From George Orwell's dystopian novel, 1984, several new words entered the English lexicon. But nothing has become more prevelant than the ominous reminder, "Big Brother is watching you". In the world of 1984, Big Brother is the all seeing, all knowing leader of the nation of Oceania, who serves as the reminder to the citizens that their every action is being watched. While the real world is not completely devoid of such oversight, the most accepted form of this is Bigg Boss or Big Brother as it is known worldwide. But the show has a curious connection with several other reality TV shows like Deal or No Deal, The Voice and Fear Factor.
All of them were created by John de Mol Jr, a Dutch billionaire and the co-founder of Endemol. de Mol Jr created Big Brother, which aired first in 1999 in the Dutch channel, Veronica. The show later expanded to several European countries, including the United Kingdom, where it was dubbed as "the real life version of The Truman Show".
Very similar to the Niel Armstrong landing on the moon, one year after the release of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Big Brother released a year after Peter Wier's The Truman Show. The film stars Jim Carrey as Truman Burbank, whose entire life is aired as a TV show. Truman later realises that he has spent his whole life on a film set, and through a series of events escape's the set.
But why are people interested in watching other people? What drives audiences to judge the activities of a bunch of strangers they never met before? We find the answer with Dr Sarah Angel, the psychologist who worked with Australian version of Big Brother. Speaking to news.com.au Dr Angel said, " I think ultimately people have a little bit of voyeurism in them. It's human nature to be interested in what people do on a day to day basis. Audiences get attached to the people, they get to know then, they see them develop through the show, they feel like they're involved."
Dr Angel inference can be interpreted this way. In the world of 1984, the existence of Big Brother is disputed. But what remains is that the existing dread within the characters of their every action being watched. Similarly, in real-life, we donot care about a Bigg Boss, until someone within the show toes out of the ethical line, and suddenly it becomes "interesting". Maybe that's why John de Mol Jr became a billionaire, because "humans are voyeurs".
