30 Days – Season One (Reality TV)
Picture:
B- Sound: B Extras: B Program: C+
Reality
TV makes me sick! Literally. I don’t understand the fascination with other
peoples lives so much, but it’s beyond ridiculous these days. When I heard about ‘that guy who did Supersize Me’ doing a reality show
where they put opposite people together I was unimpressed. That ‘guy’ by the way is Morgan Spurlock, who
also doesn’t impress me either. So when
it came to reviewing the first season of the show…I had ill feelings. The format is quite simple…put two people
that are totally opposite together for 30
days and see if they can live together or make any progress in their
opposite thinking. Unfortunately the
results are highly mixed.
I have to
admit though that after watching through all of the episodes I am still on the
fence with this one, but there is one major highlight episode…Straight Man in a Gay World happened to
have some really insightful commentary and also brought up some interesting,
yet highly debatable issues. Not only is
the one guy straight, but he is also a Christian, so you can imagine the
tension! The episodes are as follows…
- Minimum Wage*
- Anti-Aging*
- Muslims and America*
- Straight Man in a Gay World*
- Off the Grid
- Binge Drinking Mom
*contains a commentary track
So does a
show like this work? Well, about 50% of
the time the answer is yes. Some of the
episodes were interesting and at times entertaining. Some were not nearly as spectacular as they
may seem. You can tell that the documentary-style
of Spurlock comes out well, but one thing is also true. When you are doing ‘reality’ shows you never
know the outcome and you can only hope for the best, but the material doesn’t
guarantee results. However, many of
these newer reality shows like to purposely ‘script’ out in order to have a
more fixed outcome. They will
intentionally make certain things happen by adding the right mixture of
elements in order to guarantee an outcome.
You see this often when it comes to the tension on shows like Survivor or many of the other similar
shows. I typically try to avoid these
shows like The Plague or movies directed by Roland Emmerich.
Let me go
back a little bit and discuss a bit further the best episode in my mind, which
was the straight, white, small town, Christian guy who is put into the “Gayest
place on Earth”, which is what the Castro District in San Francisco has been
dubbed. Don’t worry though…they are
proud of it! Apparently back in the day
(Circa 1945/1946) many of the gay sailors were let out of the Navy near this
area and since then have started businesses and have essentially turned this
into the Mecca for homosexuals. They
even have their own church, which is lead by a Lesbian pastor…interesting! This is the part of the review where my
personal feelings start to let out though.
Being a
Christian I am not offended by homosexuals, nor do I have ill-feelings towards
them or treat them any differently. I
have had many gay friends over the years and don’t really stick my nose into
their business. However, just because I
am tolerate to their lifestyle and choices does not mean that I am going to
stand back and say that what they are doing is ‘right’. By right I mean ‘not sinful’. The Bible clearly says that having sex with
the same sex is sinful. I think that
basic geometry also tells us this, but that’s just me. Being gay is just as much a sin as committing
adultery, lying, cheating, stealing, etc., etc.
No sin is greater than any other sin; they are all equal in the eyes of
God. The difference though is that some
sins are more visible than others and some sins are lifestyle choices. Sinners though all have choices and that is
to either repent of their sins through the grace of God and through the
salvation that is offered through Jesus Christ or they can continue their
lifestyle of sin. The argument though is
that people who are homosexual are ‘born’ into their sin and are unable to turn
it on or off. Wrong. Sin is something that can only be dealt with
through God and all sin can be removed from our lives if we ask for it. I also know gay people who have asked for
forgiveness and were able to repent of their sin and turn away from that
lifestyle. I have always followed the
principle of ‘love the sinner, but hate the sin’, which is the case for me with
all types of sin, including homosexuality.
This does not mean that I think they should have different rights
because all people should have equal rights.
Ok, so
that’s my position on the matter. This
is an interesting episode because the Lesbian pastor claims that God needs to
accept her for being gay and that she is just going to be that way and that’s
that. Her failure to accept the fact
that she needs to repent of her sin and follow Jesus never seems to phase
her. She churns out interesting ideology
to the ‘straight Christian guy’ as he meets with her a few times and she
recommends a few books on why being gay is OK with God. I love how people like to reinterpret what
God is ok and not ok with.
There are
many great elements that play out in this episode including some really
touching moments and also just a great topic for discussion among any group of
people.
The rest
of the episodes are ok, but not nearly as good as this one and do not always
evoke the same amount of tension or interest.
This DVD is presented in a 1.33 X 1 aspect ratio and looks good since a
lot of the camerawork is amateur-like with a lot of handheld cameras and such
to create a more realistic feel. The 2.0
Dolby Stereo is also acceptable, but nothing spectacular. Some of the episodes have commentary track as
indicated above. There is also some
extra ‘Diary Cam’ material that can be accessed, but it was cut out of the
final program for all the right reasons because none of it really adds much.
I
recommend this set just for that one episode alone, but the rest of the set
might be equally entertaining for some as well.
- Nate Goss
