love is blind: a deep dive

on surveillance, attraction and plato's symposium

Love is Blind, the illustrious Netflix dating show, has made its way to the UK - and I’m entranced. While I abhor reality TV, I am still a hater, and there is no simpler joy than making fun of the 30-something-year-old, desperate singles who spill their life stories out to a wall in hopes of getting engaged within 10 days. It’s simply thrilling.

The British edition of the show is personally my favourite. In the original, the contestants are characters with perfectly airbrushed skin, extreme personalities and penchants for the dramatic. In the most recent version, every single one of the male contestants looks like a guy I would see down the pub on a Thursday. With contestants as unbelievable as Benaiah, the show still seems deeply authentic.

And this - authenticity - is what the show seems to be in search of. Originally printed in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Merchant’s Tale and popularized by William Shakespeare, the phrase love is blind serves an antithesis to the shallow obsession with appearances that fuels dating apps.

Now perceived to mean that true love is fostered regardless of appearance, the phrase was originally intended to carry a similar meaning to the idea rose colored glasses. The concept that love skews your vision of somebody, and drives you to ignore their faults is slightly less idealistic than how we interpret it today.

However, Love is Blind actually has more in common with its namesake than it intends to.

But before I get into it, I need to reference some Plato - bear with me.