Continuing our examination of the panelists we turn the second panelist who appeared on the 14th episode of B&GND:
Reina Triendl (b. Jan. 23, 1992).
First of all, how do we get from her Austrian name to "Torichan"? Japanese often uses one of its two syllabaries, hiragana and katakana, to write foreign words. Her last name is written トリンドル in katakana. Each of the symbols represents a vowel or a single consonant followed by a vowel sound (with the sole exception of ンand its equivalent in hiragana which represent an "N" sound with no following vowel). Thus, トリンドル would be pronounced To - Ri - N - Do - Ru or "Torindoru" which gets shortened to "Tori" which, coincidentally and appropriately means "bird" in Japanese. The -chan suffix is a more informal and friendly honorific and is, perhaps, slightly diminutive. Torichan is our little bird on the panel.
(TANGENT. It was not until the announcement of the upcoming series, Terrace House: Opening New Doors that I realized the strange feature of the show's names in Japanese: they are all written and pronounced as English words. Episode 1 opens (nearly three years before the show would seek an international audience via its affiliation with NetFlix) with the name of the show displayed as "Terrace House Boys X Girls Next Door" with テラスハウス in green below that. This latter became the franchise name:テラスハウス. which is pronounced Te - Ra - Su - Ha - U - Su - "Terrace House". The first NetFlix series was also only written in English, "Terrace House Boys X Girls In The City", but, otherwise. used the franchise name. The most recent series is written テラスハウス アロハ ステート that is, Te - Ra - Su - Ha - U - Su - A - Ro - Ha - Su - Te - (e) - To. And the next series is テラスハウス オープニング ニュー ドアーズ or Te - Ra - Su - Ha - U - Su - O - (o) - Pu - Ni - N - Ngu - Ni - Yu- (u) - Do - A - (a) - Zu or "Terrace House Opening New Doors".)
Torichan was the youngest member of the panel in B&GND, but she has, nevertheless, already had a flourishing career as a model and an actress in TV dramas and film. In fact, she plays the protagonist in a film available right now on US NetFlix called Tag.
Unlike, YOU's film Nobody Knows, I do recommend watching Tag. It is a horror film, but it is not torture porn and the violence is ridiculously over-the-top and cartoonish. If (spoiler from the first few minutes of the film) seeing two busses of school girls get sliced in half by a mysterious wind decapitating everyone except Torichan's character (who was reaching for something on the floor at the time) or occasional panty-shots or the lack of a full explanation for what is happening are deal breakers for you, do not watch this film. Otherwise, it's an enjoyable, evocative film with some striking moments of utter beauty. Torichan does play the protagonist, but the main character changes actresses, character and location a few times. Her character does begin and end the film, and she has the screen-presence and charisma to anchor your interest in the narrative.
Torichan is a superb addition to Terrace House. As we see from the few episodes where she is absent. she tempers the bawdier elements in the panel (generally, Tokui and YOU). She does not speak as often as others on the panel - part of that may be cultural since younger members in a group will often be expected to be silent unless their opinion is solicited. Fortunately, YOU does often ask what Torichan thinks of various moments in the show, and Torichan responses are generally sweet, romantic, sometimes surprisingly lusty, and frequently insightful. She's my favorite member of the panel.
Wednesday, November 29, 2017
Saturday, November 25, 2017
Terrace House, a Deeper Dive: YOU
Panels are a common part of Japanese variety shows. Usually, they are there to provide comic commentary via inset reaction shots in one corner of the screen. Terrace House's panel does so as well, but instead of insets the show hard cuts to their reactions, and the reaction segments are comparatively long. Thus, in addition to quips we get largely empathetic analysis, discussion and occasional fan-fiction. The panel is clearly designed to be an audience surrogate, and you can tell from the demographics of the panelists that the intention of the show is to have as wide an audience as possible.
And so who are these panelists? They are generally "tarento", Japanese entertainers who serve as hosts and fodder for a endless array of game shows and variety shows. They may have had moments of fame in their prior careers, but, mostly, they are now "famous for being famous". In this series of articles, I'll take a look at the panelists, and examine where they came from and some interesting tidbits from there prior careers.
YOU (born August 29, 1964) is the original and sole host of B&GND. The show's first thirteen episodes had her introducing the show usually from the interior of a product placed car at night as she went from one part of her glamorous life to another. Her original name was Ehara Yukiko, and, thus, her personal name was often shortened to "Yu", but, at some point, her stage name became "YOU" in the English alphabet which is quite striking when it appears in Japanese credits.
