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D.C. is just too real for the Real World. There's too much media, too much cynicism, and too many celebrities -- legit and bullshit alike -- in the District for its people to take these interlopers seriously. People move here to make their names -- but not for doing nothing. Laziness isn't a value the District exactly celebrates. (Except for maybe today. Today is a good day for being lazy. Lazy, or absolutely incapacitated by a hangover.)
That said, there isn't anything wrong with doing nothing and hoping to be admired for it. I'd say that people in my generation have a soft spot for the cast of The Real World: San Francisco -- in fact, I'd say that those characters deserve about the same level of regard as the Real World D.C. folks deserve contempt. Those original Real World cast members were better characters than the celebrity douchebags that have filled the ranks of Real World/Road Rules shark-jumping contests since, but that isn't it. In its original iteration, The Real World featured people who were willingly committing themselves to the panopticon.
That just isn't a novel selling point any more. After the waves of social media and digital technology and journal software that have crashed since the first days that people stopped being polite and started being real, everything has gotten real. People don't even watch television on TVs any more. The District isn't moving in with these folks in a house on Dupont Circle on Sundays at 11 p.m. or whatever -- they're moving in with us, in real time.
So it's just not a surprise that the cast finds D.C. rude (sit on it, MTV). And, if this anonymous account is to be believed, it's also not a shock that the producers are completely unable to deal:
The security officer claimed he worked for an agency he clearly did not. He also should not have reached towards his back pocket and threatened us. Additionally, he made a homophobic comment. When I told him he was not a park policeman, he told me just because I was walking with a girl this did not mean I was straight. As I am gay this statement was true, but it was clearly intended to demean me and make me feel inferior. I asked him why he was making a homophobic comment, but he responded by continuing to insist that we leave the area.
The Real World works when its characters are able to perform publicly in front a national audience while living privately among the locals. But the show that we're is interested in watching is the taping -- watching this obnoxious, indignant tumor settle uncomfortably into our system. WUSA9 gets it right in a story about MTV cameras being irritated by local news cameras: "The city is watching every move."
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I do hope people separate the MTV crew being asshats from the cast. I have no way of knowing whether the cast are nice, mean, douches, class acts or what. But it certainly sounds like the MTV employees have made themselves known. I'm sure a little advance outreach would have helped a lot. But it sounds like no one at MTV thought so.
anti-real world dc calls you guys out (from the link):
If RWDC fans like DCist and Woodbridge, VA blogger Spencer can gawk, so can RWDC opponents.
http://www.wusa9.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=88090&catid=158
This video makes them look friendly.
This is not the first DCist reference to RW SFO being "the original." Am I the only one who remembers RW NY and LA?
No, you're not. I remember that Eric from RWNY moved on to some dance show on MTV (Grind?) the next year or something. There was the stupid dancer on the show who wanted to sleep with him, right? Is it wrong, that I remember that? Or does it just mean I'm old? Yeah, old. That's it.
Security officer impostor? Or Mayor-for-Life? Hmm...
Just a point of reference. RW San Francisco premiered 15 years ago Monday, which would mean that the cast for the current house were around 6-8 years old at the time.
oh god.
Wow indeed.
Wait, I don't get the anonymous comment at all. Why didn't he say yeah, I'm gay, suck it (or something as equally demeaning). Doing nothing (which I presume he did) and posting about it later online accomplishes nothing. This is especially true when dealing with idiot cops or rent-a-cops with delusions of grandeur.
If you read the whole comment he did do something about it. Talked to a cop, the cop talked to the rent-a-cop, etc. etc. The police said they planned to talk to the show's head of security.