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Why do we love and hate the way life is portrayed on Terrace House?

There’s a great ideal that we think of when we watch Terrace House.

For those who have not been exposed to it yet, Terrace House is a Japanese Reality TV show, where a total of six guests live together. A beautiful house, and beautiful cars are provided. It is a combination of three guys, and three girls. There is no script. This is clearly stated at the start of every episode, and the houses they live in really are beautiful.

The guests are known as “members” of the house. Each member has a certain lifestyle, and most of the time, they have unique quirks that make them either very approachable, or just leaves you wondering why and how they got onto the show. There is no monetary awards, it is just the plain experience of living together with other people. Members usually come in with an objective of some sort. The most common one is to find love, or a partner. Another one is to become famous, or more honed in their craft. After the member reaches that objective, they can either stay on for a new reason, or leave, “graduate”.

We like it because I think we try to find our own parallels to life. We think our own lives are similar in some way. Perhaps it’s a tool for us to be more aware of who we are as people, and what we hope for ourselves to do.

And yet, when shows like Terrace House are revealed to be scripted, we are saddened, and question the point of a reality TV show that isn’t real. But at the same time, we know our own lives are not that dramatic. We know that we watch that show because it seems to be this dream state. And when it is proven as it is a dream, we hate it. We are offended by that lie told by the producers of the show.

But we knew from the start, that that’s not what our own lives are. We knew that it was going to be a better version of our lives, and not our life on screen for sure. Because who would want to watch our own lives on screen right? What’s the point of that?

And yet, we hope and looked at Terrace House with anticipation. Maybe this group of people would have it better than us “naturally”. But it turned out not to be that way. And we’re disappointed.

So we go back to our Korean Dramas, because at least there we know we don’t have to carry hope. We know that it’s just fiction, and nothing there is real. But Terrace House, sigh, how you teased us.

Thank you for all the memories. I really enjoyed hoping, and dreaming that life would possibly be the crazy dream that you showed. Otsukaresama deshita.

Every year, around this time, I’m reminded that I have a website, and that i should totally utilize it a lot more than I have been so far.

This doesn’t mean that I don’t know that i don’t use it, I know that I don’t use it. And i feel horrible that i just don’t post here as often.

So I’m scheduling a bunch of posts based on some thoughts I’ve been having and I’ll just leave them here until I’m somewhere coherent with how it will turn out.

Referenced from my instagram post, about the freedom where the spirit of the Lord is:

Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some, letters of commendation to you or from you? You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

Such confidence we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

But if the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was, how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory? For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory. For indeed what had glory, in this case has no glory because of the glory that surpasses it. For if that which fades away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory.

Therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech, and are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading away. But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart; but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. 

(2 Corinthians 3:1-18, NASB)
Context of Moses: 

Moses was the leader of the Israelite people during the years in the desert after they left Egypt. He received the 10 commandments from God, atop Mount Sinai. After spending 40 days on the mountain, with God, Moses came down glowing, radiating the glory of God. He was shining and the people were afraid to approach him, so he wore a veil as he talked to them. 

Read through exodus 19-34 for a rough idea, or those two chapters to understand the place as whole. 

Easy link right HERE – bible gateway