Vlog 3: Cutting into Ethics
This week in class, we talked a great deal about the arrangement of videos, or how filmmakers use different shots and cuts to assemble a story. With Pudovkin’s work and theories, we saw how editing can be an art form in and of itself; with strategies like contrast, parallelism, symbolism, leit motif and more, there’s a lot of storytelling work that happens between cuts. As we discussed Pudovkin’s obsession with suggesting a relationship between two otherwise unrelated shots, my mind drifted over to one of my guilty pleasures: The Bachelor TV franchise.
Admittedly, I’m a junkie for trashy reality TV. As much as I would love to pretend that my entertainment tastes are mature and refined, I have to be honest about the fact that I often have more fun watching two girls duke it out in the name of love than I do viewing a documentary. There’s a certain magic to the cheesiness of reality TV that has captivated me (and probably always will). The Bachelor TV show has done a remarkable job of capitalizing on Pudovkin’s theory, layering two separate shots to suggest relationships between them. In fact, many people have criticized the franchise for its heavy-handed editing, claiming that it misrepresents contestants by the way it cuts together shows.
One of the most infamous examples of egregious editing claims came from Vienna of Bachelor Season 14, who was undoubtedly painted to be the show’s villain. Articles have supported these claims, arguing that most of what was seen on Season 14 in relation to Vienna was completely fabricated, little more than a clever combination of shots.
This week, I ran across a really funny video from comedian Molly Hawkey, who has recently been publishing videos in which she edits herself into Ben Higgin’s current season of The Bachelor. She’s easily able to accomplish the feat, utilizing the fact that a good percentage of shots on The Bachelor are close-ups of contestants in a confession room, versatile shots with lots of gossipy statements that are able to be chopped up, rearranged, and used out of context. Molly has several confession shots of herself, juxtaposed with scenes from the group date and drama around the Bachelor house. To a casual viewer, her story line actually fits well.
She’s executed everything amazingly well, down to the cliched candles that flicker in the background of the set. Obviously, Hawkey is doing this for satirical effect, but her use of editing does point out one of the key dangers of reality TV shows like The Bachelor: they pass off incredibly fictionalized stories as “real-life” events, simply because people don’t realize the power of editing. When we fail to critically analyze shots and juxtaposition in a show, it is much easier to fall into the trap of believing it is true simply because its high-quality nature and clever editing make it look like real life.