Social Experiments...No. Social Exploitation...Yes.

I've been annoyed in the past couple weeks at the categorization of shows like Kid Nation and Beauty and the Geek as "interesting social experiments." These are NOT social experiments; experiments have some method, a sense of ethical grounding, and an outcome of furthering our understanding of something. Let's call them as they are: Lame attempts by morally wayward television networks to play up fabricated, stressful, and often exploitative social environments in such a way that seems socially relevant. The only relevance is that the networks somehow assume that we'll take these to be as "interesting" as they do. Let's deconstruct both so that you can decide for yourself, shall we:

Kid Nation is CBS's brainchild. A show that transplants 40 kids, ranging in age from 8-15, in a deserted "Western Town" to "see what they'll do." I object on several levels, but most of all on the fact that "see what they'll do" has been obviously directed by creating a Survivor-like game that further splits the group into "tribes" who competes to see who gets to be what class for that week. The winners call the shots, while the losers basically become the slaves, cleaning the latrines and doing the other unsavory work. Lord of the Flies this is not. By virtue of "the game," the kids automatically fall into a very clear hierarchy of status, basically dictating the ways in which the winners will treat the losers. Just to add a little something extra, a town council--4 "very special" children chosen by CBS for their "leadership abilities" get to award a gold star (literally a gold block worth it's weight--$20,000--to the best kid.) So, we now must consider the rift that this individual prize can inflict on the tribes. SUMMARY: To ensure this group of kids is really rotten to each other, all of their social interactions have been dictated by an economic class structure imposed on them, which ultimately will mean kids crying and in pain on television for the whole country to watch. Well done, CBS--I didn't think we could sink any lower than the race-divided Survivor season, but I think we've achieved that here.

Not to be outdone, another fine season of Beauty and the Geek premiered last week on the CW.
As the graphic shows, this fine offering by none other than executive producer Ashton Kutcher, pairs nerdy guys (self titled) with hot-but-stupid girls. The idea is to see who can win the prize at the end by employing savvy teamwork (anytime thinking is involved, the geek's the go to guy; if the challenge involves waxing of any sort, the beauty's up to bat). Again, this is only a social experiment if we are learning something and, alas, we're actually getting stupider watching this show. More disturbing, these qualities are treated as essentials so that all the girls are assumed to be dumb, and play the role well, while the guys couldn't be more socially awkward. Watching this show makes it impossible not to laugh at and not with the boys, which makes it no better than Kid Nation. You just get the sense that somehow the boys think they'll now be cool for having been on this show--that it will change something for them socially. It doesn't. The girls still think they're disgusting.

This is my point of departure from the "social experiment" nomenclature. Nothing learned, nothing gained, and in fact, our own ideas about these social labels only become more embedded--more condoned--than ever before. What I really don't like about these shows that I feel is different from other reality-show games is that the intention is to exploit how socially unknowing these people are. It's as heartbreaking, sometimes, as watching the Average Joe finale--another great example of taking advantage of someone on tv.

And that's exactly what this is: Dangling a modest amount of money at groups of people who need something (kids who need the money for their families or guys who need the money to feel like they're socially acceptable) and then asking them to debase themselves for the whole country to laugh at...it's not cool. And it's certainly not a social experiment. I happen to be in the business of social experiments and I can tell you without doubt that this is very simply and clearly exploitation. The problem is, that word is just so hard to make look good on a commercial or on a billboard.