Opposite Ends of Reality

Opposite Ends of Reality

When I saw the show “Cheer” pop up on my Netflix recommendations, I was intrigued. I love the movie “Bring It On,” and because Netflix categorized “Cheer” as “Reality TV” I figured it would be a funny look at cheerleaders arguing and competing with each other for some kind of prize at the end. 

And then I started watching. 

“Cheer” wasn’t anything like the reality shows I was used to. In fact, it was much closer to a documentary. I’ll admit, when I realized that, I assumed that it would be boring, and almost turned it off, but it was a weekend and I didn’t have anything better to do, so I figured I’d get through the first episode before moving on to something more my speed  By the time the hour had passed, I had tears streaming down my cheeks, and I knew about twenty cheerleading terms I’d never heard of before. 

The Navarro cheer team cheering on their teammate, Gabi Butler, as she tumbles.

While every aspect of the filmmaking in “Cheer” is well thought out and artistic, that wasn’t what got me hooked; it was the stories. “Cheer” tells unique and powerful stories about hard work and dedication. Five random kids were chosen and over the course of the six episodes, they often just talk about their lives - but through doing this, the viewer starts to understand how much the sport of cheerleading saved them. These raw, unique, and sometimes quite upsetting stories gave me a newfound appreciation for how much dedication these kids put into a sport that doesn’t even go beyond the college level (as they explain in “Cheer,” professional cheerleading has almost nothing to do with the collegiate sport). 

I finished the last episode right before the finale of this season of “The Bachelor,” and I couldn’t help but think about “Cheer” throughout the whole four hour (!) finale. Each time I heard Chris Harrison tell the audience that the ending will “shock” us all, I found myself thinking that “Cheer” didn’t need anyone saying things like that to get us to continue watching; we just wanted to because we actually cared about the fate of the individuals in the show. Yet with “The Bachelor,” the only way I stayed engaged was to make fun of the show with my sister the whole time, and mostly complain about how fake it was.

And yet “Cheer” and “The Bachelor” are both considered “reality television.”   Really? “Reality?”

Whenever the women on the “Bachelor” tell stories about their pasts, it’s the point in the show where I usually check my phone, or run to the bathroom. While I’m not saying what they say is fake or made up, it’s clear that all of the women seem to tell similar sob stories to guarantee they receive what my family likes to call “a sympathy rose.”  However in “Cheer” there aren’t any rose ceremony-like moments to motivate fake stories to be told. In fact, there is only one competition, and that’s the championships in Daytona that they are training day and night for. And their hardships are the obstacles to success, not the reason they are being rewarded.

Here’s a TikTok showing that Sydney from this season of “The Bachelor” may have told Peter a fake story to get a rose: https://www.tiktok.com/@mrfostertheteacher/video/6789723633196485894?lang=en

Moreover, “The Bachelor” tries so hard to create drama that you wind up realizing that there actually is none. The producers interfere so much that nothing in the show feels natural. For example, during this season, it was clear to anyone with a pulse that Peter didn’t really like Tammy or Mykenna, but they were both kept on the show for longer than they should have been because they were obnoxious (which in “Bachelor” world translates to interesting). Even the ending of this season shows how much drama the show had to create out of absolute nothingness. When it was apparent that Peter wasn’t going to wind up successfully engaged to either Hannah Ann or Madison, they suddenly added a new character in the form of Peter’s disapproving mother. The idea of the “Barbara” cam was funny on the internet, but in terms of the drama of the show it was honestly insulting. I spent probably ten times as long watching this season of “The Bachelor,” but came away no more interested in the lives of the contestants than when I started.  

On “Cheer” the producers were smart enough to leave the subjects alone and let their stories unfold naturally. I listened to an interview with the creator of “Cheer” and he said that the only time anyone working on the show would interfere or speak with the team was during one-on-one interviews, and even then it was only when the kids wanted to speak (as opposed to “The Bachelor,” which is constantly cutting to meaningless confessional interviews that tell us nothing). The suspense - and yes, the “shocks” - in “Cheer” come naturally and constantly leave the viewer wanting to see more. Why?  Because you feel like you are watching real lives unfold, not scripted nonsense.

The biggest accomplishment that the creators of “Cheer” achieved is, in my opinion, the emotional connections I felt with young people whose lives are so different from mine. Take Jerry, for example, whose journey from being orphaned after the death of his mother left me crying my eyes out. And I’m still thinking about Lexi the party girl, and what will become of her after she was kicked off of this team that saved her from herself. I’m not alone in this; instagram and twitter are filled with posts from “Cheer” fans who root for these kids like they were their best friends. 

“The Bachelor,” however, gives us people to make fun of. Here’s just a taste from twitter:

A meme on twitter about “The Bachelor” and how much the producers interfere.

A typical twitter post from someone who has fallen in love with “Cheer.”

We all know “The Bachelor” is probably the most famous example right now of “reality television,” but I didn’t really consider what the “reality” in that phrase truly meant until I watched “Cheer.” The reality given to viewers when they watch “The Bachelor” isn’t reality at all. I’m not saying that “Cheer” is completely real either, because truthfully, it can’t be. Even though there is little interference from the producers, the team is obviously aware of the cameras, and people tend to act differently in front of an audience. However, it is much more real than “The Bachelor” will ever be, and does the thing that only true stories can - it makes us feel connected to people we would otherwise never know.

Of course I’ll continue to eat up the fake drama given to me by “The Bachelor” because, to be honest, it’s fun to watch women scream at each other over the most insignificant thing - but hopefully “Cheer” will inspire other television producers to take the term “reality television” a little more seriously.