I’ll admit it…I have long been intrigued by The Hills on MTV. The other morning I watched two episodes online. I’m not sure what it is about this show that makes me want to watch it. The soft lighting. The beautiful people with money and no real problems. They don’t do much of anything except sit and drink alcohol, sit and drink coffee, sit and eat and just SIT. They do go to work where they get to talk about their problems.

However, there is this interesting notion at play here, platonic friendship as serious (and perhaps romantic) relationship. On one of the clips I watched, one of the main characters, Heidi, decides against moving in with her boyfriend because she has hit a rough patch with her female best friend and roomate Lauren and wants to work things out with her.

On one of the leadin’s for the show, the voice over says that a guy “broke up” with his best friend after having a fight. Hmmm.

And even wikipedia joins in. A snippet from their page about the character Heidi:

Season two of The Hills (which aired from January through April of 2007) focused on Montag’s relationship with Pratt and its effect on her friendships with Conrad and their friend Audrina Patridge.^[8] On The Hills’ season two finale, Montag moved out of her apartment with steady roommate Conrad to live with Pratt .

I’ve never heard of the term “steady roommate” even in reference to shows like Laverne & Shirley and Friends, where the idea of steady roommate existed. The Hills is an example of how pop culture affects reality. Reality tv is the perfect hybrid of real meets fake, where personality stars thrive.

I know of plenty of friends who live together and then one moves out due to a new relationship, relocation or just because they needed to move on. It’s certainly interesting that The Hills is playing with same gendered friendships as relationships and almost applies a bit of 19th century romantic love ideology to it.

I recently rewatched this season’s first episode. As the big confrontation between ex best friends Lauren and Heidi came up, it seemed as though Lauren was looking at Heidi as a jealous ex lover, not a friendship gone awry. No, I’m not saying they’re in love, but I am saying in this tv show, platonic same sex friendships are the ideal, not having a boyfriend.