Trainwreck

Obsessed with Big Brother and not proud of it. Also at personal blog/survivorblog

[mitchcan]

I think by now I can safely say I am no longer watching big brother. I mean I won’t delete the blog and my interests come and go in waves so who knows, maybe I’ll start watching again some day and I’ll be obsessed and come back. but for now, I am not here, I am not watching, I don’t know anything.

[bbedits]

The Women of Big Brother 23

[mitchcan]

hi. I’ve been feeling very detached from reality and super-depressed but I feel like a season of big brother might actually provide me with some much needed routine and help ground me in reality a little which I realize makes my life sound very sad. it is. I can’t wait for the season to start.

[nadjaofstatenisland]

ummmmm?????

[mitchcan]

YAAAAAAAAAAAAS I could not have imagined a better winner, she played so well and she catfished not just because it’s fun but because she knew a single dad gets more credit for being a good parent than a mom does. and she did her research, like if you’re gonna catfish you better come in there with a filled notebook like she did. I’m so happy she did so well!!

[mitchcan]

“I feel like certain people have been playing a real shady game from the beginning and that’s not fair like you don’t need to play like that.” - the person who is catfishing as her own husband lmao

[mitchcan]

so many bad takes in the tag idk what yall are on 

[thesnowqueenxx]

[mitchcan]

ok I think river or chloe has the best chance too win, I’m rooting for trevor, but it would be so fucking funny if they all voted for john to increase their own odds and jack and is her name linda(?) ended up winning

[mitchcan]

I’m sorry I can not at John belting out the most general horoscope shit ever and Chloe being all “actions do speak louder than words😲” girl come on I know you’re only 20 but you can’t be this naive

[mitchcan]

he actually said ‘alfa-energy’ about himself

[mitchcan]

also I’m surprised at how well lee/river is doing and idk if it was intentional but I think the guy he chose for his pictures is really benefitting him because he looks a little aloof, like it wouldn’t surprise you if he used some weird slang because he looks a little out there but still happy and cute so he can get away with some weird sayings. am I wrong? I think I’m right.

[the-knights-who-say-book]

The netflix original reality show “The Circle” has been hailed as a revolutionary exploration of how we hide behind photos and the trappings of social media online in pursuit of popularity. But there is another aspect of The Circle which has so far been under-analyzed: gender presentation. In a show in which catfishing is not only possible but common, and men often enter the show using women’s pictures under the assumption that women find more popularity online, the reliance on traditional understandings of gender cannot be overstated. While The Circle deconstructs social media to its base components, the show’s mechanics often work at the same time to reinforce the gender binary.

This dynamic becomes more self-evident in the French run of The Circle, which proceeds with many of the same tropes and situations as the American season. Circle France’s cast includes two women pretending to be a young man, a man pretending to be his fiancee, as well as twin brothers pretending to be their female friend. Throughout each episode the players attempt to inhabit their personas fully enough (through word choice and emoji-use, for example) that the other contestants will buy into their act and believe them to be genuine and honest potential allies. But The Circle often throws obstacles designed to draw attention to gender into their way. During challenges in which players will see their competitors’ handwriting and cake-decorating skills, players who are presenting as another gender scramble to “properly” act like the gender they are portraying—falling back on stereotypes and assumptions about men and women to do so. Each player then analyzes the others’ final products to determine if the others are liars. And inevitably, women are seen as having masculine handwriting, men as having a feminine way of icing cakes, and people who are catfishing fly under the radar thanks to having practiced their “female” handwriting prior to the show.

All reality shows are intricate dances of fiction and pretend reality, compositions of scripted segments and acting that beg you to buy into them as reality. That The Circle contains pretend within pretend makes it not unique but an intensified version not just of reality shows and social media, but also of gendered presentation. How does a man write when he wants to be seen as a woman? How does a women decorate a cake when she wants to make sure no one will accuse her of really being a man? While the players investigate these questions in pursuit of the hundred thousand dollar prize, the viewer is invited to laugh at and ridicule their attempts to play at and reinforce the gender they have put on the screen, both when it is and isn’t the gender they truly identify as.

There is something grotesque about it, certainly. It is an unconscious performance of the gender-scrutiny that transgender people endure in reality, a vaguely conscious performance of the guidelines women are supposed to follow to be feminine, and a completely self-aware performance of performance. It is at once catfishing and drag, tragedy and horror. It never intends to be an examination of gender and presentation, but it cannot escape that that is half of what it is. In this essay I will

[mitchcan]

duude having them cooperate on a profile is actually such a fun twist I hope they don’t get along at all

[mitchcan]

these kids not knowing who lance bass is makes me feel so old

[mitchcan]

bryant is so incredibly pretty I adore his face but I can already tell he’s gonna be annoying as hell lmao

[mitchcan]

Jack: I don’t wanna be like a basic, boring, cute girl, I want some more layers to me. *proceeds to write the most basic bio I’ve ever heard*