Blog 5: Breaking Amish, an Appalachian Exploitation

    In general, I'm not big fan of "Reality Television." I've taken a few classes on documentary film, and have even worked on a couple myself, and therefore know enough to postulate that few, if any, filmic representations are fully "real." Even within the realm of cinéma vérité docs, such as Barbara Kopple's academy award winning film "Harlan County, USA," there are always issues of truth. Any piece of footage which is "edited" thereby surrenders it's contextual complexity in favor of a narrative arc, which we refer to as "writing the doc". Often, contributors will be credited as "co-director" or "co-writer," in addition to "editor," as the process of shaping footage into documentary is so creativity-based. Filmmakers like to refer to editing as "discovering" the documentary, much like how Michelangelo explained sculpting; but what gets lost in the pile of gravel that's been chiseled away?

    As I've written in many of my blogs, my family farm is located near the heart of the largest Amish population in the world. The Amish I've known have always been neighborly, hardworking, and fair, and yet I find aspects of their culture oppressive, and even cruel. This duality persists, in my mind, due to the secrecy and isolation of their culture, one which relies on the threat of "shunning" as a means of dissuading defection. I believe that the rituals and practices that define the Amish lifestyle have both merits and deficiencies, and that the community's lack of transparency falls into the latter category. For this reason, I became extremely interested in TLC's "Breaking Amish" from the moment I first saw it advertised. Even better, one of the show's subjects, Jeremiah, grew up just a few miles from our farm.

    The Amish and Mennonite men and women of "Breaking Amish" have much to share with us. We experience with them their first airplane rides, their first hotel rooms, and their first time eating Sushi. From abhorrent dentistry to old world chauvinism, and even as far as bestiality, these kids air all of the dirty laundry they can think of. Between the elongated reaction shots, the intense mood music, and the frequent "next up" montage advertisements built into the episodes, the work feels very handled. The editors' method of presentation relies heavily on heightened suspense and the guttural "awkwardness" feeling you get when you watch someone embarrass themselves. It's effective, in that it keeps the viewer engaged with the characters, and, therefore, the commercial breaks, but it's also hard to swallow.

Reality TV Gossip: Is Breaking Amish Fake? 

    Entertaining as it may be, "Breaking Amish" is a difficult series to regard as "genuine." The exploratory essay I wrote details my understanding of the subjects' naiveté, biases, and truthfulness, as well their network exploitation. There were many skeptical online blogs, and even a few local investigative news reports, leading up to the 90 minute reunion special in which all of the "myths" of the show were finally debunked. Apart from the identity of Rebecca's child's father, the only remaining question is: what's next? They're clearly shunned from returning home, but are also, quite suddenly, internationally famous! What semblance of a normal life will they be able to salvage after this? And, now that the success of this show has almost guaranteed TLC will produce additional seasons, where, if ever, will it end?