In the past week after ControlTV announced that my brother would be its star, I have been Googling and Twitter searching this topic obsessively. Tristan Couvares will be the focal point of an online social experiment where he'll be on air for the majority of the day and the audience will make his decisions for him (i.e., what he should eat, who he should date, what he should wear, etc). A lot of people think that the idea is crazy. They are afraid for my brother and think this is utterly foolish. They could never imagine being told what to do. It's just horrific, right? When my brother called me recently, he asked me on a scale of 1-10 how crazy he was. I gave him a 6.7, he gave himself a 9.5.
I think both my brother's concerns and people's concerns in general about being controlled are a bit overly dramatic. When you think about it, most of our lives are controlled in someway or another already. We are controlled by our jobs, our family obligations and our basic needs. Most of us do not consider on a daily basis how many decisions are already made for us. Even those of us with out any "real" obligations (ie, those of us who are old enough to be living on our own and still young enough to have no real responsibility-- or "20-somethings") are still held hostage by our fundamental needs. In America, we treasure the illusion of freedom. Everyday I get up and go to work. I work until around 5:30 or later, and I come home. A lot of people do this and more. If I don't do this, I can't pay my rent, I can't pay my student loans back, and I can't eat. There is very little choice in the matter of whether or not to go to work (at least on most days). There is not that much choice in what I eat or wear (it really depends on whats clean and what I have in the fridge). These daily choices are really not the existential crisis that some critics are making it out to be.
Just as I made a choice to take the job I have now (and made the choice to go to college, accumulate debt, and live in New York City), Tristan has voluntarily signed on to this social experiment. He placed himself in this framework. The difference between me and him, though, is that my daily choices are assumed and I don't really critically think about them. His "choices" will be more obviously be more pronounced. These major choices we make (our jobs, our relationships, etc.) dictate what we end up not actively choosing on a daily basis.
Tristan is certainly no stranger to life events that are beyond his control. In fact, his experiences have probably made him more willing to take control of his own life than most of us are willing to do. Yes, he'll have to do what the audience tells him for six weeks, but this isn't like he is entering into some sort of indentured servitude similar what they have in present day Pakistan and India or accidentally find himself the midst of a rape frenzy in the Congo. Anyone can read the news any day and find hundreds of examples of people with far less choices and control in life than Tristan. Many people do not have the same liberties we have, and I think it's important that we remember that. You'll be able to chose who he dates and what he eats, not whether or not he lives or dies.
Go here to see a short video of Tristan:
http://news.tubefilter.tv/2010/10/05/qa-seth-green-on-his-24-hour-live-interactive-reality-experiment-controltv/