She came to fame as the lead singer of a pop/New Wave band called Fairchild. Their music is largely 80s pop dance music with synths which is strange because their live performances were a standard rock quartet with no keyboards at all. Many of their videos can be found on YouTube. Fairchild only lasted from 1988 to 1993.
After that she moved into a general tarento career which included acting in dozens of television dramas and feature films. She received some notice for her feature film debut: 2004's Nobody Knows. As of the posting of this entry, you can watch the movie with English subtitles here, but I strongly advise against your doing so. The film is well regarded: Roger Ebert gave it 4.5 stars out of 5. However, I found it unrelentingly dire. YOU plays the single mother of four children all by different fathers who is trying to find a way for her family to exist in Tokyo, and (spoiler) she only appears in the first maybe 30 minutes of this 2hr 20min film. Her performance is good, but it's a haunting film chock full of despair.
As the anchor of the Terrace House panel, YOU represents an older female demographic, but she easily exudes a rocker-chick vibe that completely undercuts her age. She remains along with Tokui and Yama the most active of the panelists frequently launching into bits with her partner in crime Tokui, but also tossing to Torichan and rebuking Yamachan. She is a treasure.
And so who are these panelists? They are generally "tarento", Japanese entertainers who serve as hosts and fodder for a endless array of game shows and variety shows. They may have had moments of fame in their prior careers, but, mostly, they are now "famous for being famous". In this series of articles, I'll take a look at the panelists, and examine where they came from and some interesting tidbits from there prior careers.
YOU (born August 29, 1964) is the original and sole host of B&GND. The show's first thirteen episodes had her introducing the show usually from the interior of a product placed car at night as she went from one part of her glamorous life to another. Her original name was Ehara Yukiko, and, thus, her personal name was often shortened to "Yu", but, at some point, her stage name became "YOU" in the English alphabet which is quite striking when it appears in Japanese credits.
She came to fame as the lead singer of a pop/New Wave band called Fairchild. Their music is largely 80s pop dance music with synths which is strange because their live performances were a standard rock quartet with no keyboards at all. Many of their videos can be found on YouTube. Fairchild only lasted from 1988 to 1993.
After that she moved into a general tarento career which included acting in dozens of television dramas and feature films. She received some notice for her feature film debut: 2004's Nobody Knows. As of the posting of this entry, you can watch the movie with English subtitles here, but I strongly advise against your doing so. The film is well regarded: Roger Ebert gave it 4.5 stars out of 5. However, I found it unrelentingly dire. YOU plays the single mother of four children all by different fathers who is trying to find a way for her family to exist in Tokyo, and (spoiler) she only appears in the first maybe 30 minutes of this 2hr 20min film. Her performance is good, but it's a haunting film chock full of despair.
As the anchor of the Terrace House panel, YOU represents an older female demographic, but she easily exudes a rocker-chick vibe that completely undercuts her age. She remains along with Tokui and Yama the most active of the panelists frequently launching into bits with her partner in crime Tokui, but also tossing to Torichan and rebuking Yamachan. She is a treasure.
Saturday, November 18, 2017
Terrace House, a Deeper Dive: The Unbranded
Clearly, many of the housemates on Terrace House are on the show to promote themselves as a brand in their chosen profession. I suspect that the production company could easily fill the house entirely with performing artists and models, and in many ways it would be advantageous to the show to do so: it creates synergies with large talent and modeling agencies, allows access for the show and housemates to attend larger events, and leverages the promotional power of these other groups to promote Terrace House. That being the case, it is remarkable that the show has since day one on B&GND generally always included housemates for whom being on the show will do nothing in particular to promote their chosen career. Consistent with the other hidden agendas within the production, the show seems interested in exploring the idea that a wide variety of people can live together in harmony, and that everyone can add value to each other's lives when there is a forum to get to know each other as individuals.
Japanese culture is unusually homogeneous and there are societal pressures to conform which are unimaginable in the US. For instance, last month a student sued her prefecture after being repeatedly required by her schools to dye her naturally brown hair black under a policy that is meant to deter students from dying their hair. Terrace House presents an opposite ideal to Japan's more traditional values around conformity: people with widely varying backgrounds, aspirations and looks can all live together, help each other and even find romance.
In fact, the show goes out of its way to source housemates outside of the agencies which provide the models, actors, performing artists and professional sportspeople which have been the majority of the cast. Mizuki, for instance, reports that she was scouted for the show. Arman had done some production work on other shows, and was approached through those connections. And the show has also has accepted online applications for anyone who might be interested in joining the cast although it is unclear to me if anyone on the show was cast from those applications.
