Happiness and Hoarders

In Sara Ahmed's article "The Happiness Turn" I was most struck by the idea that "the face of happiness ...looks very much like the face of privilege" (9). I have for a while now understood that there are many significant advantages that come along with being privileged by society. However, I always thought of happiness as being attainable for anyone. But of course there are certain milestones that we use to measure happiness that those with privilege can achieve with great ease. 

For example the people profiled in the episode of Hoarders we watched are in a disadvantaged and unprivileged position. Their lower class status prevents them from being able to afford proper medical care for their illness which would presumably help to improve their happiness. The show can be seen as an attempt to improve their happiness in multiple ways. First they are there to help improve their living situation while simultaneously treating their hoarding illness. However, in this particular episode neither participant was really willing to work with the experts provided to them by the show, which led me to question why they would even agree to be on the show. But of course they agreed to be on the show because they were most likely paid for their appearance, which is another way that the show arguably attempts to increase the happiness of the participants. 

Unfortunately, because the show profiles different people in every episode any improvement in the condition of these people's homes or in their lives is most likely only going to be temporary. Once the cameras leave, the resources that the show briefly provided them with disappear as well. The show takes disadvantaged people and briefly puts them into a position of privilege but at the expense of having their very vulnerable moments filmed. And in the end no one leaves any happier.