From MTV Cribs to The Bachelor Mansion: what reality TV homes reveal about viewers

"I'm interested in what reality TV show homes represent, and why so many of us love getting lost in them. On screen, they become appendages of our own homes. In compact passages, Dream Facades moves deftly beyond the expected critiques of suburban homogeneity and American consumerism."

"In the case of the Kardashians, Morley writes that their modern farmhouse has its roots in Hidden Hills, north of Los Angeles. It is an equestrian community, so it has a real connection to the mythos of how Anglos settled the American western frontier. He connects the self-reliance of the frontier to its contemporary mutation: the entrepreneur."

"Residential settings and takes us through these histories, reflecting on how homes and design in reality shows are at once aspirational escapism, sinister characters, extensions of our own desires, and artifacts of American urban history."

Reality television has centered on houses since the 1980s, evolving from Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous through MTV Cribs to contemporary shows like Keeping up with the Kardashians. These residential settings serve multiple functions: aspirational escapism, cultural artifacts, and extensions of viewers' own desires. Jack Balderrama Morley's book Dream Facades examines how reality TV homes reflect American history and values. The Kardashians' modern farmhouse connects to frontier mythology and contemporary entrepreneurship, while properties like Chateau Sheree, built during the 2007 mortgage crisis, represent mediated homeownership struggles. Reality TV homes become appendages of viewers' own homes, revealing both consumer desires and deeper cultural narratives about success and settlement.

Read at www.theguardian.com