol vehicles. Enter the circle of

23:06

Dreaming, Simpson, all star

23:08

including his most trusted ally, Robert

23:10

Kardashian. If it doesn't

23:11

fit, you must

23:14

acquit. Because what

23:16

are those channels

23:18

exist for. They have to get the image. They

23:20

have to get the picture. They exist to make

23:22

that later on, sort of, say, I I couldn't

23:24

help myself. What did they make money on? They make

23:26

money on average? advertisements? What do you need, right, to

23:29

make money on advertisements? Is you need

23:31

viewers? How

23:32

do you get viewers? Simple

23:34

recipes? Chocolate

23:35

turned a fear make them really

23:38

scared. Fear that the few possessions that

23:40

Andrew had spared would be stolen by

23:42

looters. You make them

23:43

really angry. The army

23:45

stands guard

23:45

m sixteen's enhanced. And then you

23:48

promised them that you can

23:48

make that that they have to keep tuning in

23:51

in in order to keep themselves So

23:53

water devastation. that you're likely

23:55

shocking. The rage machine is

23:57

such a great term for it.

23:59

It's just churning. Fear

24:02

rage the promise of relief. Shifting through its

24:04

debris. Come with it

24:06

today. Over and over again. I

24:08

haven't seen how

24:10

close why they call it terrible.

24:15

Fear, rage, the progress

24:17

of relief. that

24:18

spills over right into our perception of

24:21

reality.

24:26

and

24:26

it becomes the reality TV formula.

24:29

Right? This is survival.

24:33

I

24:35

was producing the finale of

24:38

survivor Marquesas, I'd

24:41

rented Trump Warner Stadium

24:43

Rink in Central Park. Nat Donald,

24:46

he told me how much you love survivor.

24:48

And

24:49

were I ever

24:51

have any ideas for him. He'd love to hear it

24:53

and love to work with me. And thinking

24:55

about a job interview show, kind

24:57

of survivor ish, but he takes place

24:59

in a city. with the winner

25:02

getting a job in

25:03

big time American business.

25:06

Trump was the

25:08

obvious choice. Only

25:08

one drama can make eighteen nice

25:11

people become. Fish, vindictive,

25:13

cutthroat. Evil. Evil.

25:16

Who loves the oppression? this

25:18

Thursday, it returns.

25:19

Coming up,

25:23

the rage machine collides

25:25

with the American dream.

25:28

like the American dream

25:32

on speed.

25:36

I'm Sierra, and I'm calling from

25:38

Chuching South Thailand. You're

25:40

listening to Through Line from

25:42

NPR. My

25:43

favorite reality TV show

25:45

is survivor. I have, in

25:47

my head, the sound of the host,

25:49

Jeff Probst's voice, yelling,

25:51

you've got to dig deep

25:54

and honestly does remind me

25:56

that I'm more capable than I think

25:58

I am.

25:58

This

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26:42

now Now, back

26:43

to the show.

26:45

Part

26:46

here two. Well, the

26:47

real sunshady, please

26:50

stand

26:50

up.

26:50

And

26:52

so my fellow Americans ask

26:56

not what your country

26:58

can do for you and what

26:59

you can do for your country. I

27:03

am a real

27:04

american. I'm on

27:05

that now. You drop

27:08

I'll wait for you, Andre, in the hall of pent up garden.

27:10

When wrestling was first a

27:13

thing, everybody thought it

27:15

was real. They found

27:19

in his

27:24

complex characters that

27:26

the wrestlers had played. They've been rated

27:28

at six point eight. Andrea

27:30

seven point five. Four feel

27:33

people. The fella's gone.

27:35

This one is officially underway.

27:39

And there's this whole word

27:41

that I love that came out of the

27:43

pro wrestling tradition called Kaffe.

27:46

And what Kaffe is is

27:48

maintaining your character

27:49

once you're outside of

27:51

the ring. What I am is what

27:53

I am. I'm a real American. I love my family.

27:55

I love my God. I love all my people that believe

27:58

in me. really, really good pro

28:00

wrestlers.

