Law Roach might be saving culture on Project Runway
Reality Brain Rot: Project Runway, Big Brother, and RHOM
Thank god for Law Roach on Project Runway this season. What I mean by that is, thank god he’s being a BITCH. More exciting than the return of Heidi Klum has been Law’s abrasive comments on the judging panel. It evokes the era of Michael Kors, when he would gleefully read the contestants’ designs each week. Richard Lawson recently wrote in Vanity Fair that this is a good sign for the future of reality TV, which has taken on far too much saccharine storytelling (now everyone on Survivor is a superfan with a sob story and Jeff Probst has gone on record as hating villains). But for me, I hope it means a shift in culture at large.
I’m thinking of Tobias Hess’ recent Substack post about how pop star interviews have all turned into PR: “These types of interviews, now so central to the pop ecosystem, essentially codify stan culture’s uber-emotional tone, making the weepy sentimentality of super fan discourse the official company line. The normalization of this screaming, crying affect makes it harder for all of us to discuss art as art.”
I’ve never found a problem with being a fan of the person you interview — for the most part, we only interviewed people we loved on Keep It. And I only accept magazine cover story assignments on people I’m genuinely fascinated by. But we never shied away from actually critiquing the subjects we covered in the rest of our episodes, even if it cost us a guest. If you’ve gained a following from being authentic in your tastes and interests, to suddenly praising something just because of proximity to access might not lose you your audience in the immediate (plenty of pop culture “personalities” have accomplished success in doing so). But in the long run, what have you contributed to the cultural conversation? And if artistic merit becomes worse off because of it, what will you ultimately be remembered for?