love island or total drama island?
if you would have told me love island would have gotten me back to my keyboard I would have laughed in your face
it’s been a while… yes I know , long overdue but i’ll get into that next time but right now I need to air out my frustration and surprising pleasure for this season of Love Island USA.looking at the thumbnail of this post you could tell me this is the official cast picture of the current season and I would believe you. Except I would point out the obviously more diverse casting but again a conversation for another day but I will say…NO I WON’T.
this season of love island has been the worst best season imaginable, a true reflection of the current dating landscape at least that is for cishet dating…queer dating alike has its own story to tell but not the focus of this post at all.
The opening theme song of “Total Drama Island” has a perfect lyric to define this season… “I wanna be famous” the entire theme song perfectly describes the current state of any franchise, which I must say I have watched quite a few from the original UK, filling the gap of shows like “Are You The One?” and “Ex on the Beach” during the pandemic and then watching other franchises like USA , South Africa, Australia as well as Spain.
Just a quick memory jog or introduction for anyone who did not watch the two above shows growing up, this probably just makes you normal because those definitely went kids shows lmao but the drama was too good to not watch. “Are You the One?” was dating show set on an island (how original) where participants basically had a perfect match based on a matchmaking algorithm that only production knew about, they had to figure out who their match was and would win a shared prize of a million dollars. Season 8 was objectively the best because the entire cast was pan/abrosexual & queer meaning everyone could be anyone’s perfect match , omg I might just rewatch.
On the other hand, “Ex on the Beach” had no cash prize unless you could consider possibly rekindling with your ex a prize lmao. The premise of the show was basically potentially getting back with your ex or someone else’s ex and seeing those dynamics play out. Assisted by having some familiar faces from primarily Geordie Shore, shifting viewers from usually seeing them with new people while out working/clubbing to an island confronted by their ex’s, like yes I will be watching omg.
anyway back to it…
With the success of the 6th season of the American franchise of Love Island ,it finally became a way for influencers to build their platforms in the same way the original across the pond has from around 2019. For the influencers in question or rather hoping to become influencers it is good business of course but I don’t know about it being television. “Love” therefore is no longer the foundation of the show. I understand the position people are taking by saying since we have people who are too aware of being on camera they are too performative but isn’t performing all we do, like everyday? I think we are way past that being an issue. It is amazing in the sense that we all get to explore elements of the current dating seen I guess.
What I will say , we’ve been watching for 5 weeks and it has not given Love Island at all. Drama island? yes, Friend Island? I hope not but clearly not, Situationship Island? YES NKOSI YAMI YES and Love Island? HELL NO. Very reflective of the current dating scene, of course all these people have known each other for 5 weeks, no one is expecting a wedding but at least give us one locked in couple??? at this point just change the name of the show even if it’s just for the season, idc.
I don’t want to speak on couples or people because there's a lot of nuance to all the situations we’ve watched over the past 5 weeks. My only critic would be how boring I think people discourse because they are only able to see things from a place of duality. If I critic an islander or something it doesn't mean I am against another , things aren’t black and white especially on a dating show with people we see an edited/curated version of for an hour. All of the cast are walking contradictions, full of hypocrites and with that I will say, aren’t we all? Before opening that screen to watch the show, check out the mirror to confirm, okay wait…let me calm down… I’m doing too much. What I mean to say is that the show is able to evoke these emotions because we deal with these daily.
however, I will be speaking on Amaya. see how I’ve already contradicted myself by saying I won’t speak on anyone…
As of episode 26, I don’t know why everyone is pretending like she did not clearly ask people about their boundaries when it comes to terms of endearment? They would hate to see me coming because I use those in everyday conversation. Bryan being what seems like the only one with sense, hmm. Listen if anything I am happy she at least got a holiday in but at what cost with the people she is in that villa with.
Amaya better get ready to be first single winner of Love Island USA. Not a first in the Love Island universe as avid fans would know how season 5 of UK played out, as a few people have pointe out. Amber Gill was going to win whoever she was paired up with and I want the same for Amaya, it can even be one of the producers for all I care. She seems to be the only one trying to make a genuine connection and seems to understand that she is on LOVE ISLAND not I am playing the field looking for a situationship that can convince people long enough for them to vote and become famous while at it island *puff*, let me catch my breath. Then again this is just my observation although we are watching the same hour episodes, we clearly aren’t on the same phage. some people are und…
give her the money or donate it to charity. if this season had a “Flavour of Love” charm school or rather “love school” Amaya would be the only one Monique would say this to:
A bigger question would be, will reality television ever come to an end? I honestly don’t think so, as long as there are people there will be some form of reality television. Perhaps considered trash television when it first began and for a few people to this day, however there is no denying the impact it has had on everything.As long as there is a society there will some kind of surveillance showcasing the dynamics at play. The effects of reality television however have/will change with time as we’ve seen. Looking at the initial season of any show this can be seen, like they showed up in business causal for the first reunion of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” but now that reality stars or rather peopling hoping to become reality stars are aware of perceptions , it changed everything. Not necessarily for the worst but the reality of the world we live in is fueled by perception through social media but maybe that’s a conversation for another day too.
Now that the fine line from reality television stars feeling like they are just talking into camera and now understanding they are talking to an audience ,what does it mean for reality television? I mean, I’m going to keep watching now but what’s next?
Anyway I am kind of embarrassed that it took Love Island for me to post but I promise I will be back soon. I’ve been fighting for my life since last October and things are only starting to settle down lmao.
I might not share lot of my own opinions about what is happening but I want to know yours , pretty please xx
we all needed this
what a delight to read ! missed hearing you