28:00

We'll not break Casey.

28:06

So

28:13

there's always this kind of question right

28:16

about what is performance and what's

28:19

reality. And

28:21

I think it's no accident

28:24

that one of the other things right,

28:26

that Trump was sort of heavily

28:27

involved in before the apprentice. Anything

28:29

during

28:29

was the WWE?

28:32

you would make regular utterances. So

28:34

is this channel in there? It's when I

28:36

think of this idea right of keeping

28:38

Kate Fade. Regular. I

28:40

don't know what is his

28:43

reality and what is he projected.

28:46

Your great friends

28:47

are no match for my Trump

28:50

towers. Go on.

28:53

People developed a power social

28:55

relationship. Write a one-sided release

28:57

ship with these

28:57

people, but there's a great amount

28:59

of distance between us.

29:04

Ladies

29:05

and gentlemen,

29:08

please welcome the author of this book

29:10

right here. Trump, the art of

29:12

the deal, Donald to Trump, For

29:20

people who maybe

29:21

didn't live in New York, in

29:24

the seventies, eighties, and nineties.

29:27

Donald Trump is the businessman who

29:29

incited in

29:29

pop culture.

29:34

Samantha, a cosmopolitan and Donald

29:37

Trump. You just

29:37

don't get more New York than

29:40

that. I've gotta go. Yeah. I'll be at my

29:42

office at

29:42

Cape Town. Good. Excuse me. Where's the

29:45

lobby? Down

29:45

the hall and to the left.

29:48

Thanks. Donald

29:48

Trump, both his name and

29:50

his image, become synonymous

29:52

with American wealth. Donald

29:54

Trump doesn't just

29:55

live large. He lives

29:58

really

29:58

on top of the

29:59

world. He is the American dream.

30:05

There's

30:09

more than one version of the American

30:12

dream.

30:14

The early form of

30:14

the American dream, which I would actually

30:16

sort of connect to Westward expansion, is

30:19

the idea that any like young

30:22

able body, white man can come and, like, own

30:24

land, right, and sort of build a home for

30:26

himself and his family

30:27

and own something. I've

30:30

allegedly been

30:30

in a black. The next iteration

30:33

of the American dream is that, you

30:35

know, any

30:35

immigrant, if you come here and you work

30:37

hard, you can make a really nice life for

30:40

yourself. Oh, beautiful. It's never

30:41

achieved. And

30:43

just before. Post

30:49

World War two, it's

30:51

this idea that, hey, young men,

30:53

you have served your country, and

30:56

now you're going to come back and work hard at a good job

30:58

that will allow you to buy, you know,

31:00

a lovely home with a white picket fence and

31:02

two cars and support your family.

31:07

Now, of course,

31:08

across all of those, people

31:11

are always left out. Like, black people, for instance,

31:13

are left out of and ended people

31:15

are left single one of those those iterations is

31:18

really like the straight white guys,

31:20

you know, kind of fantasy.

31:24

But I think what we get especially

31:26

in the nineteen like fifties

31:27

and sixties is the

31:30

televised ass specs of the civil rights

31:32

movement.

31:32

the system is gradually

31:35

breaking down, and this essence is a very

31:37

hopeful sign. Being able to see, you

31:39

know, doctor Marlister King Junior on

31:41

television. He looked for you.

31:43

Seeing

31:43

black Americans

31:46

being in by

31:47

police and attacked by police dogs.

31:49

The inequality suffered by the

31:51

American liberal population in the United States has

31:54

hindered the American dream. It's

31:55

sort of like a reconsideration and

31:57

a recalibration of what the American

31:59

dream

31:59

looks like. It comes with a

32:02

great shock. around the age of

32:04

five or six or seven. You

32:06

discover the flag which you have pledged

32:09

allegiance as not pledged allegiance

32:11

to you. It comes as a

32:13

great shock to discover in the

32:15

country, which is your birthplace

32:17

as not in its whole

32:19

system of reality. evolved any

32:22

place for you.

