Why Do We Love Reality Dating Shows?
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WRITTEN BY: Jordan King
Chances are, if you’ve been on any social media or streaming platform as of late, you have seen the influx of dating shows in your feed. Too Hot to Handle, Love is Blind, Love Island and The Ultimatum to name a few. It seems like now more than ever people are looking to experience love through watching others experience it.
It’s almost as if there has been a shift in society’s outlook on dating, from a once conservative standpoint to now being all in. So why are we so susceptible to these dating show now? For one, streaming platforms have the ability to turn many of the common frameworks for shows into a quest for love. From cooking shows like Love Bites to dancing shows like Flirty Dancing. It seems like we can’t escape viewing love.
It’s no surprise that when people cannot find love in the real world, eavesdropping on someone else’s journey seems like a more captivating idea. For some viewers they find solace in the participants who also seem to struggle to find love on the shows they watch. Other viewers despise participants on the show that they observe “have options” but, play around with them.
While it’s obvious more dating shows are being produced now UK demographics have always been more interested in the likes of these shows since the 1980s. Take for example Blind Date, a show that featured two couples going on dates each episode and their every move being filmed. This sort of overexposure to these participants’ seemingly intimate dating lives causes viewers to gain a sense of attachment to their favorite participants and couples.
The ebb and flow of dating shows as being one of the most highly captivating genres in streaming right now is largely due to audience viewership. Along with this however is the thematic background of a larger and ever-changing cultural shift in society. Dating show culture affects the many attitudes people have developed towards relationships and dating culture. Interestingly enough, even the language used in dating shows has somehow begun to sink into our vocabularies. On Love Island UK and popular phrase that has made its way into pop culture is “early days”, a phrase denoting “If you say something that might be true that it is early days, you mean that it is too soon for you to be completely sure about it,“ according to Collins Dictionary.
Dating shows are extremely formulaic in the way that to viewers, they appear simply put like “reality”. They almost (not always) don’t feel inorganic in nature. However, the truth is that they are intentional and intertwined with themes and plots the producers of the show believe will entice viewers and bring the back for more. Dr. Karen McNally a Reader in American Film, Television, and Cultural History said, “They’re part-reality TV, part-soap opera, part-game show”. This means when you’re watching a dating show you’re not only watching for the development of relationships but also the competition, drama, etc. Love is something that, however, never truly goes away and doesn’t seem not to captivate us. While many love stories in these reality dating shows are captivating, they provide a sense of comfort and hope to viewers.
