Ever heard of “Dating in the Dark”? It’s ABC’s summer filler show to try and out some of the shallowness of its viewing audience. They pick 3 guys and 3 gals, introduce them in the dark, and play social experiments.
And basically, this is how the show breaks down:
STEP 1: “Hi! I’m in the dark!”
This consists of introductions in the dark with all 6 people in the room, awkwardly grabbing at the dark while America views them in some kind of “scared cat with giant eyes” mode.
STEP 2: “Let’s pass judgement on those chicks based on what we think we just found out!”
Sit around with your same sex and discuss/judge the others based on their in-the-dark conversations. Take judgment from one column (looks) and place it in other column (what others will think).
STEP 3: “Let’s build an image in our head!”
Take items (questions from interview, your caboodle, your clothes, these vary from episode to episode) that a person you just met would NEVER see and let the opposite sex judge you based on these answers/items, instead of the normal “little white lies” you tell someone you begin dating so they believe you’re normal.
STEP 4: “…Is that your…Arm?”
Go on “in the dark” dates, cop a feel, and see if they’re a fatty or not. Always discuss date immediately after. Usually men discuss if woman is a fatty or not.
STEP 5: Predisposed expectation round.
Be told which of the opposite sex you are matched with and go into another dark date with a predisposed mindset that “you match” and therefore should “force yourself to find out why you match”.
STEP 6: “And then there was light… EW!”
Pick someone to meet and go stand in the dark. Wait awkwardly as the image you’ve been building up in your mind is smashed to pieces. You aren’t allowed to talk to them; just give them the up and down while America views your reaction. Then immediately disucuss the details with your partners in social experimenting.
STEP 7: “Picked last for kickball… AGAIN?!”
Get rejected as one of you stands and waits for the other to decide after you are introduced to each other in light, but not allowed to talk, just awkwardly standing there and rating the person in front of you against the person you’ve built up in your head.
Conclusion: As you can probably guess, most of these people are not choosing to pursue a relationship with the other. It seems that this relationship scenario is so bizarre, such a mindf@#% that the average person finds it hard to wrap their brain around it. Sure, the premise seems easy enough, get to know someone without seeing what they look like. Seems as if this hasn’t been done for the past decade or anything (internet relationship much?). But they cloud it up with these little “side projects” like creating an artist’s rendering of each other; forcing each other to come up with a physical description only to be set up to find a completely average person on the other end. Or the man gets to dig through the girl’s wardrobe, judge her on the size of her clothes (which, I can vouch as a shopper on the cheap side, can range at least 3 or 4 sizes between brands), contents of her belongings, etc., which then forces them to create another predisposed image of the opposite sex. Now, seems as if ABC is drifting from the original message here.
I wonder what would happen if they tried this experiment on different cultures: those that work on arranged marriages, etc… They’d probably have a much higher success rate.
