New episode tonight!I never watch reality shows, but I'm addicted to Mad, Mad House.
In a nutshell,
Five practitioners of "alternative lifestyles" — a Wiccan, a Naturist, a Modern Primitive, a Voodoo Priestess and a real-life Vampire (known collectively as the Alts) — rule the roost. Meanwhile, 10 ordinary folks move into the House as the Alts' Guests — and compete against one another for the $100,000 jackpot.
Wait a minute, that sounds like my first apartment. Except, it was too cold for anyone to be a Naturist (western Massachusetts doesn't mix with recreational nudity) and the Modern Primitive thing wasn't really known outside of an address or two in California. Hell, no one had even heard of Goths back then. I knew one Goth from Seattle and that was it.
We were "the Witches upstairs". One housemate had been in the Weathermen, another was crazily wonderfully sex positive. She ordered so much stuff from adult suppliers that we were constantly getting free samples of porn, videos and toys. And in case you ever wondered? Vibrators make great cat toys.
We knew an Anne Rice fanatic who "was a vampire". The Spousal Unit was typing corrections for someone who was channeling the Virgin Mary and had written a book.
Anyway, back to the show. In the Neo-Pagan world (and I believe in the science fiction world) there's something called "Freaking the Mundanes". It's when you act...well, like a freak in public. You go out wearing your Spock ears or your Viking longsword or all you're all in black with the twenty dripping pentacles.
The goal is to get people to stare. If people look visibly bothered, disturbed, get up and walk to the other side of the room? Even better!
Freaking the Mundanes is immature. But, it's rather fun.
If you get deeply enough into it and have a certain level of self-denial, you can be Indignant! Angry! that you wore a corset and fishnets to an IHOP brunch and people stared. How! Dare! They!
The delight of Mad Mad House is that it's one long round of Freaking the Mundanes. I cackle whenever one of the Guests is clearly curling around the edges over the latest weird ass thing an Alt is doing, but also desparately trying to be polite because they want to win $100,000.
One gal has already had a complete meltdown upon being eliminated and screamed and cried and called everyone a freak. It was all good.
I like seeing dumb social conservatives squirm and tantrum and whine. It warms the cockles of my dark little heart when they come face to face with the reality that there's life beyong their cramped futureless little world.
It's not all Shock and Awe though. I very frequently find myself touched by how concerned the Alts are with the wellbeing of their Guests and how lovely and openminded some of the Guests have been. There have also been moments where clearly both parties were uncomfortable, but trying to handle it with dignity. Gives me hope for the human race.
If this series comes out on DVD, I am SO buying it.
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