Steve Braunias: Who on The Bachelorette are putting up walls?

Opinion

COMMENT:

Let us now discuss the state of your walls. Nothing is more important than the state of your walls. Are your walls up? Or are your walls down? You really ought to ask yourself these questions and face up to the truth, because if there's one thing that your happiness depends on, and the happiness, too, of other people already in your life or who you want to be in your life, it's the state of your walls.

Such were the learnings from tonight's episode of The Bachelorette, the reality TV soap opera which opens a window into the emotional lives of men and women in New Zealand. Right now the view from the window is dominated by walls. Almost everyone on the show goes on and on about how they put up emotional walls, which function as masks, as defence mechanisms, as coping systems, but that it doesn't make them happy, in fact it makes them miserable, and all they really want to do is tear down their walls.

Is this the kind of society we're living in these days? Are we afraid, emotionally blocked, screaming for release? Are our cities and streets full of men and women who are hiding behind walls?

So many walls. Tonight's show was wall to wall walls. The 10 bachelors and two hotties who they're pursuing only had one thing on their mind: walls.

"The walls went up," said Bachelor Mike to Hottie Lesina, "and they're not that easy to bring down."

"Are your walls up with everyone," Hottie Lily asked Bachelor Terence, "or just with women?"

Lesina and Lily dedicated themselves to liberating Mike and Terence from their walls. "I can't pick someone who doesn't show me who they are," said Lily. And that's the thing. The object of taking down your walls is to see what's on the other side: yourself.

Terence took down his walls. He liked what he saw, and so did Lily. Mike took down his walls. He liked what he saw, and so did Lesina.

Everyone was gripped with the mania to take down their walls. There was a race to see who could take down their walls the fastest. First on the scene was Bachelor Steve. He took down his walls but he really shouldn't have. Lesina didn't like what she saw, and the guy got voted off.

God almighty. What sort of message was that sending to the nation? As Steve packed his bags, stuffing in his broken heart and the rubble of his emotional walls among his shirts and socks, viewers would have said to themselves (quietly, because it would be terrifying if anyone overheard them), "Well, there you go. Poor old Steve! It doesn't pay to bring down your walls. It doesn't work for everyone. It could actually make things even worse."

All across the nation tonight, men and women were watching The Bachelorette, and fortifying their walls. "Shutting yourself away and feeling afraid isn't exactly ideal," they whispered to themselves, making sure their lips weren't moving just in case, "but it's certainly au currant."

And then they went to the supermarket and raided the shelves for toilet paper and hand sanitisers.