![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Thing is, up until about a year ago I only watched MTV for the rare music video and watched little television in general during Senior year of high school, then Freshman year of college. The only shows I've ever watched religiously were The X-Files (though only Season Three through Season Six) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (ditto, though Season Seven was a casualty Bumfuck, FL programming rather than waned interest). I watched Smallville when I got hooked on it and made a point to see the entire first season, but then had a class conflict with its airtime and that was pretty much that.
Many things have changed in the past year. And today, MTV had a Real World marathon plus that Uncensored or what have you special. Damn, but if it isn't morbidly fascinating. Paris is a fucking genius locale, too, especially with our small town boy Ace trying to make it out alive and knowing as little French as possible.
But more than all that, the appeal is definitely there, and I think very much akin to what draws fans of RPS, the fact that, yeah, it is to some extent formulaic and scripted, and you do only get to see what They want you to see, but there are honest moments in there; it's real kids really living their lives for those four/five months. It's an interesting approach to character study, because where a fictional character may do something that's perceived as out of character, which can alienate thoser who rightfully call its creator on it, you get multiple perspectives on these kids, including their own. There is buildup, there is logic, there is the sense of their own control, and they change, then do it right in front of you. From a writer's standpoint, it's an interesting experience in broadening one's perspective.
Many things have changed in the past year. And today, MTV had a Real World marathon plus that Uncensored or what have you special. Damn, but if it isn't morbidly fascinating. Paris is a fucking genius locale, too, especially with our small town boy Ace trying to make it out alive and knowing as little French as possible.
But more than all that, the appeal is definitely there, and I think very much akin to what draws fans of RPS, the fact that, yeah, it is to some extent formulaic and scripted, and you do only get to see what They want you to see, but there are honest moments in there; it's real kids really living their lives for those four/five months. It's an interesting approach to character study, because where a fictional character may do something that's perceived as out of character, which can alienate thoser who rightfully call its creator on it, you get multiple perspectives on these kids, including their own. There is buildup, there is logic, there is the sense of their own control, and they change, then do it right in front of you. From a writer's standpoint, it's an interesting experience in broadening one's perspective.
