Princess Charming

这期节目，我与烂木头畅聊了点燃这个夏天的德国拉拉真人秀相亲节目——《白马公主》，我们聊到“公主”何以成为公主、不同性格的选手、节目的意义、甄选流程、规则，比对英国真人秀《爱之岛》（Love Island）与《白马公主》的异同，还有那些我们大为震撼、深受感动、有被雷到的桥段，以及下一季的海选指南。

在聊天过程中，我们也了解到自己的思维盲区，以及不为自己所了解的“保守”一面，也让我们思考自己的观点是否是从直人审美中心主义出发的，认识到在如何更open-minded地了解世界的多元上，还有很长的路要走。

Hallo! Wie geht's? ;)
In this episode, Lassie and I talk about 'Princess Charming', a German reality TV show that features a lady lead who is looking for the - wait for it- Princess in her life. This is the first lesbian dating show we've watched and we are obsessed with it!!
We talk about what we love about the show, the girls, and what this show could improve in its second season (yeah). We point out that both Irina and the girl she finally picks may be a conscious choice, as the show endeavors to showcase a positive image of the lesbian community. Having said that, we don't doubt there is genuine emotion/affection between Irina and the girls, we are just questioning if 'representation' is a valid mission for a dating show, as courting can be lengthy, messy, and ambiguous. What if the lover is imperfect, what if the audience doesn't love the winner – will that make a difference? When we speak about raising visibility, is it a curated visibility we are referring to?

When playing back the recording, I did notice that we've been conservative, especially when it comes to the talk about a possible bisexual lady lead. I've been thinking about our disagreement with a drama-filled courtship between the participants (rather than one between the lead lady and the participants), and I noticed that that may be one of the queerest parts of a queer romance: in the end, it is not a black-and-white situation as you are likely to fall in love with those who you are supposed to 'compete with'. I thought about if our perception of an 'orderly courtship' is a product of straight-centrism and whether what is thought to be natural is, in effect, one of the many cultural constructs?

I suppose that's one of the things I am trying to do through podcasting: every episode is an attempt of spelling 'nuance' – to speak out what I love and what I dislike, to spell out what is great and what doesn't sound about right. It is only by trying to 'spell nuance' that I am able to see the nuances and difficulty of the process and, by doing that, to review what I have been taken for granted and what I have been overlooked.

Every (sometimes failed) attempt is, nonetheless, a good attempt.

Oh. If there's one thing I learnt from Princess Charming, that is: being single is NOT being vulnerable. After all, it's a show of 21 single girls, and it's wonderful.

02:40 The Real L Word, a lesbian reality TV show (focus more on life; documentary-like)
03:36 Princess Charming cast: every girl shines!
05:55 Princess Charming introduction
08:25 Originally, PC plans to have a bisexual woman as its lead
12:25 Love Island goals: love and money
16:13 Discussions about the show: mission of this program; intention of the participants; why Irina is天菜
30:10 The representation effort: good or problematic?
33:42 Common attributes of Irina and [spoiler alert] and the all the participants that we like and dislike
45:14 The one who impresses us the most (this part is golden! Please listen! Including Lassie's introduction of 相约星期六, a local dating reality show, and the part which moves us both the most)
52:40 Find love interest thanks to this show (and how 相约星期六 tied the knot for a friend of Lassie)
01:04:10 Then, the Princess and the Princess lived happily ever after… or? Lassie introduces Drawbridging Effect/Misattribution of arousal/吊桥效应.

Music
Good as Hell by Lizzo

Lassie is the co-host of Rotten Cherry (search 一车烂话), a talk-show which you can find on almost any podcast platform. Go give them a follow!