Out With The Old | Mini Essay | Why The Only Way Is Essex proves that Baudrillard was right all along, by Caitlin Allen

Jean Baudrillard’s big idea was the simulacrum, ‘the generation of models of a real without origin or reality: a hyperreal.' Simply, he believed that there was no such thing as first-hand reality any more. Instead all we have are copies of copies of copies, perfect replicas without an original. Nothing has an innate essence anymore, everything is purely surface. He conceived of institutions such as Disneyland as methods of re-imposing the reality principle. That is to say, Americans created the fantasy world of Disneyland so that they could convince themselves through comparison that the rest of America has a real existence, when in truth it is equally as fabricated. What I would like to propose is that the pretence of presenting us with snapshots from real lives of real people created by the producers of The Only Way Is Essex proves it is no longer possible to separate out a single original reality from the proliferation of fictions. ‘Essex’ is only as real as ‘America’ which is about as real as Disneyland.

In the opening sequence to The Only Way Is Essex, the viewer is informed that ‘the people are all real although some of what they do has been set up purely for your entertainment.' Most of this ‘setting up’ consists of the producers ensuring that certain people are in certain places at certain times, for example arranging for one character’s ex to be having a drink in a bar when that character arrives on a first date with someone else. In these scenarios the situation has been arranged but the reactions of the people involved are real. Other set ups involve having one character ‘acting’, i.e. saying what they’ve been told to by producers (usually passing on gossip), while another reacts sincerely. One has to ask what the difference is between the sequences where ‘what they do’ unfolds naturally and where ‘what they do’ is set up. Whether they are acting of their own volition or whether they are simply doing what they're told, these people really are doing these things and must live with the consequences, so the boundaries between acting and living become blurred. When dealing with the fall out from these set-ups the personalities truly believe they are living these fabrications, so where is the difference? The personalities’ ‘realities’ and their moments in character are impossible to disentangle. 

Furthermore, the emotional reactions that the cast of The Only Way Is Essex have are extreme but fleeting, seemingly sincere but very much transient. Being dumped by someone they’ve been dating for three weeks seems like the end of the world, but they manage to find someone new before 48 hours have elapsed. It’s almost as if the ‘cast’ are portraying these emotions because they believe they should be, must be; because they are copying their behaviour from pop culture such as cinema, where love at first sight really does happen and where ‘the one’ exists. These people replicate behaviour from films and television programmes which are themselves fictions, so that The Only Way Is Essex becomes one more link in a series of copies with no origin in reality.

A friend pointed out just how lacking in real sexuality the programme is, which is somewhat surprising considering that lots of the action revolves around the characters’ efforts to make themselves more ‘physically desirable’, and around their relationships with the opposite sex. The perfecting of their appearance becomes an end in itself and the relationships often appear to be more rooted in alliance rather than attraction. One of the characters, Sam Faiers, was already a relatively well-known glamour model before the series began, and several of the others have aspirations that way (and the fake breasts to match). This, however, seems not to be a result of a strong sense of their own sexuality; it is merely a status symbol that they want to grab a part of.

To call these girls stupid would be unfair. No, they aren’t particularly well educated and their grasp on the English language is sometimes rather loose, but they’re well aware of the deal they’re making here. They know that participating in this circus will bring them several steps closer to where they want to be. The fact that this status of celebrity-for-being-a-celebrity is one many of us are morally opposed to is irrelevant: for Amy Childs and co it was a calculated move.

I suppose what I am saying is that we shouldn’t criticise these individuals for ‘bad acting’ or for handing part of their agency over in return for a certain status, because it is something we all do necessarily, just less honestly and overtly. The rest of us still place faith in our ability to separate reality from fiction, whereas the ‘stars’ of The Only Way Is Essex have surrendered to hyperreality. The confusion of reality and fiction, essence and appearance, depth and surface, is what makes programmes such as The Only Way Is Essex and Made In Chelsea such fascinating viewing, and the most compelling evidence of postmodernism available to us today.

By Caitlin Allen

See also: Things That 'Arg' From The Only Way Is Essex's Face Looks Like

World's Greatest Father

When I was two, my parents took me to Disneyland. They told me that if I were to become lost in a crowd, to sit tight on a bench and wait, no matter how long, until they came for me. We rode the submarine (I was terrified), took the jungle cruise with its surprise hippo emergences (also scary), and we strolled the streets looking at the vendors. I was fascinated by the glass blowers who made knickknack animals, which is where I lost my parents. When I realized I was lost, I spotted a park bench, and sat as instructed. People asked if they could help, or take my tiny self to Lost & Found. But I didn’t budge, and was rewarded moments later when my father found me. I don’t remember his reaction (because to a two-year-old, it’s all about me!), but even now, I remember the utter relief and the comfort and security of Daddy’s strong arms when he scooped me up and hugged me, and then placed me triumphantly on his shoulders.

Although there is surely a billion-way tie for second-greatest father in the world (including my dad, yours, and some outstanding single mothers), the title of World’s Greatest Father has to go to… Abba, our Father God.

Abba created our parents Adam and Eve, and breathed His own sacred breath (the Holy Spirit) into the physical elements He formed. Before His human children sinned, He had committed Himself to redeeming us—for the sole reason that He loved and chose us before the foundation of the world. 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. Ephesians 1:3-6 NASB, emphasis supplied.

God redeemed us with His own precious life and death. His blood sacrifice also became our adoption. John the Beloved said, To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. John 1:12, 13 NIV, emphasis supplied.

In sin, we were slaves of the evil one; but in Christ, we are doubly His children: through birth, and again through adoption. Jesus Christ taught us to think of the Father not as a frightening, condemnatory judge, but as our Abba. Abba meant more than “Daddy.” Abba meant children had inalienable rights to their fathers’ presence, rights of inheritance and sustenance—no matter what. Abba rights could not be revoked. Servants and slaves could not use the Abba term, though they could call the master the more formal title of father because he had lordship over their lives. Abba was reserved for the legitimately born or legally adopted children, and denoted a personal and loving relationship.

The Old Testament refers to God as Father 15 times, but it’s used 260 times in the New Testament. Jesus used “Abba Father” in His Gethsemane prayer, even as He irrevocably gave Himself into His Father’s will.

During this celebration of Fathers’ Day, you will probably phone or visit your dad, or remember the dad who is resting in Jesus. If you never had a “daddy,” or if you are estranged from your “male parental unit,” Fathers’ Day can also be a reminder that no matter who or what our earthly fathers have been, our Abba Father is waiting for permission to scoop us up in His strong and secure arms of love, and carry us on His shoulders. And you have the right to His presence simply because He loved you before the foundation of the world! He is the World’s Greatest Abba.