Don't Quote Me: House of Hatred (page 2)
by Kim Ficera, November 1, 2006
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While watching the first episode of House of Hatred, it quickly became clear that the guests attempting to “break down the walls of hatred” in the house are better suited to throw each other through them — over and over and over again. They are a crude and socially inept bunch, and together don't possess the communication skills of a first-grader. But they want to change, every single one of them, and they hope Dr. Phil can deliver.
It didn't start out well for them, though.
Behind the walls of his habitat of inhumanity, Dr. Phil immediately behaved more like Dr. Frankenstein than the reasonable man I once admired. He took the worst parts of six real people and created a monster that he claims is “a groundbreaking social experiment.”
Holy Karl Rove, that's enticing spin! But I don't buy it. As the doctor so often says, “That dog don't hunt.”
While I'm sure that Dr. Phil intends to help these folks attempt to overcome their bigotry and will eventually provide them with enough Dr. Philisms to last a lifetime, he first exploits them by creating an atmosphere so unreal that not one of them would ever find themselves in a similar situation in their daily lives. And in that sense, his social-science project looks an awful lot like abuse to me.
It's true that every so often ignorant people with severe prejudices challenge some of us, but have you ever been confronted by a racist, a homophobe, an unsanitary obese person, a mean and selfish skinny person, and a hetero-hater, all at once? I haven't, and unless I'm invited to the House of Hatred, I doubt I ever will.
Episode 1 was, as a result of the doctor's manipulation, more freak show than therapy. It was so contrived that I'm surprised his wife Robin didn't show up to introduce the housemates to new roomies: Flavor Flav, the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, Mimi from Work Out and the entire cast of The Biggest Loser.
Shortly after arriving at the house, the guests were forced to listen to one another's excessively dramatic “confessions” about their prejudices, and then told to room with the person they dislike the most. Later, each is given the task of cleaning his or her roommate's belongings.
As you might have guessed, the result was not a warm and fuzzy group hug, but rather numerous and extremely heated encounters that not only infuriated the doctor, but also appeared to confound him.
The doctor's frustration made for entertaining TV, but it didn't make much sense. The hostile environment that he designed for his guests is a playground for sociopaths. Of course people without social skills will behave badly under those circumstances! How could they not when they're deliberately denied the tools to get well?
Leave it to a TV shrink to complicate a no-brainer.
While watching Episode 1 of House of Hatred, it was at first easy to ignore that the housemates are real people with fears and desires, not lab rats. With the exception of Tessa, who showed that she's capable of a great deal of restraint and empathy, the mates are extremely unlikable characters.
Clever editing allowed the viewer to look past the gore of Dr. Phil's slumber party from Hell, beyond the obvious human pain and negligence, and not demand immediately: Since when is the Doctor in the business of experimenting with people who clearly have serious social problems? Since when does he think a problem is more entertaining than the solution is valuable? Yes, I trusted that he had the best interests of his guests at heart.
Like a fly on a wall, I looked over Dr. Phil's shoulder as he witnessed the housemates verbally and mentally abuse one another to the point of rage and tears. Far away from them, he watched their bad behavior on a monitor, shook his head and commented on their actions, saying in essence, “Hey, look how defective these people are!”
And I nodded. Yep, they're a mess, all right.
