TV

Today, I spent one hour and 20 minutes waiting for the doctor to be ready to see me.
I sat in a chair, in a small air conditioned room, watching afternoon programming on a fuzzy TV.
First, we were treated to a fishing competition between 2 guys that would dive into a river and catch fish in their hands. One guy caught 9 fish in 10 minutes. I was impressed.
Next, we have a report on how men are becoming vain too, as in: like women. Well, that’s not so bad, I thought. But then we spent a long long time watching the same thing about women, in which no compromises were made to portray the nobility of women’s unquestionable quest for physical perfection, including highly scientific processes involving space age contraptions and gels which can cure illnesses like flabby skin and “localized fat”.
Next we see a promising model who went anorexic and then lost all her body hair for six years and is still now in treatment. Her mother, in a powerful moment, tells us that, if she could, she would remove every last hair from her head and put it on her daughter’s. The story is framed as a tragedy, a terribly cruel fate, not in any way a cautionary tale. I felt sorry for the former super-model’s plight, and somewhat compelled to rescue her from her clearly psychotic family, so I guess that is good on the producer of this show.
Next, the kicker: a drag queen walking around a farmers market in the north of Brazil, accompanied by 3 men and 3 women wearing nothing but body paint, each representing a different fruit. They walked around interviewing people with questions such as “Do you think this is ripe?”, “What is your favorite fruit?” and “What would do with this or that fruit if you bought it at a farmers market?”.
There is not much I can write to enhance this, except that I should commend the receptionist at the doctor’s office, for her brave efforts to restraint her giggling.