Rob DeCamp / TLC
The day’s biggest questions answered by the people who actually know WTF they’re talking about.
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Why would someone participate in this carnival of depravity? And why do I love it? To gain a little more insight, I spoke with psychoanalyst Michael Scheman, who offered his expert opinion with the major caveat that without actually speaking to any of these contestants, their true motives would remain unknowable. “Are these men really interested in older women?” Scheman asked. “Are these women genuinely interested in dating a man who's 25? Or is the idea of being on TV and getting paid for it too good to pass up?” Tough to say, but, you know… we can still hazard a few guesses into what’s going on beneath MILF Manor’s tight and shiny surface.VICE: So, what do you already know about MILF Manor? In preparation for this, I watched a couple of clips of the show—I didn't know it existed, so I'm super new to the whole notion of it. It must have been their initial reveal—the guy's like, “Oh, my God, is that my mom?” And then, a montage clip where it was various guys talking about the moms and vice versa. My impression was: “Oh boy, some people just really are desperate to be on TV.” [laughs] Yeah. No judgment—people do television for all sorts of reasons. But this seems like a particularly egregious concept to agree to. You have to sort of ask yourself, what is it that makes someone want to do something like this?
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I don't know if there are such things as “cougar bars,” for example, but if you went into a cougar bar, I think you'd see a very different dynamic than you do on a show like this. The question is kind of less about Freud and more about toxic narcissism. What does it take to say, “I want to do this in front of the whole country, in front of whoever's watching the show.” They're also—let's face it—none of these people are good enough actors to really pull off the idea that this isn't also scripted, or at least outlined. That makes sense—but do you think there could still be a degree of reality?“The question is kind of less about Freud and more about toxic narcissism.”
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