32:24

And in the

32:25

eighties, there's almost like this

32:28

return to that night

32:30

fifteen fifties, ethos, but like a

32:32

doubling down on it. We can

32:34

and so help us

32:37

God.

32:37

We will make

32:39

America great again.

32:41

And the dream itself being

32:44

unvital wealth, but also

32:46

unvital power.

32:50

That's that thing that makes the

32:53

eighties and the rise of Donald Trump

32:55

really tantalizing for a lot of

32:58

people, both in the eighties and

33:00

and subsequently.

33:05

By the turn of the century, Donald

33:07

Trump's larger than life persona had

33:09

begun to fade.

33:10

Before the apprentice, Donald

33:13

Trump is kind of a washed up business

33:15

man. He had

33:17

declared bankruptcy, you know,

33:19

his casinos had failed

33:22

the opportunity to host a new

33:24

survivor ish business show came

33:26

up, he suddenly had a chance to

33:28

revive that persona. K

33:30

FABE for the twenty first

33:32

century.

33:32

My name is Donald Trump, and I'm the

33:34

largest real estate developer in New

33:37

York. I own buildings all over

33:39

the place model agencies, the miss

33:41

universe badge of casinos, and

33:43

private resorts like Mar a Lago.

33:45

I'm looking for the

33:47

apprentice.

33:49

People assumed

33:50

or Trump supporters, at least,

33:52

that If

33:55

he's a wealthy, successful, powerful

33:57

businessman You

33:57

don't make a billion dollars being an

33:59

idiot. He must also be

34:02

really good at everything else. I I

34:04

think he's he's smart enough to run the

34:05

country. I grew up with my family

34:08

loving Trump. He's got a little Reagan

34:10

avenue, which is always a

34:12

good thing. to make America great

34:14

again. The forgotten

34:16

men and women

34:18

of America will be forgotten no

34:20

longer. That is

34:22

the heart of this new

34:26

movement. And then bringing

34:27

it all back to the rage who's seen.

34:29

As the

34:29

Trump campaign helps Comerica's

34:32

outrage, I get her out of here.

34:34

Protesters have always been part of the cost of

34:36

doing build

34:38

dinner. Anxiety that little catchphrase

34:40

is the candidate's version of what the

34:42

apprentice used to say. You

34:44

fire you

34:46

fire if I And then Thomas Hugh is the

34:47

only one who could help.

34:50

This, in fact, is our

34:52

new American

34:54

moment. There has never been a better time to

34:56

start living the American dream.

34:58

See, it is the reality TV formula.

35:02

Right?

35:04

During

35:04

the years when Trump went from apprentice host to

35:06

president of the United States, reality

35:08

TV also got a

35:12

makeover. thanks to a couple factors. Reality television

35:14

itself is becoming sort

35:16

of focused on celebrities in a

35:18

way that it hadn't been before. son,

35:21

Jabroni, just asked my daughter on a

35:23

date. That would be awesome. No. She's not going

35:25

out with it. Not as long as my

35:27

name's Hulk Hogan. The writers' guild of America went out on strike and

35:29

we told And a writer's strike in two thousand seven

35:32

led to a boom and knew cheaper

35:34

to

35:34

make unscripted reality

35:37

TV show. Kim, would you stop taking pictures of yourself? Your sister's

35:39

going to jail? Kim came

35:41

into her

35:42

prime, exact

35:45

as social media

35:47

was

35:47

becoming the way of the

35:50

world. That's

35:50

lightning in a bottle, timing.

35:52

Hi. My name is

35:55

Jeff

35:55

Jenkins. I'm the founder of

35:58

JJP, Jeff

35:59

Jenkins Productions. I've

36:02

been the executive producer of keeping up with

36:04

the Kardashians and all of its spin

36:06

offs for the first decade of

36:10

its existence. 911 What are

36:12

you reporting? This is

36:14

AJ. I have OJ in the car.

