America has changed. Male and female roles have changed. Romantic, marital and sexual motivations have changed. I realize things began changing big time 30 to 40 years ago but you just saw the reality-televised crystallization of that change during the Finale of DeAnna Pappas' role as The Bachelorette on ABC.

By David W. Taylor (Email The Author)
Reality Reel Media
07.10.08

Ms. Pappas came onto the show as the jilted bride-to-be of The Bachelor contender Brad Womack. Brad jettisoned both of his two final Bachelorettes, including DeAnna, and decided to end the show just as he began it — befuddled and single. Which is much better, one supposes, than being befuddled and engaged. Nevertheless, Brad became an instant cad.

From the start of this Pappas Edition of The Bachelorette to the gasping and groovy ending, we heard the "Brad thing" being mentioned about a gazillion times. Everyone from DeAnna to her dad, to her sister, Krissy, and even some of the unlucky Bachelors, talked about this rump-like incarnation of satan who led DeAnna into the throes of romantic sorcery and then dumped her.

Yet by the end of the current Bachelorette Season, DeAnna was hailing Mr. Womack as a sort-of saint in disguise; and in some corners of her heart she oozes some small whiffs of compassion. DeAnna now sees the Master Plan behind the icy shoulder: the crummy old-school oaf Brad breaks her traditionalist heart; she emerges as a Phoenix from the ashes and finds out that she is no longer that simple Greek girl from the state of Georgia that merely wants a caring husband and a throng of giggling children.

Now DeAnna wants it "all." She wants a Rock Star life. Marriage, children, surely, likely, like sometime later, perhaps, but also way important is "excitement" and "adventure." Or, as Jesse might say, a life that is "rad" and an existence that is all about being yourself (read: pink shoelaces) and about being able to "rock it out!" (And don't forget those necessary and marvelous exploding hand-pops.) And you thought these was the idioms of a 15-year-old?

So while Jesse was first introduced to DeAnna as the clown-like juvenile who popped out of his limousine like a caricature Jonas Brother, she has now seen the future, her future, and it's a media-mix of coolness, youth, and the mysterious being real. DeAnna's Greek heritage has just been sucked into and lost within the gaping black hole of American pop culture.

And in a "rad" world guys like Jason and Jeremy — and Brian, Richard, Sean, Ryan — are so bloody, well, boring. Brad Womack can maybe even be forgiven for thinking the 2007 version of DeAnna Pappas was boring also. I mean, come on. DeAnna has found out her solid and deeply entrenched "southern values" have evaporated — leaving someone like Sean exasperated — and in their place is a fresh attraction. Jesse encapsulates this new world. His long-ish hair, his diminutive stature, his boyish exuberance, his playfulness, his lack of paternalistic airs all combine to thrill a woman who sees this new and unexpected Male and is excited by the unforeseen possibilities. He's like a great new girlfriend.

I think poor Jason said it best and actually spoke precisely and eloquently of what moved within DeAnna's mind and heart. He spoke these words just a few moments after being rejected by DeAnna. They are chillingly on-target: "She wanted something I couldn't offer her. She wanted this alternative world — or she thinks she wants it — she wants safety and security; once you have safety and security you want to live on the edge; once you live on the edge you want to go back to your safety and security...and the best person is the one that has it all...I thought I did..."

"Living on the edge" is DeAnna's new thought. "Safety and Security" is mere drudgery. Jason signaled a return to drudgery. Jesse is her detour into somewhere else. I'm sure being cast as a reality starlet in two television productions has helped her shatter her former romantic visions from what they were when she was passed the matronly family baton by her dying mother. She also has kicked aside the continued influence of her doting father. When that disappears I guess your next best option is asking the irritating professional-goofball lesbian Ellen Degeneres what she thinks about your future husband.