The Ritual of Dark Play in Brat Camp

Abstract

The Ritual of Dark Play in Brat Camp Katie Anderson Egging (bio) On the television screen an image of a skinny adolescent boy appears. He curls into the fetal position and frantically rocks back and forth on the ground. His pale skin seems illuminated by the night-vision cameras, contrasting with the dark wilderness beyond him. He repeatedly lets out the piercing cry "Mommy!" A viewer just tuning in might think this image would come out of a horror film or from a serial-killer plot in a crime drama. The scene, however, is part of American Broadcast Company's summer 2005 Brat Camp, a show that presented a new twist on reality television. On the program, frustrated parents sent their problem teenagers to Sage Walk, a wilderness camp in Oregon, to be transformed into socially acceptable beings. While the cameras rolled, the nine troubled teens were subjected to strict discipline, long hikes, and mental challenges, interspersed with on-air therapy sessions. Their guides in this process, counselors with "nature" names like Glacier, Mountain Wind, and Boulder, helped the teens cooperate and work through their issues. By the end of the seven episode program all nine teenagers graduated, returning to their families and civilization supposedly transformed with new skills to brave contemporary teen life and adulthood. Not surprisingly, the show has numerous critics. The majority condemn the show for its exploitation of nonconsensual minors: "Adults can freely humiliate themselves however they wish on TV, but the scales should tip differently when minors are involved," Brian Lowry writes for Variety Online (1). Another site of contention is the show's exposure of private therapy sessions. Mark Snow, a writer for about.com, argues, "Therapy is an intensely personal process and deserves the confidentiality accorded by law." Even some viewers express disgust with the show. Posting on an online message board, Rich Jahn declares, "This show is appalling, and it should be taken off the air. The program is exploiting teens who are unwilling participants and have real serious problems." Despite condemnations from critics and viewers alike, the show was a summer hit for ABC, pulling in large numbers of viewers. Brat Camp's debut was the "second most-watched premiere of the summer," averaging 10.4 million viewers for the initial two hour special (Rogers). That week, July 11-17, the show ranked as the fourth most watched program out of all the broadcast networks (Bauder "ABC"). The show remained popular throughout the summer, maintaining a ranking of the seventh most watched program with 8.9 million viewers per episode (Bauder "Crime"). This seemingly conflicting evidence prompts one to question: why did so many people watch this program—what were they getting out of it? Analysis of Brat Camp reveals two underlying reasons for its popularity; first, the show engages viewers in dark play, letting them carry out their hidden desires while in the privacy of their own homes. Secondly, because the show creates an exact replica of an "exoticized" rite of passage, through the play of watching viewers can participate in an American culture enriched with successful rites of passage. Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 1. Brat Camp, ABC Television According to Johan Huizinga, the way people play says something important about them. Play "is a significant function—that is to say, there is some sense to it. In play there is something 'at play' which transcends the immediate needs of life and imparts meaning to the action. All play means something" (Huizinga 1). In his theory of the communication of play, Gregory Bateson analyzes the ways that animals and people "frame" play: "the messages or signals exchanged in play are in a certain sense untrue or not meant; and […] that which is denoted by these signals is nonexistent" (124). Play uses specific words or actions to indicate that one is playing. These words or actions do not necessarily mean what they normally would; they simply provide a frame for the play, letting everyone involved know that play is happening. Not all play, [End Page 57] however, has clear frames. Bateson writes that in some instances, "there may be no explicit verbal reference to the frame, and...