'Hills' drama draws viewers

Jamie Walden, Staff Columnist
Published On: 10/ 7/2008

Lauren Conrad, star of the MTV reality show “The Hills,” has become the ultimate fixation for the media and those who revel in popular culture.

Not just a fascination, the native of Orange County, Calif., may very well be America’s sweetheart. Why? Sure, she’s pretty and sweet and has an amazing wardrobe; but for most of us watching, L.C.’s glittering Los Angeles lifestyle is both impossible to relate to and seemingly unattainable.

As much as I’d like to envy the blonde beauty with the charmed life to a point of loathing, I simply can’t. And I can’t stop watching every Monday night’s fiasco in a world that I’ve never lived in filled with luxuries I’ve never experienced.
Despite the differences that the average viewer shares with Lauren, some element of her personality or her experiences must contain a hint of something with which we can identify.

Friendship drama? Check. Relationship woes? Sure. Uncertainty about the future? Absolutely!

And while that may be all that the typical twentysomething shares with the reality show darling, maybe it’s just enough. Perhaps it makes it easier to deal with our own day-to-day issues when they are played out before us on television by a woman far more privileged than we are.

Showing Conrad with mascara running down her face because of a fight with Audrina Patridge has an undeniably humanizing effect. The majority of women have been there, for one reason or another. Most women and men alike have felt the sting of betrayal, the excitement of an unfurling relationship and the haze and subsequent headache after one drink too many.

While not educational or even remotely refined, the show and Conrad bring a sparkling, addictive display of a life we don’t live coupled with experiences we do endure.

So, the show continues on; and I refuse to be one bit ashamed that my own very average eyes are glued to the screen.

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