I’m not sure what to make of The Contestant

I hit a clickbait headline somewhere along the way and ended up on a list of the top 15 movies to watch on Hulu, or something like that.

Among the list of titles was a movie called The Contestant. It is the story behind a hit Japanese television show about a young man who is put into a small apartment, naked, with a stack of postcards and a bunch of magazines. His job – go through the magazines, and enter contests, in hopes of winning items he can use to survive.

I remember reading something about this on the Internet back when it was happening. There wasn’t much to the story other than a guy had to win contests to get supplies to live on. I assumed they gave him food because contests, in my experience usually take a while before the winner is picked. I’ve thought about the project from time to time over the years but never dedicated any effort to finding out more about it. I guess that is why it piqued my interest when I saw it on the list of things to watch.

They guy goes by the name Nasubi, which means ‘eggplant’. It was a nickname applied to him because he has a rather long face, which I guess is shaped sort of like an eggplant. He went to a casting call, as he was trying to make a name for himself as a actor and comedian. The producer for the show, Tsuchiya, walks in the rooms hopefuls trying to get the sport on a new TV show and tells them the only quality they need to get on the show is luck. He then proceeds to have the hopefuls draw lots. Nasubi ends up being the lucky(?) winner. He is immediately taken to an apartment, told to strip, and left there with instructions to enter contests to get this he needs. He needs to get one million (1,000,000) yen worth of goods to ‘win’ the show. They have a single camera in the room, and they tell him that none of it is likely to ever get aired, this was an experiment. Then he is left alone. This was before the whole ‘reality TV’ craze got going.

What follows is a strange trip indeed. In spite of being told his videos wouldn’t be aired, Nasubi’s antics wile he is alone are broadcast to a audience that reaches into the millions, yet he never knows about it. He is encouraged to keep a journal during the ordeal. Those journal entries are collected into four books that become national bestsellers.

There are many clips from the show detailing Nasubi’s days. Being naked, they cover his genitalia with a graphic of an eggplant. He gets up, does silly things, and writes postcards to enter contests. He doesn’t get any food, unless he wins it. At one point someone knocks on the door, after several days of no food for Nasubi, who is delivering ramen. It turns out they had the wrong address. It isn’t specified but I have to wonder if that wasn’t done deliberately by the producer, who seems very intent on pushing the limits of his experiment.

Eventually Nasubi wins dog food, which he seems quite happy to eat. He also wins a bag of rice, which keeps him fed for a while. When he gets any prize he dances in joy, because even if it isn’t something he can use, it counts towards his overall goal.

A magazine finds out the address where Nasubi is staying, so they move him to another apartment. At first he thinks he has won but then finds out that he has to continue. He manages to stay positive though and keeps sending out postcards.

When he finally does ‘win’, reaching his goal of one million yen worth of prizes, Tsuchiya waits until Nasubi is asleep, then in the middle of he night enters Nasubi’s apartment. He stands over Nasubi and shines a flashlight in his face. Then he pulls out a party popper and sets it off, sending paper streamers over Nasubi, with a loud ‘pop’. Nasubi wakes up but can’t figure out what is going on. Tsuchiya keeps popping the party popper, as Nasubi asks what is going on. Instead of just saying what is going on, Tsuchiya starts to walk him through it. He asks Nasubi if he knows what is in his hand. Nasubi says it is a party popper. After a few more pops, Tsuchiya asks him what they are for. Nasubi finally answers they are for celebrating. Tsuchiya keeps popping the popper. Finally Nasubi asks if it is over, and Tsuchiya tells him he reached the goal.

This is where the story should end, but there is more to it. I’ll not spoil it for you, should you want to watch the documentary yourself.

It is sort of like watching the aftermath of a car wreck. It is horrible, and you feel sympathy for the people involved but you can’t look away. The whole show is a horrible way to treat someone, yet it is also attention-grabbing. You want to know what is going to happen to Nasubi. You want to know if he is going to be able to hold up or if he is going to snap. You want him to persevere and triumph over the producer Tsuchiya. The whole thing is reminiscent of, and predates, The Truman Show.

I have no idea if Nasubi ever got any money for being on the show, or from the four books produced from his journals that became bestsellers. The documentary isn’t clear on the subject but it seems that he didn’t get much, if anything directly from the project. It does show him getting lots of appearances on talk shows so I guess he parlayed his fame into something.

This all reminds me of a story I read i school about a man who made a bet that he could lie alone i a room with no contact with the outside world for a number o years to win soe large amount of money. He is given food, and books to read, and is left alone. After a number of years he finally gets out of the room, only to find out the man he made the bet with has lost his fortune so there is no jackpot waiting for him.

On the whole I’m not sure what to make of this. Is it a morality tale abut not letting other people control your life? That you should stick to your goal, no matter what? That holding power over someone and manipulating them for your own selfish ends is wrong? That people are willing to watch anything put in front of them on television, no matter what it does to the people being watched?

Go watch it for yourself, my Hordeling, then leave a comment and let me know your thoughts.

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