My Strange Addiction and the Other

My Strange Addiction and the Other

TLC is known for its reality shows, especially those that go beyond what are considered normal by society’s standpoints. The reason they have been so successful in doing this however is because viewers get enjoyment from seeing something that is so “other” that it has the effect of making the viewers feel more normal. My Strange Addiction is no different. Starting in 2010 the reality show has been on air for 6 seasons, following people who have very strange addictions and trying to help them come to terms with their addiction and seek help (IMDb). Not every person featured on the show is seeking help with their addiction, however, even if society thinks that what they are doing is strange and wrong. Just as Foucault theorized, society has its own set of rules that must be followed in order for it to function, and each citizen is watching one another to make sure they everyone stays in line. My Strange Addiction is an example of society taking control of the outliers and surveilling them in order to bring them back into the societal norms.

 In this particular episode entitled, “Pony Play/Addicted to Drinking Paint”, there are two women featured, each with their own “strange addiction”. The first woman, a 31 year old named Nicole who has been addicted to pony play for 20 years. Pony Play is a type of costume play that incorporates dressing like a horse and acting out different equestrian activities. 

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Heather a 43-year-old single mother is the second woman featured. Heather has been addicted to eating paint for three years, following the death of her mother. As part of the episode the addicts come clean about their addiction to someone close to them. As is expected the addicts friends and families are off-put by their addictions. When Nicole’s Aunt Val saw Nicole in her pony play costume, her reaction was one of great surprise, “Its like looking at the joker… it just seems very unnatural” (My Strange Addiction). However Aunt Val does eventually “accept” Nicole for her differences. However it is obvious that she thinks that what Nicole is doing is very odd to say the least. However Nicole made it very clear that she did not want to change. The opposite is true for Heather, who is addicted to paint. Now for someone with a weak stomach this was not easy to watch. “As it’s going down your throat it feels very nice and warm, almost like a thicker version of warm milk. But obviously it’s got that very strong chemical taste to it, which is perfect to me” (My Strange Addiction). Heather drinks paint every day, usually in the form of a paint marker. When Heather talks to her friend Stephanie, she is obviously very nervous to hear what her friend is going to say. This stems from the fact that Heather feels that what she is doing is wrong by society’s standards which is why she has not been open about her addiction. Stephanie is incredulous when she hears about Heather’s addiction, but she is also concerned about Heather’s health and what will happen to Heather’s children if Heather continues her addiction.

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These women opened their lives to be surveilled by not only the show but also the viewers. This kind of surveillance is key to the success of these shows. Society functions upon the idea of surveillance, and in this case it is the viewers and the families of the addicts who make the addicts see that their behavior is “other” and therefore they need to conform to fit in with society. Each of the two women accepts that their behavior is counter to societal standards, and at least in Heather’s case she wishes to change in order to be more accepted by society. Foucault is best known for his writings about disciplinary societies and panopticon societies, "He who is subjected to a field of visibility, and who knows it, assumes responsibility for the constraints of power; he makes them play spontaneously upon himself; he inscribes in himself the power relation in which he simultaneously plays both roles; he becomes the principle of his own subjection" (Felluga). This refers to the panopticon prison, where there is a guard tower in the center and the prisoner’s cells are circled around the tower. In this system the prisoners to not know when they are being watched but because the threat is always out there they fall into line and behave. The behavior of the subjects in this episode of My Strange Addiction falls right in line with his idea of governmentality. In the concept of governmentality there is a great degree of “proliferation and diffusion of the everyday techniques through which individuals and populations are expected to reflect upon, work on and organize their lives and themselves as an implicit condition of their citizenship ... techniques of governmentality are circulated in a highly dispersed fashion by social and cultural intermediaries and the institutions” (Oulette, Hay 473). Today’s society places a lot of emphasis on staying within the status quo. Therefore when people do not conform they are considered to be other. In shows like My Strange Addiction they parade those who are considered to be strange and abnormal across our television screens, making those who fit in to societal norms feel as though they are even more secured in their positions, as “normal people”.  Those portrayed in the show are policed by their family and friends, they are telling them that they must conform in order to fit in and be “healthy and happy.” We as people belonging to society are conditioned to think that being a part of the status quo will bring us peace and happiness because they it was is portrayed to us in the media. However when people step out of these lines they are punished by society until they once again conform.

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My Strange Addiction is an interesting social experiment. For the viewing audience, it is a way to make them feel more at ease with their life situations, because their problems are not as strange as those being portrayed on TV. However for those who are participating in the TV show, they are being put under surveillance by the TV shows as well as their own friends and family. Their secret addictions are being made public and they must come to terms with their addictions and either choose to conform to society where they are promised a better life than the one they are leading, or they can continue with the behavior that is abhorrent to the society at large. Foucault wrote about situations just like this, where ordinary citizens begin to police each other making sure everyone capitulates to societal rule. If people did not police one another however, society may fall apart completely. My Strange Addiction is just one example of people taking control of individual’s strange behavior in order to bring them back in to the fold of society through surveillance and punishment.

Works Cited

Felluga, Dino. "Modules on Foucault: On Panoptic and Carceral Society." Introductory Guide to Critical Theory. Date of last update, which you can find on the home page. Purdue U. 09 May 2016.

IMDb. "My Strange Addiction." IMDb. IMDb.com. Web. 09 May 2016.

Ouellette, Laurie, and James Hay. "Makeover Television, Governmentality and the Good             Citizen." Journal of Media & Cultural Studies 22.4 (2008): 471-84. Web. 9 May 2016.

"Pony Play/Addicted to Drinking Paint." My Strange Addiction. TLC. 31 Dec. 2013. HULU.        Web. 9 May 2016.