Of course, the distinction between which housemates are there to promote their personal brand and those who have no such agenda is a bit blurry and can change. It is hard to see how being on Terrace House can particularly help a realtor, an architect or someone who wants to launch a coffee shop. I'm sure Eric appreciates the fans who seek out The Punchbowl, but their patronage alone cannot sustain his business. On the other hand, Tecchan from B&GND came to the show legitimately training to be a fireman, but then used his presence on the show to create a successful personal brand.
The danger of including only people who are there to enhance their personal brand is that it can lead to inauthentic interactions and even outright deception. In US reality shows the casting for hyperbolic personalities creates an ecosystem of famewhores who see it as a route to become that perverse idea of someone who is famous for being famous. Terrace House cuts through that miasma by casting people who have genuine talents and by largely screening out the overly dramatic.
However, this approach is not perfect. Wez is clearly only on the show to present DOPE favorably on camera, and Cheri has issues that would seem perfectly normal on US reality TV. However, the other unbranded members of the cast like Anna and Chikako ground the show and create resistance against the imperative of the others to protect their brand by only presenting themselves in a favorable light.
Terrace House's formula of including people with no personal brand has generally been successful at avoiding some of the insidious tropes of Western reality TV. By doing so, it presents a vision of inclusiveness as alternative to the traditional conformity of Japanese. The show supports the ideal that people can find and love each other because of their variety and not despite their differences.
Japanese culture is unusually homogeneous and there are societal pressures to conform which are unimaginable in the US. For instance, last month a student sued her prefecture after being repeatedly required by her schools to dye her naturally brown hair black under a policy that is meant to deter students from dying their hair. Terrace House presents an opposite ideal to Japan's more traditional values around conformity: people with widely varying backgrounds, aspirations and looks can all live together, help each other and even find romance.
In fact, the show goes out of its way to source housemates outside of the agencies which provide the models, actors, performing artists and professional sportspeople which have been the majority of the cast. Mizuki, for instance, reports that she was scouted for the show. Arman had done some production work on other shows, and was approached through those connections. And the show has also has accepted online applications for anyone who might be interested in joining the cast although it is unclear to me if anyone on the show was cast from those applications.
Of course, the distinction between which housemates are there to promote their personal brand and those who have no such agenda is a bit blurry and can change. It is hard to see how being on Terrace House can particularly help a realtor, an architect or someone who wants to launch a coffee shop. I'm sure Eric appreciates the fans who seek out The Punchbowl, but their patronage alone cannot sustain his business. On the other hand, Tecchan from B&GND came to the show legitimately training to be a fireman, but then used his presence on the show to create a successful personal brand.
The danger of including only people who are there to enhance their personal brand is that it can lead to inauthentic interactions and even outright deception. In US reality shows the casting for hyperbolic personalities creates an ecosystem of famewhores who see it as a route to become that perverse idea of someone who is famous for being famous. Terrace House cuts through that miasma by casting people who have genuine talents and by largely screening out the overly dramatic.
However, this approach is not perfect. Wez is clearly only on the show to present DOPE favorably on camera, and Cheri has issues that would seem perfectly normal on US reality TV. However, the other unbranded members of the cast like Anna and Chikako ground the show and create resistance against the imperative of the others to protect their brand by only presenting themselves in a favorable light.
Terrace House's formula of including people with no personal brand has generally been successful at avoiding some of the insidious tropes of Western reality TV. By doing so, it presents a vision of inclusiveness as alternative to the traditional conformity of Japanese. The show supports the ideal that people can find and love each other because of their variety and not despite their differences.
Wednesday, November 15, 2017
Terrace House, A Deeper Dive: Tokyo Idols and Casting
Tokyo Idols is a documentary on the idol industry in Japan and was released on NetFlix last month. It is not directly related to Terrace House, but, nevertheless, it served to change my mind on one aspect of how the casting is done on Terrace House. Prior to watching this film I felt that the show should not have cast people in the idol industry like Rie (B&GND) and Rikopin (B&GITC) because these women are contractually obligated not to have a boyfriend, and being on Terrace house often put them in the untenable position of having to choose between forming a romantic relationship and their job.After watching the film, however, I believe that Terrace House's approach to relationship formation is far more healthy and appropriate for Japanese culture, and is a strong counter to the highly problematic aspects of the idol industry as a whole.
I do recommend watching Tokyo Idols. It provides an excellent, and, I believe, a fairly balanced view of how the idol industry exploits both the idols and their fans. It should be said, however, that otaku who follow idols do not agree that the film is balanced because it does not feature any women fans, and over emphasizes the presence and impact of sketchier older men in the fandom and their relationship to these young women. That being said, you do not need to watch the film to understand idol culture as it is currently structured in Japan, but, instead, you need only learn about the history of AKB48 (the group that Rie was in during B&GND).
