The Polaris - North Seattle Community College Student Newspaper

When simple isn’t so simple

Ryan Hicks
Assistant Editor

The “Simple Life” brief synopsis: two rich girls who’ve never had a job go to Arkansas to live with a country family for 30 days. Paris Hilton, heiress to the Hilton hotel fortune, and Nicole Richie, daughter of singer Lionel Richie, are the subjects of this sort-of reality show with no real plot or challenge.

The video cameras follow them around for a month, constantly interviewing them and everyone around them. The idea is to see if they can “make it” in a small-town farming community with no credit cards, money or cell phones, though the definition of “make it” is pretty vague.

After the first half-hour premiere, I was stumped and enthralled at the same time; even reality TV couldn’t be this unreal. I checked the newspaper TV listing every day, for weeks to see if a new episode was on that evening, and I’ll be damned if I didn’t make it a point to watch every one, including the “reunion” episode that somehow aired before the “final” episode.

After spending hours staring at the TV screen, I am still baffled by what I saw, even though I admit I was always entertained. The Arkansas family would periodically set up “jobs” for the women, and they would, without fail, screw them up. From working at Sonic Burger to milking and herding cows, from working at an auction to doing simple house chores, they failed at everything with one exception – working at the gas station.

You’ve got to be kidding

A large percentage of Paris’ and Nicole’s televised conversations with the country-folk in Arkansas consisted of questions and comments that made me want to punch myself in the head and start rolling dumbstruck on the floor.

My favorite question from the pair: “Do they, like, sell walls at Wal-Mart or something?”

It didn’t matter that I knew it had all been edited to make them look, uh, dumber or something. At some point, they actually said these things. That was enough for me.

So why was this entertaining? It made me feel better about not being rich and ignorant. It made me feel like middle-class, collegiate America is a much better place to be than high-class, ridiculously wealthy and out-of-touch.

At the same time, I wondered if there was a chance other people or other cultures see me, in my middle-class stupor, as being out of touch, too. So, it was really a double-shot of reality, although from a rather unrealistic source (reality TV, I dub thee truth), but the message came through nevertheless.

Sort of like, I’m smacking Paris in the back of her ignorant head, while someone in Iraq is smacking me in the back of my ignorant head.

The “Simple Life” DVD series came out shortly after the show concluded, complete with unedited scenes and other footage. Now if I want, I can see those two knuckleheads whenever I choose to.

I must say, something about their behavior attracted and appalled me at the same time. Maybe it’s because my ultimate goal is to live the simple life, and they don’t mind showing me how easy it is to forget that I already live a simpler life than some people can handle.

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