36:16

Okay. Mister

36:16

Kardashian was one of the

36:19

attorneys representing OJ and that

36:22

unique last name, Kardashian

36:25

was kind of

36:27

broadcast around

36:30

the world. If

36:31

you grow up with that and

36:33

it's seeping into your

36:36

pores,

36:36

just becomes part of who you

36:38

are. when

36:41

I first saw video of

36:43

the

36:43

entire family that

36:46

bell

36:46

that val goes

36:48

off. Maybe

36:49

keeping up with the Kardashians is the

36:52

reality brady bunch.

36:54

I

36:55

hate you all. Welcome

36:58

to my family. Yeah. Kim, Brian.

37:00

I'm Kim Kardashian. Kim,

37:04

Courtney, Chloe,

37:06

Chris, Bruce Jenner, Rob,

37:08

Kendall and Kylie, baby

37:11

sisters of a

37:14

second

37:19

marriage.

37:24

Literally fuck you up. You're literally I

37:26

will literally fuck you up. Like all

37:28

of us, they're a dysfunctional family

37:30

just like ours. That's relatable. punch

37:34

you in your face. Don't They but any

37:37

outsider You're not gonna

37:39

mess

37:39

with us.

37:41

do think

37:42

their dysfunction

37:44

is kind of at a Shakespearean

37:48

level. Kim and Chris headed for divorce

37:50

just seven two days

37:52

after time about No. He was in a rare form.

37:54

Especially when it came to her ex.

37:56

Lamar got his first look

37:58

at Caitlyn Jenner, the Olympic hero,

38:01

and reality player appears to be styled like an Afro teams

38:02

are using a shot glass prescription bottles to

38:05

pump up their lips like

38:08

Kylie Jenner. critics say that the

38:10

photos are an example of

38:12

cultural appropriation. Kim Kardashian

38:14

breaks down in tears over her

38:16

marriage troubles with Kanye West

38:18

on keeping up with Mardashians.

38:20

They're coming up

38:22

on being the longest

38:24

running reality show period in

38:28

history. And they have

38:30

built a multibillion dollar

38:34

brand off of sharing

38:36

their

38:36

lives. Some have nicknamed

38:40

them

38:40

America's royal family. Others

38:42

see them as more of a brand than a

38:46

family. and that at least isn't totally new. We're

38:48

so used to seeing the queen

38:49

as head of state. There's almost

38:51

something unreal about her. It's

38:53

actually her family that

38:54

make her real, the divorces, the

38:57

scandals, the fact

38:58

that in the nineteen sixties, John f Kennedy,

39:00

who came to power at the same

39:03

time, TVs became a fixture in every American home. Use

39:05

has made for TVs smile and

39:07

charm to captivate the

39:10

country. people

39:10

just really not only

39:12

loved Kennedy, but

39:14

developed a parashocial relationship with his

39:17

People wanted to know everything about them.

39:20

And the gossip

39:20

mill was always turning with some

39:23

new story. Did Kennedy smoked

39:26

pot. Why was the queen of England mad at

39:28

Jackie? What's Kennedy having an

39:30

affair with Marilyn

39:32

Monroe? Folks

39:32

like Marilyn Monroe, perhaps

39:34

unwittingly, we're

39:35

in some ways

39:37

also living

39:38

in a Holiday

39:40

Show. But what makes the Kardashians

39:42

different is they didn't start

39:44

as politicians or actors

39:48

or singers. their story began with a high profile

39:50

murder case and a sex tape.

39:52

Sure.

39:52

Rejji, sexy, ten i.

39:56

not mosquitoes were put into the classi. And the

39:58

reality

39:58

TV machine

39:59

transformed them into one of the most

40:02

influential families on the planet,

40:04

a

40:04

symbol of a new version of the American dream,

40:07

one of wealth, excess, and

40:10

celebrity tailored for

40:10

a world where we ourselves

40:13

are branded content. but making

40:15

it work is a dream that's attainable

40:17

for only a very few.

40:20

The stocks

40:20

bear out that there is very limited

40:22

economic mobility in our country. But

40:25

because of American exceptionalism,

40:28

individualism, clear yourself up

40:30

at your drops culture.