Idol culture as it exists now is the result of a couple of promotional innovations that, as far as I can tell, arose with AKB48. The group started in 2005 as a primarily live act with its own theater space in the Akihabara district of Tokyo. The marketing genius and lyricist behind all of the the group's singles is Yasushi Akimoto,who came up with the ideas that if you bought a CD single you would get two things in addition to the music: a chance to shake the hand of a girl in the group and starting in 2009 a chance to vote for which of the girls would be featured in one of the singles in an annual election called the senbatsu sōsenkyo.
The handshake events were so successful that they became a ubiquitous feature of the idol industry, and the film does an excellent job of exploring what these events mean to the fans. Essentially, men (mostly) are given a chance to hold the hands of these pretty, young women for a few seconds and establish a connection which can be renewed at subsequent events. The film argues that these events have become so successful that they are, in part, responsible for Japan's lower birth rate. I find that thesis overblown; however, the film does provide evidence that there are a set of men who find easier to have these interactions than to try to get to know the real women in their lives as people and form relationships with them.
It is important to understand just how big the idol industry in Japan has become. The film mentions that there are around 10,000 young women who call themselves idols. The larger AKB48 organization alone has about 800 girls from various sister bands throughout Japan and Asia who can take part in the annual elections.
And those elections are a big deal in Japan. Here's a look at Google search for "American Idol" and "election" in the US:
As you can see, at it's peak American Idol was about as popular as US congressional elections during non-presidential campaign years. Here's a similar graph showing the popularity for the word "election" in Japan along with the Japanese for the more AKB48-specific term senbatsu sōsenkyo:
Those smaller peaks between the spikes are the national parliamentary elections. That is, by this measure the AKB48 elections drive about six times as much interest online as their national governmental elections.
Part of the problem in idol culture is the "love ban": idols who are popular enough to be in group with a management team are routinely required to sign a contract forbids them from having boyfriend or even giving the appearance that they might have had sex with anyone. It is generally believed that these clauses would be legally unenforceable, but they have not, as far as I can tell, ever been tested. Nevertheless, there have been many "scandals" in the idol industry in which these young women have been discovered giving such an appearance and some of them have been forced to leave the industry early as a consequence. In fact, the biggest news from the most recent AKB48 elections was an idol announcing she would be getting married as a way to get out in front of such a "scandal". She will, of course, be leaving the group as a consequence.
Idol culture brings many people together to focus attention and money on the idealized presentation of a relatively few young women. It is exploitative both of the young women themselves and of the lives and livelihoods of at least some of its fans. It has created many-to-one versions of relationships which foster and sustain a mere patina of what a real relationship can and should be between two human beings.
Terrace House, whatever other faults it may have, is all about how two people get to know each other as equal individuals, and the show celebrates those genuine individual connections as they form. If idol culture in Japan is a kind of poison, then Terrace House is a kind of antidote to that poison. And so, thanks to Tokyo Idols I am now completely in favor of including idols in the cast.
I do recommend watching Tokyo Idols. It provides an excellent, and, I believe, a fairly balanced view of how the idol industry exploits both the idols and their fans. It should be said, however, that otaku who follow idols do not agree that the film is balanced because it does not feature any women fans, and over emphasizes the presence and impact of sketchier older men in the fandom and their relationship to these young women. That being said, you do not need to watch the film to understand idol culture as it is currently structured in Japan, but, instead, you need only learn about the history of AKB48 (the group that Rie was in during B&GND).
Idol culture as it exists now is the result of a couple of promotional innovations that, as far as I can tell, arose with AKB48. The group started in 2005 as a primarily live act with its own theater space in the Akihabara district of Tokyo. The marketing genius and lyricist behind all of the the group's singles is Yasushi Akimoto,who came up with the ideas that if you bought a CD single you would get two things in addition to the music: a chance to shake the hand of a girl in the group and starting in 2009 a chance to vote for which of the girls would be featured in one of the singles in an annual election called the senbatsu sōsenkyo.
The handshake events were so successful that they became a ubiquitous feature of the idol industry, and the film does an excellent job of exploring what these events mean to the fans. Essentially, men (mostly) are given a chance to hold the hands of these pretty, young women for a few seconds and establish a connection which can be renewed at subsequent events. The film argues that these events have become so successful that they are, in part, responsible for Japan's lower birth rate. I find that thesis overblown; however, the film does provide evidence that there are a set of men who find easier to have these interactions than to try to get to know the real women in their lives as people and form relationships with them.
