Hidden Narratives

A phrase that often runs through my head is "hidden narrative." I'm obsessed with the concept of the stories that go untold, particularly those that run parallel to the stories that are being told. Often times, there are certain aspects that are significant yet not imperative to the overall story that are purposefully neglected. Sometimes it's for brevity, sometime it's for simplicity's sake, and sometimes it's because it just wouldn't be appropriate to give the entire picture.

As a blogger, someone who frequently adopts the role of a story teller, I constantly think in terms of hidden narratives. Since this forum is public for all intents and purposes, I can't necessarily speak freely, even though there are all sorts of hidden narratives that could accompany many of my posts. I'll leave out a lingering sexual tension between the players that makes all the difference. I'll leave out a character altogether since eir presence might get em in trouble with someone else. I'll leave out the heated theatrics that follows an incident, instead cutting off on a funny note. These are aspects that would if not make the stories better, make them more real, but if I want to maintain these friendships, I need to keep their trust on what I publish. (That's not to say I haven't crossed the line in the past or tried my hardest to find a reasonable way to present the hidden narrative.) Truthfully, I'm not just protecting others by hiding certain narratives, but myself, as well. Although I'm fairly candid, there are certain subjects I won't broach in this arena. Occasionally, I'll get questions from friends asking about why I didn't write on a given topic. My response is, "Would you want me to reveal that about you?" or "Would you ever admit that about yourself?" It's not all fit for print.

I think one of the ultimate case studies in the hidden narrative is the CBS television show Big Brother. I've watched this past season between sporadic hiatuses due to disgust and frustration. The show's contestants are especially vile, even as far as reality television participants go. In addition to its nasty people, Big Brother distinguishes itself from similar fare in that it offers 24/7 internet footage of its contestants in the house. While the television show is still heavily edited and manipulated, the raw web video affords the public a rare opportunity to see as close to the true picture as the media allows.

The series finale was the ultimate in hiding narratives. There was a reunion of the players, but everything Anyone who followed what happened on the show via the internet knows that anything worth talking about was never broadcast on the television show. This occurred with reason, I suppose, but the show would have been twenty times better if the best narratives were not concealed.

So on Big Brother there's this crazy girl, Natalie, who fell hard for Matt, a rare breed of asshole. He was openly hostile to her, but she was pathetic enough to tell everyone how much she knew he loved her. In an effort to win him over, Natalie began giving Matt on camera blowjobs. Unsurprisingly, it didn't work: he continued making fun of her to her face, but she kept on giving her gift hoping it would pay off eventually. Watching Natalie at work was nothing short of a captivating train wreck, but of course CBS couldn't air a story line revolving around oral sex.

If Natalie had her own hidden narratives, I would hate to know them, since she seemed overly honest with her past considering it was broadcast to millions of people. Natalie admit to twice having abortions, which was the reason her breasts shrank and she got implants. From these fake breasts and terminated pregnancies, she claims she still regularly lactates. Heh? Anyway, two people, Chelsea and Joshuah, who hated Natalie opted to whip up a concoction of eggs and ketchup to put on Natalie's bed and call it her third abortion in order to taunt her. Thankfully, the show intervened before the plan was carried to term (at least my abortion joke is classier, if you can call it that), but they never called out

By the way, Chelsea and Joshuah were also responsible for suggesting during a verbal altercation that contestant Amanda should go hang herself like her dad. (Her dad had recently commit suicide.) Tasteful. Was this heinous moment discussed on the reunion? No, instead, we see a clip of Joshuah pretending to cry to someone, portraying him as a masterful actor.

The winner of the show, Adam, was the first to make headlines when during the first week on the show, he called the autistic kids he worked with for his job "retards." A public outcry ensued, and Adam was fired from his job, even though he never received the news since he was in the house out of contact with the outside world. After winning the money, he declared he wanted to give some of the money to his Autism organization. The show's host, Julie Chen, never took the opportunity to explain to him that he didn't actually work there anymore, even though it would have been a brilliant television moment. Instead, they swept over the best part yet again.

The best story of all might belong to James, however. James is a free spirit who prior to being on television was bicycling around the world in an effort to, get this, inspire other people to bicycle around the world. Genius! To support himself financially, James appeared in gay pornography. Meanwhile, during the show, James began dating the aforementioned classy lady Chelsea. Again, this topic was too racy to be addressed on the television show, but if only... I guarantee you that within minutes of going off the air, someone pulled an as-yet uninformed Chelsea aside to say, "I think you should know, your boyfriend does gay porn." I would pay to witness this awkward revelation. For the solely television watching sect, however, this narrative will remain hidden.

As a television show, Big Brother was pretty awful this past season. But factoring in the hidden narratives, it might have also been the best show that you never were able to watch.