40:33

People

40:33

really believe that

40:35

they can. The

40:37

trade off,

40:38

constantly having camera track

40:40

your

40:40

every move, watching you in your most vulnerable moments,

40:42

and letting the world judge

40:45

you for it. Kim

40:47

whose destiny is

40:51

this experience of being

40:53

on television and sharing had very

40:55

few boundaries.

40:57

She will reassure

41:00

me. No.

41:03

Keep rolling. honey.

41:04

I'm the Maryland and the Jets.

41:08

What

41:08

is performance? And

41:12

what's reality.

41:16

Welcome.

41:16

You've got mail.

41:19

When I think

41:20

about myself as a teenager first

41:23

on the Internet, what was the

41:25

number one rule? You don't share

41:27

personal information about yourself with strangers on

41:29

the Internet

41:31

and, you know, fast forward twenty

41:34

years

41:35

later. Goodbye. Where are we

41:37

all doing? We're sharing everything about our lives with strangers in the

41:40

Internet. Everybody has a smartphone,

41:42

everybody has

41:42

a camera on them at all times.

41:46

There's

41:46

this intense expectation that not only are you going to record every

41:49

aspect

41:49

of your life, but that it's

41:51

going to

41:52

look absolutely perfect.

41:54

the perfect and

41:56

beautiful. And there's no end. Just

41:58

keep scrolling and scrolling and

42:00

scrolling forever and ever

42:03

and ever.

42:13

Do think

42:14

that people today

42:16

in our modern worlds are

42:18

more

42:19

lonely than

42:19

they've ever been? I

42:23

i do

42:25

do.

42:29

Coming up,

42:31

the

42:31

realities of love

42:34

and loneliness.

42:38

This is

42:45

Eric

42:46

Massey. from Amsterdam,

42:49

and you're listening to True Lion, one

42:51

of the best podcasts

42:54

there are.

42:55

This message comes

42:58

from NPR sponsor,

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we found love in

43:25

a hopeless place. I'm

43:28

almost

43:28

saying the rhiannon song, but I wouldn't do it because

43:30

I

43:31

feel like that would be the take

43:33

you use. Here he

43:35

is, the bachelor. Why on

43:38

Earth are you doing this?

43:40

I was thinking that I wanna meet someone great.

43:43

Well, really the easy part is gonna be meeting

43:45

these twenty five women. tough part is deciding

43:47

which fifteen you're gonna invite to get to know you a little bit better.

43:49

These are real women and they are really looking for

43:51

a husband. I mean,

43:53

if this is gonna

43:55

be a fairy tale. How perfect that

43:58

be?

44:01

The idea of

44:03

a soul mate of

44:05

the one was around way

44:07

before the bachelor. No matter what I ever do or say, he's

44:09

gone. I've loved you since I was eleven. You'll always have Paris.

44:12

I

44:12

hate it when you make me

44:13

laugh, even worse when you

44:15

make

44:15

me cry. you.

44:18

Complete me. But mostly I

44:20

hate the way I don't hate you. Not

44:22

even close, not even a little

44:25

bit, not even at all. The

44:27

bachelor, which has been on TV

44:29

for twenty years now, fused

44:32

reality with that fantasy and

44:34

made us believe we could have it too.

44:36

I wanna be everything

44:38

for you. I wanna

44:39

be everything

44:41

are you for you. and

44:42

then it comes right to this romantic fairy tale

44:45

conclusion. It ends with a

44:47

proposal and a beautiful diamond

44:50

ring And

44:52

so what we're seeing, right,

44:54

is

44:54

is the fairy tale.

44:56

Bring in

44:58

bachelor producer. like

45:00

a lot of people think it's be it's like, oh, let's

45:02

just find the craziest, you know,

45:04

person to get good ratings.

45:06

But it's actually not because to

45:09

have people watch, you have to buy into the

45:12

fantasy. And then to buy into the

45:14

fantasy, you have to know that, you

45:16

know, there are potentially great

45:18

matches for people.