It is important to understand just how big the idol industry in Japan has become. The film mentions that there are around 10,000 young women who call themselves idols. The larger AKB48 organization alone has about 800 girls from various sister bands throughout Japan and Asia who can take part in the annual elections.
And those elections are a big deal in Japan. Here's a look at Google search for "American Idol" and "election" in the US:
As you can see, at it's peak American Idol was about as popular as US congressional elections during non-presidential campaign years. Here's a similar graph showing the popularity for the word "election" in Japan along with the Japanese for the more AKB48-specific term senbatsu sōsenkyo:
Those smaller peaks between the spikes are the national parliamentary elections. That is, by this measure the AKB48 elections drive about six times as much interest online as their national governmental elections.
Part of the problem in idol culture is the "love ban": idols who are popular enough to be in group with a management team are routinely required to sign a contract forbids them from having boyfriend or even giving the appearance that they might have had sex with anyone. It is generally believed that these clauses would be legally unenforceable, but they have not, as far as I can tell, ever been tested. Nevertheless, there have been many "scandals" in the idol industry in which these young women have been discovered giving such an appearance and some of them have been forced to leave the industry early as a consequence. In fact, the biggest news from the most recent AKB48 elections was an idol announcing she would be getting married as a way to get out in front of such a "scandal". She will, of course, be leaving the group as a consequence.
Idol culture brings many people together to focus attention and money on the idealized presentation of a relatively few young women. It is exploitative both of the young women themselves and of the lives and livelihoods of at least some of its fans. It has created many-to-one versions of relationships which foster and sustain a mere patina of what a real relationship can and should be between two human beings.
Terrace House, whatever other faults it may have, is all about how two people get to know each other as equal individuals, and the show celebrates those genuine individual connections as they form. If idol culture in Japan is a kind of poison, then Terrace House is a kind of antidote to that poison. And so, thanks to Tokyo Idols I am now completely in favor of including idols in the cast.
Saturday, November 11, 2017
Terrace House, a Deeper Dive: Mila
Mila set the record for the shortest stay on Terrace House at six weeks. She was, nevertheless, one of the more likable housemates, and so we wonder why we got to see so little of her while she was around and why she left so soon.
The biggest problem behind her lack of screen-time was, of course, Taishi's transformation of the show into a version of The Bachelor centered squarely on him, and he, surprisingly, did not manage to ask Mila out in the 257 seconds between her arrival and that of Chikako. Mila was almost instantly made irrelevant to Taishi's arc, and was, similarly, sidelined when Cheri went to meet Eric.
Mila is interested in fashion (you can check out her vlog here which is still active) and fashion design, in particular, but we never got to see it other than her breezy, beachy personal style. Those of us who watch Project Runway know that there was been some interest by young designers in exploring the possibilities in neoprene, and she says on screen a couple of times that that's what she wants to do. But, unlike Uchi, she did not drag a sewing machine to the house, and so we never got to see her constructing a garment. And, unsurprisingly, Guy never did seem to follow through by connecting her to the wet-suit makers that he knew. And so, Mila, was largely relegated to the role of witness in most of her on-screen interactions, and she was good at that role providing some humor and pleasant interactions. But, you know, the panel already provides an audience surrogate, and so it's tough to add to that role as a housemate.
As for why she left, we can only speculate. As others have noted, she was the youngest in the house and the only one in the house at the time who could not drink which excluded her from going to Wez' gig. Yuya faced a similar few weeks when he was the only non-drinker, but he and Avian were already on their path towards their relationship by that point. Hikaru on B&GITC also came into the house as the only one too young to drink at the time, and he lasted a bit longer.
There may have been some indirect pressure from the production as well in her decision. I doubt anyone took her aside and suggested she should leave. But I do imagine that the producers do update the cast about any NetFlix extensions and what the currently anticipated ending date is for the show. I can also imagine that at some point they say to the cast that this is the last chance for you to leave because the show will be ending in, say, eight weeks, and we'll expect you to stick it out from this point onward if you stay. And I can easily imagine such an announcement resulting in the call we see Mila make announcing her exit.
It also must be said that from everything I have seen, being on reality TV can be hard in unexpected ways. There is often a camera crew around, and placing mics and replacing their batteries becomes a routine invasion of your personal space. Most shows forbid turning off your mic during the day, and so you must somehow accept that all your bathroom noises are getting recorded. It could simply be the case that Mila never got comfortable with the routine production processes of the show.
