To reflect | Humiliation, aggression and lack of respect for others – what can the BBB still offer?

For some time now, Brazilian television has been betting on reality shows that promote entertainment and generate a large audience. But we can also see that over the years this “entertainment” that has been promoted by these programs has generated many controversies. If before they were the opportunity to meet anonymous people and launch them to fame as Thank you Massafera and Sabrina Sato, today some of these programs are the stage for the distillation of hate and gratuitous violence on national television. The question that remains is: What kind of entertainment do we want to consume?

It is not new that programs like BBB are successful in the media and each year, a new edition sheds light on people who dream of a change in life, fame and even a full bank account. Not only that, the reality TV industry has taken a big turn, because with the advancement of technologies, social networks and powerful marketing, many brands want to advertise and be increasingly present in the lives of people who consume these shows. If you stop to analyze, the HERE is always in evidence, as it is one of the sponsoring companies of the BBB and which consequently becomes essential in our wardrobe as well.

However, if the exhibition generated positive points, some attitudes that we should not allow were also highlighted, such as aggression, racism, prejudice, not only physical or sexual violence, but also psychological and humiliation. Is it really that the content we want to see is based on these attitudes?

Currently, the BBB edition has been talking about since it started. The twenty-second edition is cold in relation to what it has delivered and that's because the chosen cast doesn't want to fall into the public's fine mesh and suffer the dreaded cancellation. With a group of participants devoid of charisma and sympathy, what we see is a show of horrors and controversy after controversy, however, today's date was the end of the line for one of the participants.

Last Monday (14/2) presented one of the worst moments of the current edition of the BBB. One of the dynamics of the program is the Game of Discord, which aims to warm up the atmosphere before elimination. The dynamic put into practice in the last program was that a participant would accuse another inmate and would have to choose a plaque with an accusation, explaining the reason, and then Tadeu would ask the rest of the house if they agree or not. If the majority choose 'yes', the accused takes a bucket of DIRTY water. If the majority choose 'no', the accuser takes a bucket of water.

It's obvious that the current roster is lacking in charisma and any other attributes that can generate empathy with the audience, but during yesterday's game, something seemed exaggeratedly out of place. The target of almost all the brothers was the participant Nathália, who accumulates moments of ups and downs this season – it can be said that she is an easy target, since she is on her third wall, out of four in total. Involving buckets of dirty water, the confined did not think twice before wetting the sister numerous times, one or the other felt some kind of empathy for Nathália - perhaps Douglas, who at the end of the dynamic denied any attempt to wet the sister and who went to talk to her after the game. Unfortunately, neither Lina and Jessilane, who were seen as the “godmothers” with Natália, had any kind of sympathy for the model.

If inside, they think that the young woman is going to leave, they are wrong, because by the way the carriage rides, she will become the next Juliet – she was so persecuted in the previous edition that she took the prize and even became the darling of many famous people like Anitta, for example. It is noticed that in addition to the lack of charisma, ignorance reigns among the cast. Do the math, it's already on its third wall, it's back from two and will come back from the third, as the public disagrees with the participants' vision of the game. 

The situation worsens when the participant Maria - recently was in Amor de Mãe -, throws the water so aggressively that she ends up hitting Nathália over the head with the bucket. At the moment, Tadeu asked if the sister was ok and the game continued. This morning, early afternoon, the sister was expelled, but not because the program's management understood it as a gratuitous and violent offense, but because the public, through the internet, pressured so that the expulsion actually took place. In the contract they sign before entering it is clear and specifies that any act of aggression can lead to expulsion and termination of contract with the broadcaster.

It's not the first time that Maria has acted like this. In another dynamic from the Game of Discord, she puts a plaque on Arthur's forehead, she doesn't, she hits it. If it is intentional, purposeful, it is up to Maria to respond, but these situations have crossed the line and the worst, there is a lack of a more assertive and active positioning of the show's production when dealing with these episodes. Brazil did not forget to Karol Conka by kicking Lucas Penteado off the table and being disgustingly cruel to the boy. Is this really entertainment? We are evolving into a real version of Jravenous ogos or Round 6?

What we are seeing is the commodification of culture, of entertainment that is no longer healthy, but a show of suffering that has been commercialized and unfortunately, barbarism generates money and the spread of hatred too much. Therefore, we can relate to what scholars Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer talked about the cultural industry - treats viewers like pasta, nullifying their individuality and everything, practically everything like economics, politics merge into an artistic production produced on a large scale and of low quality, which enters the homes of the mass of the population, keeping everyone in compliance. Furthermore, we can cite the spectacle society, study of Guy Debord which is understood within the capitalist universe, in which all things can be commercialized and are surrounded by images. This concept is a criticism of the way the consumerist capitalist system operates, which preaches the accumulation of products and images and everything becomes leisure – until death becomes entertainment.

Reflection revolves around the content we are consuming and what effect it has on our lives. We are looking for a world with more respect, empathy, acceptance and we are faced with demonstrations of violence, lack of respect and many other things in Brazilian programming. Another question is how the people around her reacted when the aggression happened, nobody did anything, the presenter of the show did nothing, the production did nothing. This shows how much we are naturalizing aggression and violence. We need to debate this and soon, because we are making something incredible out of barbarism when in fact it cannot be. We need more awareness and less proliferation of violence and humiliation.

Think about how your attitude affects others. We know that within the confinement, emotions, the experience is all different and felt in a different way that we don't live out here, in our real context. Let's not perpetuate violence and inhumanity on and off television.