45:27

Sometimes when

45:27

something's really hokey, it almost gives us

45:30

permission to get lost in it because it's kind of

45:32

like, you know this is silly. Right? We all know this is a

45:34

construction. Right? Okay. Now that we've gotten that

45:36

out out of the way we suspend, is believe it allows us to sort of

45:38

lower our defenses and kind of fully

45:40

indulge. But

45:43

also I think the reel

45:47

always seeps out.

45:50

Even

45:51

before a pandemic struck. This

45:53

was the lonely century. Technology has led

45:55

to substituting online connections

45:57

for offline in

45:59

person connection. and ultimately I think that has been

46:02

harmful. The loneliness we

46:04

get, the

46:04

more seductive, the fantasy

46:07

that we'll find human connection becomes, and the

46:09

easier it is to feel invested in shows

46:12

like the bachelor, where the engagement

46:14

ring is the ultimate

46:16

grand prize. have

46:18

our favorites,

46:18

rid our proxies, who we

46:20

want to win, who we start to form

46:23

power social relationships with. and

46:25

as modern love becomes increasingly

46:28

online and competitive, reality

46:30

TV has evolved to mirror

46:33

today's dating

46:34

dilemmas. In my

46:37

head, it is really easy

46:40

to sift out as

46:42

boys, but y'all be so confused. I'd

46:44

be like, how did this happen? Oh my god. I

46:46

thought he was this and

46:47

it was, like, sis. Are you

46:50

blind?

46:50

And that is why we're

46:52

here. F boy Island. Twenty

46:54

four men are coming right here.

46:56

They're not really about love and

46:58

dating. they're

47:00

about something else and they're really just sort of competitive shows anyway. They're more

47:02

like there's kind of like survivor in

47:05

in some ways. It's

47:07

almost like an enactment, right, of the

47:10

dating apps. It's just like,

47:12

kind of swipe. I mean, certainly, there's a lot

47:14

more physicality but just

47:16

going through partners.

47:18

He was making me feel uncomfortable.

47:20

Gonna be

47:21

pretty much. That's

47:23

been in like situation shift. I'm

47:26

kidding. You know,

47:27

I have a couple

47:29

seconds

47:29

where I'm deciding if I wanna swipe

47:32

left or bright

47:34

and they're kind of curating

47:36

this image and if you can't curate

47:39

that image. Right? Does that

47:41

mean that that avenue is close

47:43

to you. And I think different people, you know,

47:45

some people will say, no, I don't have a problem with

47:47

it. But I think the majority if you ask

47:49

the majority, right there, you're gonna say, if you're

47:51

not conventionally in track give and

47:54

don't meet sort of x, y, and z

47:56

criteria, you're not gonna get any matches.

47:58

And

47:58

then what do you

47:59

Right? Where do you go? to

48:01

actually meet somebody that you can

48:04

make a connection with.

48:06

That question

48:07

has led to

48:10

frustration, hopelessness, and a sense

48:12

of grievance that's flourishing online and reflecting back into

48:14

back

48:15

our TV shows. to

48:18

the resignation. But again,

48:20

you interrupted all day because you

48:22

couldn't handle me and her alone. What's mine?

48:24

Is mine? And what's yours?

48:27

Is mine? That's not

48:30

fair. What

48:32

You made experience,

48:34

right, this emotion, right, of

48:37

Shadden, Florida. such a great word

48:40

happiness of

48:40

the misfortune

48:41

of others when they

48:42

get into fights, when

48:45

they when they get too drunk and embarrass themselves.

48:47

You can embarrass me in

48:48

front of everyone. You've made me look stupid

48:50

in front of everyone. So, yeah,

48:52

I'm gonna I think that

48:54

it's fascinating that a lot

48:57

of contemporary shows around love are much

48:59

more focused on relationship

49:02

dynamics. ninety day fiancee married at first sight.

49:05

This is a

49:07

revolutionary new social

49:08

experiment. This is the first

49:12

time in farrment like this has ever been done in the experts

49:14

intend to

49:14

use scientific research to

49:17

arrange three marriages.