As for the romantic possibilities within the cast for Mila, her options were also pretty limited. She lost her four-minute window with Taishi when Chikako arrived immediately after she did. Guy is certainly warm and attractive, but I can easy imagine that it was impossible to compete with the ghost of Niki so soon after she left. And Wez was circling Anna, or leading whatever life he was having outside the show. And in the end she may not have felt it was worth sticking around to meet whoever would replace Guy.
Terrace House almost certainly would have been better with more Mila. She was sunny, witty and charming. I suspect she would have stuck around longer were the show set in Japan where it would be comparatively easy to continue with her vocational aspirations and check in with friends and family. It is our loss that we did not get to see more of her on the show.
The biggest problem behind her lack of screen-time was, of course, Taishi's transformation of the show into a version of The Bachelor centered squarely on him, and he, surprisingly, did not manage to ask Mila out in the 257 seconds between her arrival and that of Chikako. Mila was almost instantly made irrelevant to Taishi's arc, and was, similarly, sidelined when Cheri went to meet Eric.
Mila is interested in fashion (you can check out her vlog here which is still active) and fashion design, in particular, but we never got to see it other than her breezy, beachy personal style. Those of us who watch Project Runway know that there was been some interest by young designers in exploring the possibilities in neoprene, and she says on screen a couple of times that that's what she wants to do. But, unlike Uchi, she did not drag a sewing machine to the house, and so we never got to see her constructing a garment. And, unsurprisingly, Guy never did seem to follow through by connecting her to the wet-suit makers that he knew. And so, Mila, was largely relegated to the role of witness in most of her on-screen interactions, and she was good at that role providing some humor and pleasant interactions. But, you know, the panel already provides an audience surrogate, and so it's tough to add to that role as a housemate.
As for why she left, we can only speculate. As others have noted, she was the youngest in the house and the only one in the house at the time who could not drink which excluded her from going to Wez' gig. Yuya faced a similar few weeks when he was the only non-drinker, but he and Avian were already on their path towards their relationship by that point. Hikaru on B&GITC also came into the house as the only one too young to drink at the time, and he lasted a bit longer.
There may have been some indirect pressure from the production as well in her decision. I doubt anyone took her aside and suggested she should leave. But I do imagine that the producers do update the cast about any NetFlix extensions and what the currently anticipated ending date is for the show. I can also imagine that at some point they say to the cast that this is the last chance for you to leave because the show will be ending in, say, eight weeks, and we'll expect you to stick it out from this point onward if you stay. And I can easily imagine such an announcement resulting in the call we see Mila make announcing her exit.
It also must be said that from everything I have seen, being on reality TV can be hard in unexpected ways. There is often a camera crew around, and placing mics and replacing their batteries becomes a routine invasion of your personal space. Most shows forbid turning off your mic during the day, and so you must somehow accept that all your bathroom noises are getting recorded. It could simply be the case that Mila never got comfortable with the routine production processes of the show.
As for the romantic possibilities within the cast for Mila, her options were also pretty limited. She lost her four-minute window with Taishi when Chikako arrived immediately after she did. Guy is certainly warm and attractive, but I can easy imagine that it was impossible to compete with the ghost of Niki so soon after she left. And Wez was circling Anna, or leading whatever life he was having outside the show. And in the end she may not have felt it was worth sticking around to meet whoever would replace Guy.
Terrace House almost certainly would have been better with more Mila. She was sunny, witty and charming. I suspect she would have stuck around longer were the show set in Japan where it would be comparatively easy to continue with her vocational aspirations and check in with friends and family. It is our loss that we did not get to see more of her on the show.
Wednesday, November 08, 2017
Terrace House, a Deeper Dive: Makoto and the Failure of Jock Prvilege
Let he who has never squandered an opportunity throw the first stone. I know I have, and so I hope to approach the topic of Makoto's run on the show with sympathy and kindness. It is easy to be triggered by some of the people on the show and what we see them do. Most of us were not jocks and cheerleaders in high school, and the show pulls from that pool relatively frequently. American society showers praise and privilege on its athletic heroes to the point that at their most successful levels they can be placed above the law. And, yet, Makoto's story is much more typical of student athletes. The vast majority of athletes who aspire to reach professional levels in their sport will not make it, and the system of privilege that supports can utterly fail them as they exit the path.
Makoto's arc on Terrace House is the opposite of what we usually see on the show. The show casts some people with a talent of some kind, and the usual arc for those housemates is that we hear about the talent when they first appear, and and some point thereafter they have some pivotal event scheduled, all the housemates go, and everyone including the audience are blown away by what this person can do. As far as we can tell, Makoto never gets to pitch at a game in his final year in college, and, in the end, he leaves the house with no clear idea of what he will do next in his life.
