“Andrey Malakhov left Channel One: versions, reasons, comments” … Even if you, like me, are on a strict informational diet and the TV in your house plays the role of a cat stand, you hardly missed this news. Moreover, its echoes seem to haunt us all for a long time to come. The experts and I decided to figure out what makes half the country watch with interest what is happening in other people’s houses, bedrooms and lives.
The era of the «Big Wash»
It all started with a washing machine. While the drum is spinning, you need to entertain yourself with something — for example, stories. This was the concept of the program launched by Malakhov in 2001. The name itself — «Big Laundry» — very accurately conveys what happens in public laundries. By paying a small amount (in the television equivalent — your time), you can put things in need of washing in order and examine with curiosity what others have brought, those who do not hesitate to put the most intimate on public display.
The transfer lasted five years. It was replaced first by Five Evenings (2004-2005), and then by the record-breaking Let Them Talk program (since 2005). As conceived by the creators, the show provides an opportunity to talk with the audience on acute topical issues that concern «one and all» (jealousy, betrayal, divorce, violence, alcoholism, drug addiction).
If we leave aside the theme of the charm of Andrei Malakhov, whose departure from the project and from the channel caused a storm of emotions, the question arises: what do we care about someone else’s «washing»? What makes baskets with someone else’s dirty laundry so attractive and is behind the mass desire to listen to other people’s stories, to learn not the most attractive details of the life of others, to follow the scandals in star families? The desire is truly massive. This is confirmed by VTsIOM polls: for many years, Russians have recognized talk shows as the best program on domestic television.
Releasing stress
Considering the “scale of the epidemic,” perhaps such an interest is part of human nature, something that is inherent in us from the very beginning?
“History is far from today’s, take at least gladiator fights. We have always needed bread and circuses, — confirms the psychotherapist, an expert in the field of telepsychology Vladimir Dashevsky. “People liked and like conflicts. They love to watch how others hit each other, and the harder, the more interesting. Each of us has a natural aggression that needs to be dealt with. When we watch a fight in the ring or a conflict on a talk show, it’s an opportunity to fire up safely and get a release.
Many are mired in routine and do not experience strong feelings, and watching such shows shakes the emotions. The mechanism of infection and imitation works. When we become infected, we begin to experience similar feelings. Imitating, we build our lives based on what we see. Living with the characters part of their lives, we experience vivid emotions without leaving the comfort zone. So it’s a pretty safe way to relieve tension.»
In the days of gladiator fights, thousands of spectators gathered in the arenas to watch someone else’s death and feel alive.
“In a sense, television becomes a social institution for learning and experiencing one’s own emotions,” the psychotherapist continues, “because many families and schools did not teach this. Another reason for the popularity of such talk shows, as well as crime chronicles, is that thanks to them we can feel alive. This opportunity is not limited to television.
Just imagine: you are driving along the road, and suddenly there is an accident. Slow down? I’m sure yes. The vast majority do so. I myself brake, unless I’m driving in the far left lane. I take a look at what happened, and it impresses me. It was the same in the days of gladiator fights: thousands of spectators gathered in the arenas to watch someone else’s death and feel alive.
We know the world
But the list of reasons for the popularity of the talk show is not limited to the desire to feel alive and drain negative energy.
“We have a need for novelty, it is connected with the need to know the world around us,” explains clinical psychologist Yulia Zakharova. — The life expectancy of our ancestors directly depended on the extent to which ideas about reality coincided with it. Now the world is much safer, but the need has not disappeared. It manifests itself differently in people of different ages. Children get to know the world by actively exploring it — they need to touch everything, try it on the tooth. With age, on the one hand, the range of research expands: traveling, reading, watching movies, communicating with others enrich experience, clarify knowledge about the world. On the other hand, the paucity of personal experience, the lack of a wide range of social connections, physical and financial limitations reduce the possibility of knowing the world.”
The viewer is promised that now he will see something unusual, something that will radically change his ideas about the world.
“In this case,” the psychologist continues, “talk shows come to the rescue as the easiest way to get new information. The creators of the programs play on our need for novelty: the viewer is promised that now he will see something unusual, something that is very different from his life experience and will radically change his ideas about the world.
“The more an event differs from your everyday experience, the more interesting it is,” agrees Vladimir Dashevsky. — Death, violence, incest — something that is not in the life of the average viewer. The interest in the personal life of the stars is also quite understandable: this is also from the category of a new experience. Watching the stars, the viewer understands that: a) «they are the same as me»; b) “So it’s possible, and I will do the same.” This, in turn, sets new social norms.”
We run from ourselves
A separate story is a reality show. “Their popularity is explained by the fact that they help to escape from problems into a cozy fantasy world about wealth and fame or just another, vibrant life,” says psychologist Arina Lipkina. — If the participants found themselves in such a situation, in the center of opportunities, money and victories, then maybe someday I can do the same? Dreams of fame and a prestigious place in the social hierarchy are much more seductive than real work and achievement of goals.
“Watching the show gives us the opportunity not to deal with ourselves, not to try to understand what is wrong in our lives. You can judge others, evaluate them from a position of moral superiority, adds Vladimir Dashevsky. “Estimating others, especially stars, whether they are doing the right thing or not, many rise in their eyes, raise self-esteem.”
As Ksenia Sobchak wrote in one of her columns, “judgment is a favorite Russian pastime, and it is the source of many problems. Instead of correcting something in yourself, it’s more pleasant and easier to condemn someone else, and then, pleasantly relaxed, you can complain that we don’t have any positive agenda.”
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So what should be considered modern television in general and “Let them talk” and similar talk shows in particular? On the one hand, they distract from real life, replace it, deftly manipulate us, playing on our basest passions. On the other hand, for many, this is perhaps the only opportunity to shed accumulated aggression and negative energy. Probably, in this story, as in many others, «everything is a medicine and everything is a poison.» The only thing that matters is the question of measure.