49:21

essentially what

49:21

happens after people

49:24

find each other as opposed to treating

49:26

marriage for instance as the

49:29

ultimate goal or the end of the story. Right? It's we're we're kind

49:31

of like picking up after Cinderella

49:34

and in the and

49:36

Prince charming get married and being

49:38

like, so what were the expectations like

49:40

now that she was back in the castle? Like,

49:42

what happened then?

49:43

Why? It's like a dream. Oh,

49:45

wonderful dream. So sick

49:48

of this. Go

49:49

away. They go away. Are

49:52

you happy? No. The fantasy

49:55

is

49:55

breaking down.

49:56

And to keep us hooked, reality

49:58

shows about love are

49:59

acknowledging more

50:02

and more just how hard it is, not only to find human

50:04

connection, but to sustain

50:06

it. Like,

50:06

I really would love it

50:08

if you could just kind of

50:10

like get more and feel like

50:12

a husband mentality. Those quieter

50:14

moments when people are

50:15

having a conversation about, I can't believe you did,

50:18

like, that's when the reel slips

50:19

out. Like, what what's your expectation? Do you think you're just gonna build me

50:21

in who you want it want me to be? Like

50:23

I view these

50:26

shows as

50:27

acknowledging for viewers, a

50:29

growing cynicism, quite frankly, around,

50:31

like, traditional models

50:34

and narratives around love and around

50:36

relationships.

50:46

Whether it's reality

50:46

television or like classic Hollywood

50:50

cinema, Media has always been

50:51

a sight of fantasy projection. It's a

50:53

place for us to work out. Our

50:55

hopes, our desires, our

50:58

anxieties, our fears, and

51:00

I think reality television serves that

51:02

purpose really,

51:03

really well. Life is a

51:05

series of events that don't make

51:07

narrative sense. There aren't any conclusions. So

51:09

reality television provides

51:10

that for us. You

51:12

know, there's a way that people talk

51:13

about television in

51:16

in in like, in media and

51:18

reality TV within that is being a

51:20

reflection of reality.

51:22

I actually think it's a reflection

51:26

of reality. it's taking things that are happening in real life and

51:28

sort of skewing them and

51:30

sometimes presenting them back to us in

51:32

ways that are perfectly aligned

51:34

with reality. and

51:36

in

51:36

some ways are skewed in such a way that make

51:38

us question what we thought we knew

51:42

about reality.

51:43

Okay. Yep.

51:51

to the final scene

51:53

of the Truman Show when the show's creator finally speaks directly to

51:55

Truman after televising him without his

51:58

knowledge since the day he

51:59

was born. I have

52:02

been

52:02

watching you your whole

52:06

life. You can't

52:08

leave trouble. do along

52:10

here. Do

52:12

something. say

52:15

something, goddamn it. You're

52:17

on television. You're lying to

52:19

the whole world. bring

52:23

up

52:25

do line

52:28

any music.

52:31

And no at

52:32

it. That's it

52:36

for this

52:36

week's show. I'm Ramtad Fetha.

52:39

I'm Ramtina Arabui. and you've been

52:41

listening to Through Line for men PR. This

52:43

episode was produced by me.

52:45

And me and Lawrence

52:48

Wu.

52:48

Julie Kane. Sonya Steinberg, Yolanda?

52:52

Sanguen, Kasey Minor, Felistina

52:53

Kim. Devin Cardiama. A married

52:56

teller.

52:56

Jennifer Etienne.

52:58

Thank you to share Vincent, Nigeria Ian,

53:00

Tamar Kharni, and Anja Grenman. Backchecking for

53:03

this episode

53:03

was done by

53:06

Kevin Bogle. This episode was mixed by Gilly Moon.

53:08

Music for this episode was composed by

53:09

Ramtind and his band, Drop Electric,

53:12

which includes

53:14

Anya, Mizoni.

53:16

Naveed Marvy. Show Fujiwara.

53:18

And finally, if you have an

53:20

idea or you like something you heard on

53:22

the show, please write us at doolinmpr

53:25

dot org or hit us up on

53:27

Twitter at doolinmpr. Thanks

53:30

for listening.