Life > August 28, 2006

By Christopher Browder

Staff Columnist

There is only one way to start off a school year right, and it can all be summed up in two simple words: Laguna Beach. 

Yes, in case you missed it, a third season of MTV’s reality hit has just started, surely to teach us more words like “dunzo” and illustrate how obnoxious guys get hot girls. 

Of course, like all other hit reality shows before it, Laguna’s success has caused it to be even less real than ever. 

It would be impossible to appear on such a show without being aware of the fact that it is going to make you a star, and the constant cameras no doubt have quite an impact on the interactions displayed onscreen. 

This break down of the fourth wall has caused many bizarre incidents in the past, like on MTV’s The Real World: Austin, when a cast member was physically assaulted solely because of his involvement with the show. 

However, on Laguna it’s even more interesting, mainly because it was never very real in the past. 

Not that The Real World has ever been a documentary of reality, but from the beginning Laguna has always seemed somewhat staged, as if it is actually a show of real people re-enacting real events. 

This season takes it one step further. These kids have clearly seen the past seasons and the effect the show had on their stars, and have reacted accordingly. 

Quite simply, they are acting like people on a reality show acting out things that actually happened. 

I go cross-eyed just thinking about it, but the point is that these people have become walking clich