Le Anh-Huy

Gender:

I curiously watch the reality-dating TV show "Blind Date" every now and then; I find the show interesting and entertaining sometimes, and prefer it over its conceptually offensive counterpart (IMO...it's offensive and humiliating to pick four contenders and dump three of them on national tele...but then again, it's their fault for being on the tele... ) "Elimidate".

I find the show tries to be accommodating to different viewer tastes, be they IR dates or quirky partnering, and even braves the sexuality line: they featured some gay dates a few times. But with the IR dates that involve WMs, they have almost arranged the outcomes to be predictably- and perhaps, unquestionally- favourable to the WM contender in question.

But recently, that clichéd scenario seems to have changed. For the first time ever, I saw white guys given a rather negative light, in context with couplings with a non-white gal.

I had just viewed two presumbably recent episodes that were among the categorized "Dates from Hell", both involving a WM and a non-white-F: the first episode, a 30-something year-old white male with a South Asian female (I'd bet she was either an Indian from Guyana or from the Caribbean, because of her name and other clues); and the second episode, a very old white male, and a very young East Asian female (presumably a Cantonese-American).

In both episodes, the two white guys turned out to be complete losers, either lame or desperate, and ended up being dumped by the two respective females. But to be blunt here, in regards to the two women: both of them looked stereotypical in a "exotic" or "sexy" way that only western men who fantasize about "Eastern" women would find appealing.

In other words, the Indian woman would not be attractive by Indian standards, only by white males who have a fetish for "curry"; just like the Asian woman would not be considered attractive by Asian standards, only by those Asian fetishists who, for a lack of a better description, "don't know better".

So, what I'm seeing here are three possible underlying themes...

either...

1) the scenario of having the two "exotic" women dump the two white guys was to provoke a white male target audience into thinking: "damn, these chicks are sexy...I'd go for them...those poor opressed exotic girls don't know what they were missing"...

or

2) the show's mismatching of the two dates was not innocent, but rather, some kind of subtle way of criticizing WM/XF relationships.

or

3) they were both simply innocent mismatches, made on part of the show's producers for the laughs, and that there were no racial or social undertones present...

Regardless, this was the first time that I've seen a scenario where white guys- coupled with non-white gals, was given a negative light...
typical pop culture and subconscious attitudes have typically been orientalist...making the white male a "knight in shining armour" in any given context.


So what do you all think about this? Has the show "Blind Date" really started to criticize WM/XF couplings for whatever reason?...or have I simply over-analyzed a mainstream television show that is only trying to show more diverse aspects of the North American dating scene?

danielinparadise

I think there's a real force in America that pushes people to glorify anything American and subvert or lessen anything Un-American.

So guys who go after foreign women, are "lessened" and made to feel like fetishists and losers. For example, I have a friend who married a Swedish girl. Sweden is a really rich country, much more rich than the US per capita wise. When she moved to the US to live with him, he actually had people ask him, "are you sure she isn't just trying to get a green card and live in the US?" Or "what's the matter, you couldn't get an American girl?" He couldn't believe it, but that's the kind of thinking there is in the U.S.

Another example is during the Cold War when everyone was made to think that Eastern European women are all big, ugly, and muscular weight lifter types. It was only after the propaganda finished that people started waking up and realizing the women were beautiful over there.

Another example is foreign guys who aren't European made to feel clumsy, ugly, and not cool in the U.S.

Another example is Americans who are made to feel like "The USA is the best place on Earth." This is not true, as anyone who travels abroad will tell you, but they push this agenda.

There are many more examples. But these forces that try to brainwash people are real.

Le Anh-Huy

Gender:

Yeah, but in this case, it was the two non-white women who rejected the two guys who happened to be white, not the other way around.

CuriousDiabla

Gender:

A long time ago, a guy friend of mine (who loves Asian women) put in his application to Blind Date and was accepted. He told me I should do it too, just for fun, so I put in my application too. I said I only like Asian guys... I never heard back from them.

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Keep em rubber side down!

'The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and Beautiful of all.'

'All knowledge is worth having.'

aman

Gender:

ummm... who cares?

I've watched Blind Date for nearly a decade and still waiting for the first AM. seen plenty of AFs, but no AMs yet. Apparently, the producers haven't read my emails (complaints).

oh, haven't seen any mexicans either.

Le Anh-Huy

Gender:

What do you mean, "who cares?" This is potentially an important social issue, here.

I saw one AM...and it was an old nerdy, guy who was probably there for the laughs of everyone else.

Why did you single out only Mexicans? What about other Hispanic men?

The other day, I saw a Hispanic female.

RogueSpear

Gender:

The show is racist, plain and simple. It is meant to cater to the white male demographic, and thus further its goals. The couplings critical of WM/XF was probably their safest alternative to one denigrating blacks, Asians or hispanics, and yet it still allows them to pursue their fetishist agenda.

China Doll

Gender:

Hahahaha, I just watch the show for the ridiculousness of the whole premise. I don't ever think of those shows having any sort of an agenda, other than a way to get ratings. Maybe I'm just naive...

I watched Parental Control the other day on MTV. I like watching that dumb-ass show, I admit it. I'm easily 20 years older than the contestants, but I like the fact that the parents are trying to introduce their child to a better man or woman. Imagine my delight when I saw an Asian husband and wife trying to find a better guy for their daughter (I believe they were Japanese). She was dating a tattooed LOSER with very messy hair and a flair for giving her parents the finger. The father picked an Asian guy for his daughter (actually he was Chinese/Irish). I sat straight up in my seat for that one--his name was Max. ADORABLE. The mom picked a white dude for the daughter. I kept rooting for the daughter to pick Max, not only because he was HOTNESS to the extreme, but he was very nice to her, educated, and seemed like a great catch for a girl in her late teens/early 20s. Alas, at the end, the daughter went back with her deadbeat loser boyfriend. I was like nooooooooo. Anyway, Asians were depicted very positively and the white dude was actually the loser.

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PeterIsFantastic

Not all white dudes are bad.

Alot of my friends are white and they're mostly all cool.

Apollyon

Gender:

I really don't think anything is random. From what I know about film and tv production, every detail is as meticulously planned as possible, unless of course, something goes wrong, which happens often. Its the same with marketing campaigns. People design or at least are aware of every little nuance of their work. Thats why we need more Asians and minorities in those fields, so that our interests can hopefully be represented instead of, as was so rightly stated, appealing strictly towards the white male demographic.