Big brother is based on George Orwell's nineteen eighty four from Endemol, a company that has made other hit shows like "Hot in Cleveland", "Deal or No Deal". Big brother is an omniscient eye, a persona that sees everything. The show, "Big Brother's" successs can be attributed to certain qualities.
- Anonymity: the idea of anonymity adds the thrill to the show. We all are made to believe that this person who sees everything in the house cannot himself be seen.
- Masculinity: have you ever wondered what would happen if the big brother voice is less masculine or even feminine? The desired effect the voice adds to the show rests so much in our subconscious that so many of us do not even know how it affects us.
- Familiarity: by bringing this show to our doorstep, it makes us feel important. Also, the voice of each region assumes the accent of that region thus making it more believable.
The big brother is more psychological than many of us believe. The big brother is not a person but a group of people, who sit and bring ideas to the table, who tap into our minds and yet make us feel like we're in control. This write-up is not to "bad-mouth" big brother, 'cause that will be highly hypocritical of me since i watch the show too, sometimes. These people understand how the human mind works. By keeping people in a controlled environment for that length of time, we see all of the person. They create characters for the housemates thus unleashing their alter ego e.g Sandra asogwa becomes Alex . We all can be mad, what keeps us sane sometimes is our privacy, since people can't see us at our lowest point, they still respect us. The "in-house" effect as I'll like to call it also make us feel like we are involved in their lives, the technique that other shows such as "keeping up with the Kardashians" also employ.
Big brother is more of the show than the reality. It is an elaborate mind game that makes us love the housemates enough to give our money to them, be indifferent enough to believe in the voting process that someone else voted more than we did and hate them enough to attack at the airport. The dress-up, eviction, tasks, voting gives us the control that big brother never relinquished. The curiosity for new viewers, the mature content for old ones, the thrill, the drama keeps us glued to our screens thus exercising control over us. The wait before the next ones also adds a sort of suspence in anticipation of the one to come. Big brother ultimately decides and at this point we realise "we are nothing but pawns in the hands of big brother" and still watch the next ones. Image credit: Google images