In a recent magazine article Bret Easton Ellis revealled he was a fan of The Hills. He quipped, in a rather Warhol-esque tone, "It's genius! Although I'm only up to season three because I can't stand to watch it on television. That little MTV logo up in the corner infuritates me. I wait until it comes out on DVD, I turn up the volume and I'm swamped by beauty." That Ellis is a fan of The Hills is no big deal. I am too. So are many people. (The Hills has undoubtable influence and its rampant popularity comes not just from its aesthetic pleasures, but from the idea that the show could be about any of us. Writes James Poniewozik, "Who hasn't imagined his or her life as a TV show, every minor drama magnified, every view airbrushed, a Natasha Bedingfield song ripping hearts out every time you sadly adjust your sunglasses at a red light?") However, without Bret Easton Ellis it's doubtful The Hills would even exist. He originally came up with the idea of rich, attractive and debauched youth running amock in Los Angeles in his novel Less Than Zero twenty years ago, and unlike The Hills, his host of characters were actually interesting, and weren't doped up on a large dose of bland (although they were doped up on everything else). That Ellis loves The Hills got me to thinking: Can you geuinely be a fan of anything that is less interesting than your own thoughts and ideas?
