PLEASE check out Married at First Sight (streaming on Hulu). It's a Lifetime network show that delivers exactly what is promised in its title. Relevant to the McCarthy reading, the show crafts a grand social experiment under the auspices of a "panel of experts" (a pastor and marriage counselor, a communication and relationship expert, and a sociologist/sexologist). After reviewing large quantities of ostensibly quantitative and qualitative data about their applicants, the panel arranges marriages to take place on the show. The subjects volunteer themselves to this sort of arbitration; they can't say no to getting married, but rather they're given the option to get a divorce eight weeks later. The show, like Love is Blind, features exclusively heterosexual couples.
It's interesting with relationship to this week's reading, since love, marriage, and its ancillary components seem to be outside what many would consider governmental purview (except, of course, in the cases of terribly invasive Republican legislation). Nevertheless, these shows still work towards crafting a certain type of citizen, with certain participatory standards.
Both shows are effectively the same experiment, but each with their own unique nuances, blindspots, and moments of pure insanity. It's quite enjoyable...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Married_at_First_Sight_(American_TV_series)
I want to pick up on your thread here about the relationship between love/marriage and government. For the screening this week, I decided to watch the first couple of episodes of 90 Day Fiancé. I think this series makes really explicit the inherent relationship between marriage and government. What struck me most about the series is the way that it amplifies several troubling discourses. First, the series continues to amplify fears that the women entering the country on this type of "fiancé" visa are scammers who are trying to dishonestly enter the country. What is actually quite disturbing about the series is the myriad ways the women are almost entirely reliant on the white men that they immigrate for. These women (many of them brown) are financially dependent on these men, cut off from their support networks, and frequently are dealing with serious language barriers. I'm simultaneously entertained and disturbed by this show, but clearly the presumed audience fears that are embedded in the show are not the ones I am concerned about. Curious whether or not other folks have watched this show!
ReplyDeleteYes! Of course! 90 Day Fiance is exactly that, and more. I couldn't agree more, especially with regards to the dominant narrative that this show often simmers down to — that the K-1 Visa that forms the premise for 90 Days is some sort of messy loophole that puts Americans at the greatest risk of all, never mind the material and immaterial advantages that a they wield over their immigrant partners. It also echoes one of reality TV's all-time most reliable dramatic beats: who's on it for "the right reasons"?
DeleteNow you've got me thinking about the 2019 spinoff, 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way. I haven't seen more than an episode or two, but it doesn't take long to see how the original concept — a crisis of citizenship — is flipped on it head, while still keeping its implicit (and sadly often explicit) xenophobia in tact. As the show frames it, the prospect that someone could surrender their American citizenship to go live just about anywhere else is a certain downgrade, and one that foregrounds U.S. citizenship as a sort of "get-out-of-jail free" card. The show seems to be warning against what it perceives to be a voluntary deportation of the self. Still, it is somewhat more palatable to watch Americans try to tread international waters for once, and be the subjects of skepticism, than the original 90 Day Fiance.