Big Brother, I see you.  Maybe you never thought someone who worked with a sociologist would get on your case.  Look, I’m always watching and calling out bad behavior (especially yours).  Your minions have brought you down this time!

In case you missed it, a message came out from the show that tried to paint the Rachel incident in a good light.  In the Daily News’  article, “Big Brother Production Team Speaks Out on Rachel Reilly’s Elimination:  ‘It Was All Planned” (shownewsdaily.com), we read: 

[quote]“Now producers insist the twist was intentional – and that fans may not like the truth.

},,, ‘It was all planned,’ the team wrote.  ‘Big Brother has always been about expecting the unexpected.  This season, we wanted to remind viewers and houseguests that the game can change at any time – even for a champion.’ “[/quote]

No comment except it was the worse unexpected twist ever.

This brings me to the sociology impact. This show was set up as a sociological experiment.  I edit books for a professor named Thomas Arcaro, a sociology teacher at Elon University (no relation to Musk).  Tom wrote a book entitled Confronting Toxic Othering which teaches his students about “Privileging Forces” through the use of the heads of the mythological Hydra.  The heads are the privileging forces that sociologists see in life.  Let’s see how many Allison and her band of crazies have included in this “unexpected” game of Big Brother.

The eight heads are:  patriarchy, race/ethnicity, paternalism, hetero/cisnormativity, classism, ableism, ageism, and anthropocentrism.  I can easily see some of these heads at work.  I’m not going through all. Let’s just look at the ones that Big Brother has a fixation on.

Let’s start with “Ageism.”  Ageism has come into play often on this program.  Sure, they cast one or two older players but the hope is that they can’t do the competitions and leave early.  It’s a tribute to Rachel and Will that they made it to jury.  How many other players (besides Chicken George (seasons 1 and 7) and Angela (season 26) make it that far?  How many win?

Ableism is the next.  While the physical aspects of games are important, most are geared to the young, athletically prone people.  In the event of an injury is where Big Brother makes the mistake.  Let’s look at Will and his leg injury which made it hard for him to play Power of Veto.  No help.  Yet, Christmas, a younger player in season 19,  broke her leg while joking around and they allowed a stand-in to play for her.  This shows that Big Brother just changes a rule to protect the players they want to win.

Race is the next one.  While this season hasn’t really had many racists comments except from Kelley, the past seasons (Jack/Jackson in particular in season 21) has been very much in evidence.  While the producers “talk” to the offending player, nothing really stops it.  There is no penalty. In Kelley’s place, it is apparent that she can say anything and not even get warned.

In Big Brother, patriarchy and class go together.  We have really had very few women who win.  Taylor won because she overcame obstacles.  Others, like Rachel and Jordan, have won against the odds just because of their determination and help received from their allies.  Always men dominate the show.  And production allows them to break rules (again Jackson with eating while a have-not) and never punishes them.

The last one that I will deal with today is the hetero category.  Yes, they have LGBTQ people on Big Brother.  Yes, a few have won but let’s look at how they present themselves.  While most tell their sexuality, times started to change after the appearance of Frankie Grande (season 16). He came across as being over the top.  If you don’t flaunt it, Big Brother shows you as existing.  If you are flamboyant like Frankie, you become a star and get asked back.

I could go on but I’ll stop there.  I owe Thomas Arcaro a big thank you for allowing me to use his teaching guide today.  I’m one writer who always puts Big Brother on the hot seat.  Now, Tom has given me more items to pick at the executives about.