Image used under a Creative Commons courtesy of Aldo Risolvo.
I can understand why y'all might have skipped the New York Times Magazine (yes, I know I'm commenting on basically everything there this week. It was a good issue.) story about Nadya Suleman, better known as the Octomom, and her careful engagement with reality television. The whole mess is uncomfortable, distasteful, even: the rumors about plastic surgery, the interviews about her parents, the question of how she'll provide for her children, one of whom is autistic, and the youngest of whom are somewhat medically vulnerable. But Suleman comes across as both spacey about the implications of her decision to have 14 children, and reasonably thoughtful about the crew that's filming her and them. And the piece puts her in a fair amount of reality TV context. The piece also has one of the best kicker anecdotes I've ever read:
Suleman told a recognizable version of the story — wicked stepsisters, a pumpkin, glass slippers and so on, until the very end. In Suleman’s telling, when the prince discovers Cinderella and comes for her, he asks her not to move in with him but to live in his kingdom. “Then they lived together for five years,” Suleman continued. “They went to college together, and then they went to medical school.”
Amerah interrupted with a low noise: “Ahooooo! I got ya!”
Suleman shushed her. “Stop! They went to med school. And when they finished their education, they agreed to — ”
Amerah interrupted again. “You’re not allowed to make up stories!”
Suleman shushed her back. “Stop it! I merely altered it a little. They learned about each other, they grew together, they fell in love instead of living happily ever after. They decided to get married and continued growing together as an obstetrician and a gynecologist. Nobody lives happily ever after, because that is extremely unrealistic.”That is not a level of self-awareness I would have expected. Readers of this blog are probably aware that I am extremely uncomfortable with reality television, with all the questions about exploitation of financially vulnerable people, and consent (particularly when children are involved) at stake. I never expected Nadya Suleman would be the person to surprise me, and to challenge my assumptions.