Marriage Boot Camp: Hip Hop Edition Reflection
Committment & Learning
The premise of the show surrounds those who are seriously committed to one another but not very couple on this season has proven that commitment before stepping into the house. So, their investment in learning to improve their relationships is seen to be impacted by their level of commitment through the newer couples like Bianca and Chozus versus the most seasoned couple, Styles P and Adjua. Overall, the show highlights that the most learning happens with the couples who are most committed to one another.
Reality TV & Cameras
Cameras can serve as a distraction from learning but as a group used to the spotlight, they weren’t phased by it as much as others and past seasons that may have been incentivized to maximize their fifteen minutes of fame. However, the reality tv structure of the show still posed a threat to the learning process, specifically to the honesty and vulnerability that is needed for a couple to truly be transparent with their issues and show them in real time. It almost caused the cast to detach from the process this season after feeling betrayed that a couple was fake and there for the wrong reasons. If at any point things get too real or too hard, they had the option to stir up drama with their spouses or others, play to the camera, or even attempt to leave. Those dramatic moments make the show more appealing to viewers but don’t help the cast maximize their learning experiences.
Celebrity Status
I thought that the celebrity status of the cast might inhibit the learning process more than it did this season due to their natural excitement to finding out who they were in the house with. Some of them were true fans and even worked together before. However, they all were presented to the group with their imperfections, which humanized them despite their varied levels of fame and the intensity of the exercises made it hard for them to fake it during boot camp.
For others, the temptation to keep up a facade in order to maintain their public persona or the respect of industry peers may be harder to overcome. The attached of celebrities to the premise of the show allows that temptation to live on as a possible distraction from learning if it doesn't turn out that celebrities are more comfortable around other celebrities. Also, the fact that the cast has no idea who is on the show until they arrive is great for tv but not great for some of their learning experiences. For some of the spouses who are not celebrities or artists, the idea of being in a house with artists of a high caliber may not be something they are prepared to handle. There's a possibility that they will have trouble adjusting or being comfortable. In some cases, they may use this as an opportunity to promote themselves as it was revealed on the "Secrets Revealed" episode that Stew actually did this on day one.
Constructionism
The basis of the daily exercises that teach the campers skills to build healthy relationships often ask them to make things and perform tasks to learn. Knowing this now, if I were to keep going I'd study the role of constructionism in this environment.
Trigger Warnings
Given my personal reactions and emotions on episode 8, Scarred for Life, the show should implement trigger warnings for viewers. Deeply personal exercises like the ones surrounding childhood traumas can cause the viewer to relate their lives to the experiences of the cast and join in on the learning process from home without the proper support to manage those emotions.
Learning Journeys
If I had more time with my research analysis or even worked with a group instead of individually, I would spend more time diving into the learning journey of Bianca and Chozus. They are the antithesis to learning in this space and an example of the downfalls of Marriage Boot Camp, which include not checking to see if couples are fans of the show before they come, not vetting their relationships, and the temptation of drama and reality tv fame that the cast can tap into instead of learning.
I'd also spend time dissecting the learning journeys of the three other couples to have a more complete understanding of how their uniques circumstances showed or didn't show learning.
Editing & Production
After watching the “Secrets Revealed” episode of the show, the aspects of Marriage Boot Camp that were exposed truly cemented for me that editing is powerful and leaves out important details that ultimately make my ethnographic research incomplete. This episode revealed that the infamous Joseline and Bianca fight that served as a distraction from the house actually unfolded for hours and caused an exercise to be cancelled. It was also pointed out that Bianca was a super fan of Marriage Boot Camp, which they came to find out after she arrived and began spoiling things for the cast and opting out of participation during exercises because she knew what was to come. Production claimed to require an element of surprise in order for the show to work but somehow allowed this gross misstep to happen. They also allowed the cast to smoke weed and bring edibles into the house without regulation, which was revealed in this behind the scenes content as a barrier to learning. Furthermore, this episode along with a YouTube clip showed that the cast received discussion prompts to guide their conversations and extra activities after their exercises to further work on their relationships. This information makes it even more clear that a lot of work and curation is put into the boot camp learning experience although the editing doesn't always make that clear.
Despite the secrets that showed holes in the show, this episode was a great addition to the ten episode format that that provides an update on the couples post boot camp. It provided me an opportunity to further assess their learning journeys, which I would dive more into if I had more time on this project.
Recommendation
In order for a better learning experience to happen that solves the issues I've mentioned, I recommend that Marriage Boot Camp: Hip Hop Edition takes this show idea into the real world without the cameras and fame. The show idea was originally created by Jim and Elizabeth Carroll who held boot camp retreats in real life for regular couples. Returning back to that format may be best for couples to learn but it also may not have as much funding as this show does to curate and create exercises specific to the couples. Also considering that the Carroll's idea for marriage boot camp did not cater to Black people, hosting a culturally relevant rendition of their retreats sponsored by the tv show franchise would be a great improvement of the program.
