Amish In The City

I watched very little TV while in Philadelphia, but I saw a couple of things that interested me.

Firstly - be still my beating heart! - a trailer for American's Next Top Model 3. (I wonder if this stuff finds its way onto BitTorrent?) Series 2, which ended in the UK in August, was the only so-called reality TV show that I made time to watch this year, drawn in to its powerplays, professional tests and personal development. Thank goodness this was just a trailer; I think if I'd seen an entire programme of the new series I would have expired from sheer joy. (Actually, the reality is more prosaic - like most of its genre-siblings, it takes a few installments to really get going.)

Secondly, I saw another reality show, about which I'd read a little previously: Amish In The City. I watched a whole episode of this - the one where the Amish and their city-dwelling flatmates return to the Amish lifestyle - and found it fascinating. Maybe I'm cynical, but it seemed to me that the underlying premise was that the freaky Amish people had been introduced to the wonders of modern society so we could view their joy at their initial (and no doubt long-lasting) connection with such delights as MacDonalds, Britney and the SUV.

There's certainly an undercurrent of distrust, or maybe just incomprehension, in the "learn about Amish culture" section of the UPN website. In the FAQ section, "Why don't they use modern technology?" receives a baffled response that explains how the Amish church controls the lives of its people, without ever actually answering the question. (The apparent presumption that this facet is unique to the Amish church is quite sweet.)

Having only seen one programme - especially an episode that might not be typical - it could be dangerous for me to comment, but what the hell... It seemed that the Amish participants were the most erudite, genuine and well-balanced of those on show (both Miriam and Mose struck me as especially likeable), whereas the "regular" city kids came across as spoilt brats obsessed with either themselves or their posessions. (Interestingly, one or two of the latter seemed to undergo a transformation once immersed in Amish culture and actually turned into something approaching human beings.)

I suspect that sadly Amish In The City is just too US-specific to be shown on British TV. I live in hope that a station like E4 might see past the cultural references and show it on its merits as a worthwhile exploration of the way one has to make long-lasting lifestyle choices at a relatively early age.

Posted by Hg on Saturday 02 October 2004 at 07:09.
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