A Shot At Love 

Romantic relationships on television programs are often a major part of the storyline. These relationships are often depicted in idealistic and dramatized forms. However, their seemingly perfect romantic relationships on television are desired by young people who have not been in a romantic/marital relationships yet. The media is one of the only ways they are exposed to seeing romantic relationships play out and develop. Even though these relationships may be scripted and fiction, cultivation theory,  suggests that the more viewers see these idealistic romantic relationships being shown on television, the more they believe these relationships to be true in the real world. 

In Lippman, Ward, and Seabrook’s study that investigates romantic relationships on television, they look at four different kinds of programming and five different romantic beliefs. RTST, Sitcom, Marriage- Themed Reality Show Exposure, and Perceived Realism were the media variables mentioned in the study while the romantic beliefs were Romantic Beliefs (full), Love Finds a Way, One and Only, Idealization, and Love at First Sight. The researchers focused on heterosexual couples in the media in their study. However, I thought it would be interesting to look at shows where homosexuality was involved in the storyline and how it was different or similar to the heterosexual storylines in the study. 

________________________________________________________________________

It’s actually really difficult to think of a show on television that marks relationship the primary storyline with a homosexual couple. When thinking about Marriage-Themed Reality Shows, I thought of one example that might be interesting to being up. MTV’s original series, Tila Tequila’s: A Shot At Love, was a classic raunchy example of MTV reality television. While shows like Flavor of Love and Rock of Love focused on finding love in a heterosexual set, A Shot At Love focused on both heterosexual and homosexual relationships. Tila Tequila is a bisexual who is searching for love and does so,  through a reality show where both males and females compete for her love. 

While looking specifically at the final episode where she is choosing between a female contestant, Dani, and male contestant, Bobby, it is interesting to look at her interactions with each person. Both contestants get a solo date before she makes her decision. Both dates are somewhat similar in that they go on a romantic dinner date and provide Tila with a gift in hopes that it will sway her decision in their direction. At the elimination ceremony, Tila discusses how both of them possess characteristics of femininity and masculinity. Bobby is described as having the, “exterior of a man on outside but he's a softy on the inside.” and Dani as having the, “soft touch like a woman but can be tough like a man.” In the end Tila picks Bobby!!! 

What I found interesting is that in the finale, Tila still picked the male contestant. She may have done this because she may have felt a stronger attraction to him, or it could have more to do with the the notion of Cultivation Theory. This meaning that Tila has seen the romanticized versions of love between males and females in the media and was believing that heterosexual couples were idealistic. Also, the concept discussed in Lippman’s study, that female partner’s dissociate with homosexuality and thrive for the idealistic heterosexual relationships seen in the media may also be a contributing reason to Tila’s decision to pick the male contestant.