Dozens of protesters turned out last week to rise up and show that this city wasn't taking this act lying down. They stood in solidarity, chanting and trying to prove that a thing like this wouldn't happen here. Such a heinous act could not be tolerated in Philadelphia and, dammit, one way or another, things were going to change!
Yes, The Real World had pulled out of Philadelphia. But thanks to the resolve and dedication of these protesters, two days ago the city and the producers made a deal, and in about three weeks shooting will begin.
Terms haven't been disclosed, but apparently the city and the unions -- who had been picketing for the production team's use of non-union labor -- are both happy about it.
It seems like the company MTV subcontracted to shoot the 15th season of the reality show, Bunim-Murray Productions, had a wild change of heart and decided that they weren't going to relocate. Or maybe it was just a bargaining ploy to get the picketers off their backs. (Big wink.)
It's kind of disappointing that the show is coming back because some of the reactions people had to the city's loss of a cable TV show were pretty hilarious.
"For people my age, having Real World film here was even bigger than the X Games. From an emotional point of view, anyway, it was much, much bigger," Jon Hermann told the Philadelphia Daily News. "For us, it's bigger even than the Sixers. It's bigger than the Eagles. I just can't explain how depressed and angry everyone is about it."
"There's just a lot of things that go wrong in the city, and the unions seem to be at the root of most of it," Katherine Ott Lovell said to the DN. "I think our elected officials should be really upset about this. They should be out here begging MTV to come back."
I'll pause while you take that all in.
Done? OK, good. Now, nothing against those who were up in arms about the whole fiasco -- I'm sure they're sincere -- but this whole yuppie anger thing seems a bit overdone. Yes, it's a good thing that the show was back, but why does the city need it, anyway? While it'd be a nice boost, it wouldn't be the end of the world if The Real World didn't shoot here.
Bunim-Murray even cited a group called Young Involved Philadelphia as instrumental in bringing the show back to Philadelphia after they helped stage protests. (Even bigger wink.) This is what being young and involved means? Yikes.
I got the reasoning behind the anger. This whole scenario is an "epidemic" of the city, as has been repeated again and again. But aren't there better battles?
The show leaving town wasn't even that huge of a deal. Sure, Old City bar and club owners would be excited to get on TV, but most people seem to be obsessed with improving Philadelphia's "cool factor."
Please. The only cool thing in Philadelphia is Rita's Water Ice. Does the city really need to be vindicated as "cool" by a television show on MTV? The whining that the city's not going to be on MTV is most certainly, um, uncool.
And it's just The Real World. It's just MTV. After all, this season's San Diego locale featured an arrest of a cast member for a barroom brawl and a rape allegation. Yes, this is surely the show that Philadelphia needs to regain its "cool factor."
Still, it's a little disconcerting. Every time Philadelphia seems to get something, well, cool, somehow things get screwy. The X Games were greeted with a Love Park renovation that effectively closed the skateboard mecca. A supposed-to-be-fun Mardi Gras celebration in 2001 on South Street was turned sour by drunken looters and rioters. You know the stories.
The Real World is back, but the city's image has naturally taken another hit. And so has the image of big-city unions.
The majority of the anger at The Real World's departure has been directed at the unions picketing, with much begging for The Real World to come back. People were defending the company for pulling out. Excuse me? When did media giant MTV/Viacom become a champion of the free market?
Bunim-Murray Productions had to know what was going to happen. Using a non-union firm like Apple Construction, which has a lot of bad blood with the union firms, was going to get the set/house protested.
The problem is, of course, that Apple Construction has every right to do their work, even if it is non-union. But the unions can protest if they want. They're looking out for their own interests.
Unions were born out of a time in America when workers faced double-digit-hour days for little pay. Unions made things fair for workers who would have been exploited otherwise. And while people aren't quite working 16 hours a day in mines anymore, the union is still an important protection for workers today.
Unions do have bad sides to them, but they're tremendously important for the well-being of workers. If citizens think that a union's abusing its power, they should fight against it.
But in this case, Philadelphia union workers were just looking out for their best interests. The union's interests sometimes might not be the same as the city's.
Battles like this are a part of city life. It's just what you have to deal with in order to be considered cool, I guess.
Daniel McQuade is a senior English major from Philadelphia, Pa., and former 34th Street managing editor. Lone Wolf McQuade appears on Thursdays.
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