A rchive Date
[ 07-07-2002 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Mass Media ]
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[http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/editorial/outlook/1484000
We haven't come a long way, baby
By JACQUELYN MITCHARD
July 5, 2002, 6:18PM
Following the stunning ratings success of ABC's The Bachelor, FOX has filmed a distaff version of the show: Looking for Love: Bachelorettes in Alaska. The suffix "ette" means "little," so these hardy young would-be brides are the equivalent of Smurfette, the lone lady among all the `real' Smurfs.
But, folks, it's already clear that it's not the same show.
The show had to go to Alaska, where men vastly outnumber women, in order to find a couple dozen men willing to get married.
Of course, it's all a production device, but it's also a symbol. It's as if it were impossible to find enough marriage-minded men in the lower 48, should they have searched from Natchez to Mobile and Memphis to St. Joe. Translation: Men in Alaska are so desperate for female companionship that they're willing to ... gasp, get married.
But the grooms don't simply hail from Alaska. To be wooed, the women have to go to Alaska, too. Not that Alaska isn't lovely, but didn't The Bachelor have his harem come to him --complete with bikinis, strappy evening gowns and high heels?
High heels wouldn't do the new crew much good. In Alaska they are pictured climbing hills in wedding gowns (very dignified) and doing other hardy things: fishing, hiking and roaming the tundra.
Translation: If you're a bachelor-ette, you're not going to be sipping fine champagne, strolling the Pacific and cavorting in hot tubs. You'll be doing what women have been doing for centuries - what the fellow wants to do.
Engage him in conversation about what he likes, as the old Seventeen magazine dating articles used to advise, and the new Cosmopolitan articles still do (recent quote: "He hates his mother? You hate his mother.")
Why are there five "girls"? That's a psychological symbol, too. It's just too forward to give a single single woman permission to "try out" 21 hardy young males.
But the real kicker of Bachelorettes in Alaska is this: Should the five brides find their true loves, they will not be able to do what famous Alex did and invite the young woman to quit her job, leave her family and move to California (where he resides) to "try out" their relationship by living together.
They will have to move to Alaska.
Whether they hail from New York, Illinois or Cape Cod, they will have to pluck up stakes and head out with their parkas in tow.
As one woman sighed in a promo: "I would move anywhere for love."
Savannah, maybe.
Maui, maybe.
Alaska!?
Where the snow is six feet deep in October and the mosquitoes in June are the size of Airedales?
Of course, it makes perfect sense. A woman could no more ask a man to relocate for her than she could ask him to change his last name upon marriage, even if his surname were Smoot and hers were Gabriella.
Essentially, then, the bachelorettes are the equivalent of mail-order brides.
And do I know anyone - anyone - who would actually do this?
Who would go to Alaska, promise to move there and cavort with the miners, lumberjacks and salmon-wrestlers (some of whom, to be fair, I'm sure are charming)?
Actually, I could throw a stone and hit 10 women I know for sure who would go in a New York second.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Mitchard welcomes readers' responses at mitch@mailbag.com
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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