The show implicitly and consistently frames a value around vocational aspirations which is shared between Japanese and US culture. We know that not everyone can succeed in their current career path, and so a value is placed upon the performative display of effort. We'd have more sympathy for Makoto if we could see him working out and doing physical therapy to address his injuries. But, instead, we just see him around the house usually eating something that is not particularly healthy. We want to root for him, but we can't if do not perceive that he is even trying.
But maybe he was trying his best, and the show would not or could not show him doing so (perhaps because they could not get the appropriate filming permissions and releases). It's certainly the case that he did not feel that he could ask Minori out while his school's baseball season was still happening. And that pressure led him to the regrettable shoe incident. The desire to prioritize his baseball team was there, if not the drive or ability to succeed.
Societal privilege is an unhealthy thing not only for those who are excluded from that privilege, but also for those it leads on. What of the college athletes who earn a degree, but because of their privilege on campus, do not learn the thinking skills and subject matter knowledge that can result in jobs after their sports careers come to an end? Makoto's arc on the show is sad, and he disappeared from social media thereafter. When we were introduced to him, he was considered charming and handsome. All three girls put him at the top. We can critique his attempts at manipulation, but in the end, I suspect, that Makoto was not the man he could be, and I suspect that a part of that lack of formation was rooted in the negative aspects of jock privilege. I wish him well, and I hope he eventually finds his way.
Makoto's arc on Terrace House is the opposite of what we usually see on the show. The show casts some people with a talent of some kind, and the usual arc for those housemates is that we hear about the talent when they first appear, and and some point thereafter they have some pivotal event scheduled, all the housemates go, and everyone including the audience are blown away by what this person can do. As far as we can tell, Makoto never gets to pitch at a game in his final year in college, and, in the end, he leaves the house with no clear idea of what he will do next in his life.
The show implicitly and consistently frames a value around vocational aspirations which is shared between Japanese and US culture. We know that not everyone can succeed in their current career path, and so a value is placed upon the performative display of effort. We'd have more sympathy for Makoto if we could see him working out and doing physical therapy to address his injuries. But, instead, we just see him around the house usually eating something that is not particularly healthy. We want to root for him, but we can't if do not perceive that he is even trying.
But maybe he was trying his best, and the show would not or could not show him doing so (perhaps because they could not get the appropriate filming permissions and releases). It's certainly the case that he did not feel that he could ask Minori out while his school's baseball season was still happening. And that pressure led him to the regrettable shoe incident. The desire to prioritize his baseball team was there, if not the drive or ability to succeed.
Societal privilege is an unhealthy thing not only for those who are excluded from that privilege, but also for those it leads on. What of the college athletes who earn a degree, but because of their privilege on campus, do not learn the thinking skills and subject matter knowledge that can result in jobs after their sports careers come to an end? Makoto's arc on the show is sad, and he disappeared from social media thereafter. When we were introduced to him, he was considered charming and handsome. All three girls put him at the top. We can critique his attempts at manipulation, but in the end, I suspect, that Makoto was not the man he could be, and I suspect that a part of that lack of formation was rooted in the negative aspects of jock privilege. I wish him well, and I hope he eventually finds his way.
Friday, November 03, 2017
Terrace House, a Deeper Dive: Ten Things You Will Not See On Terrace House
One occasionally useful approach to defining and understanding something is too consider what it is not. In Orthodox Christian theology it is comparatively common to approach a definition of God by investigating what God is not. This approach is called apophatic or negative theology. In this analysis we consider what Terrace House is not in order to get a clearer view of what it is.
More specifically we will look at what does not occur in the course of the episodes, and in particular the kinds of things that we would expect to occur based on our experience of similar reality TV shows and in our own lives. Let me be clear at this point: the fact that these things do not exist in the Terrace House universe as presented to us is almost always a good thing. The show would be markedly worse in almost every case if these things were brought up on screen.
And so here are ten things you will not see on Terrace House:
More specifically we will look at what does not occur in the course of the episodes, and in particular the kinds of things that we would expect to occur based on our experience of similar reality TV shows and in our own lives. Let me be clear at this point: the fact that these things do not exist in the Terrace House universe as presented to us is almost always a good thing. The show would be markedly worse in almost every case if these things were brought up on screen.
