Chad from The Bachelorette Gets a Talking To
Like any great work of literature, The Bachelor and The Bachelorette always have a villain. This week, the primary antagonist of JoJo Fletchers season took up that mantle with gusto: Meet Chad, a 28-year-old luxury real estate agent who hails from Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Chad, or at least the version of Chad thats been edited for our TV screens, is a d**k. But the very nature of his dickishness raises fascinating questions about how men should behave.
Chad briefly appeared in the seasons premiere episode, but not so briefly that he couldnt find the time to raise approximately 1,000 red flags. If I wanted her, Ill have her, he said in a confessional interview. Thats the kind of sweet talk you expect to hear from a man with a long, curly mustache whos about to tie a damsel to a railroad track. He reserved his negging A-game for JoJo, pointing out that her confidence makes her special, unlike ~other~ women (yuck!): Normally girls are so worried about themselves, and its obvious to me and everybody else that you dont worry about yourself. Youre good.
On last nights episode, Chad got nearly as much screentime as the Bachelorette herself. He is reality TVs answer to Gaston, a man with a capital M, and a capital A, andwhy not?a capital N for good measure. Stuck at home while JoJo is away on a group date, the other men look on, in amusement and in awe, as Chad does pull-ups on the side of the mansion, his suitcase chained around his waist for an extra challenge.
Chad is not exactly Mr. Congeniality, which is to say that his fellow contestants loathe him. As they write and perform a song in their collective sort-of-girlfriends honor, Chadmunching on a steak while they rehearsechides them for being obsessed with JoJo already, and really, we dont know anything about her. He characterizes himself as a real man, whereas each of the other contestants is a childish boy.
Chads brain is as full of troubling opinions about gender relations as his mouth is full of meat. As he tells Daniel, seemingly the only other contestant who wants anything to do with him, I always warn girls. I always say, Stay away from the nice guys. people think Im an a*****e, but in the end, Im actually nice.
Later, Chad and five other men are whisked away on a second group date to the ESPN studio where SportsNation is taped. Prove your love to me, and the nation, instructs the date card, but our boy man Chad isnt feeling it.
On the date, the men are challenged to spin around on a bat ten times, then stagger over to JoJo and dizzily propose on one knee. The other men dont hold back with their affections (Alex declares that this is the best day of his life, which, okay), but Chad simply asks, Will you marry me?
When JoJo questions why, unlike his competition, he didnt say what he loves about her, Chad does not bend. Starting off a little naggy here, he tells her, to the audible horror of everyone assembled. If Im getting nagged, Im going to say something.
Later, in an ESPN press conference, he defends his position (if not his use of the word naggy) with a surprisingly rational argument:
If youre going to ask me to tell you all the things I love about you, I dont know yet Yall dont know her yet. You cant be in love with her. If you are, thats weird. And whats to stop you from falling in love with the next girl that immediately walks up?
Chad may be an irredeemable douchebag, but that doesnt mean he doesnt have a point. When he insists the other men are fake and sucking up, hes not wrong. That song? Look, that song was corny as all h**l. And most adults who arent characters in a rom-com would agree that there is something distinctly off about professing your love for somebody you literally just met two days ago.
The Bachelorette is only nominally a reality show. Even if the men arent doing so consciously, they are faking it. Theyve been influenced by the well-established dynamics and tropes of the franchise to perform the role of JoJos perfect softboy suitor. And Chad, for his part, is having none of it. His presence in the house is an unmistakably subversive one. When the men who werent chosen for a date this week sit around mopingas is customaryhe swiftly punctures their disappointment: Youve gone your entire life without her. You can chill.
Chads entire purpose on the show seems to be breakingor at least doing pushups againstthe fairytale fourth wall. Even his appetite has this effect: That steak wasnt an isolated incident. The Bachelor is notorious for never showing anyone eating, with gorgeous food routinely going untouched on dates. But Chad isnt here to make friends. Hes here to make snacks. Shot after shot is devoted to Chad loading up plates with deli meats and happily stuffing his face. Its yet another way for the producers to code him as not only crass and boorish, but unwilling to adhere to the unwritten rules of love in the Bachelor mansionjust as he further alienates himself from the other men when he sneaks away to steal some time with JoJo when she first arrives for their cocktail party.
At the end of the night, Chad gets a rose, meaning h**l survive another week. [Hes] honest, upfront, I like that about him, JoJo says, though she acknowledges that he might be too much.
But on The Bachelorette, there is no such thing as too much of a bad thing. Theres no question that Chads brand of aggressive masculinity is toxic, butby virtue of his off-putting radical honestyhe draws the inauthentic, saccharine sensitivity that the rest of the men are selling into sharp relief. This disconnect may be exactly what they find so infuriating about him: He isnt conforming to the nice guys narrative (see: previous Bachelor Ben Higgins) theyve been taught they must buy into in order to win.
Chad is sexist, sure, and hes rude as h**l. But the truth is that every other man in that house is playing a part just as much as he is. A rose is a rose is a rose: Is there really that much of a difference?
Source: http://fusion.net/story/307954/chad-bachelorette-contestant/