And so here are ten things you will not see on Terrace House:
- Abrasive Reality TV Tropes Many of us are attracted to Terrace House because it does not contain a lot of things we are used to seeing on reality TV. No hair-pulling cat-fights, or testosterone-fueled fist fights. No saying, "I'm not here to make friends". And, as far as we can tell, no producer-instigated drama at all (though we always fear that the producers might be staging some of these events). Almost every positive article about Terrace House mentions the absence of these things, and comments on how supposedly boring the resulting show becomes before concluding how addictive and refreshing the show is.
- Confessionals and Cast-Interacting Hosts There is a simple reason why confessionals and hosts shepherding the cast are ubiquitous on reality TV: creating a narrative is much much easier when you have a narrator. The panel on Terrace House does fill this role to a certain extent, but they like us are limited to what the producers show us, and the producers are limited almost entirely to what the housemates say to each other on camera. I am guessing that prior to their coming on the show that the producers make it clear to each housemate where the fixed camera set-ups are in the house (dining table, living room, rec room and both bedrooms) and that no story will make it on screen unless they talk about it. And so they are encouraged to gather in those spots regularly to talk about what is happening particularly around any dates which are planned or have happened.
- Housemates Discussing the Panel The show can get pretty meta since the housemates can and do watch the show while their on the show. If you get a chance to watch the original B&GND, you will learn that in the earliest episodes the turn-around time was mind-boggling short. There is at least one instance of several housemates being shown watching the show and seeing what was said in the previous week(!). But while the show exists in the universe of the housemates, and even the reactions to what is happening on the show in social media is (rarely) discussed, the housemates never acknowledge or discuss what is said by the panel. In the universe of the housemates, the panel does not exist.
- Politics And I'm sure we're all thankful for that fact.The house exists in world with neither Japanese nor any other political discourse. Furthermore, no housemate engages in any kind of political activism on any side of any issue. IIRC, The Real World went there early on, but I do not know how much that became a continuing feature of the lives of the cast-mates as they appeared on the show.
- Housemates Discussing Popular Culture We know that they occasionally watch One Piece, and various movies in and out of the house. But you never see them discussing popular culture or sports unless it directly relates to their jobs and aspirations. Interestingly, the panel is much freer in that regard and they often contextualize what is happening within the house in terms of other shows and, occasionally, pop-songs. The panel serves a collective psychopomp escorting the spirit of what happens in the highly circumscribed reality of the housemates as they are presented into a much wider world of culture and experience.
- Casual Friends Dropping by the House This fact is perhaps the furthest deviation from a more normal existence. Terrace House is not Big Brother: housemates go out into the world and can even voluntarily leave the show. But Terrace House is, nevertheless, isolated. It's a big deal when a family member or former Terrace House personality crosses that doorway and enters the space. No one on Terrace House ever has a friend come over or even pick them up for an activity.
- House Parties There is, in fact, one such party early on in B&GND, but for the most part the housemates are never shown using these multi-million dollar homes to host a party. There may be pools at the B&GITC and AS houses, but you'll never see anyone outside the house in them. It would not be hard to have PAs at the door getting releases as people come in and licensed music playlists or aspiring bands given a song on-screen. Other shows can and do feature larger social events in their living spaces, but not here on Terrace House. The housemates are required to be monks and nuns of romantic possibilities or, at least, vocational goals and must focus their devotions thereon whilst on the show apparently.
- Casual Text Oh, there's always the chalk-board for notifications and allocating chores. And Makoto does smoke and brood over his phone in that one scene. And there are occasional notes and goodbye letters. And, of course, a "coward" written on an omelet, as you do. But, by and large, the communication between the housemates never occurs via the written word or by texting. The producers almost certainly want and need things verbalized, and so there are no screen-shots even when there are texts essential to the narrative. Instead, a housemate must say what happened out loud or it does not happen in the context of the show.
- Panel Insets As far as I can tell, commentators are relatively common on Japanese and other Asian TV, but they are frequently shown as insets commenting and reacting simultaneously with the action on the screen. This technique is more commonly used for comedic commentary and certainly draws focus away from the main screen. It is shocking in B&GND when You and Tori are inset during the introduction of the newer panelists, but it's understandable: the panel is the comedic universe and the house is the dramatic universe of the show.
- Household Product Placement There are the cars, of course. But this show is not brought to you by green tea Kit Kats or Zojirushi rice cookers. The show gleefully leverages and endorses celebrities, bands, magazines and restaurants, but it is not a show which pushes consumer wares. The focus is on what the housemates can do with their lives and not on what they buy. They are certainly interested in fashion and style, but they are interested in way that excludes the blaring advertisement of pedestrian consumerism.
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