"Haters" stay alert! Your "haterism" has finally been unmasked and now there's no more hiding all that 'hateration.'
Tufts juniors Linda Olatunde, Jeanna Morris and Carolyn Davis have made it their mission to track down "hater" deviants and expose them on the new comedic TUTV show, "Haters," the latest addition to the programming lineup for the station's spring 2005 season.
Anticipation for this humorous mockumentary has been in the midst since last semester, when the "Haters" group first started filming around campus. The buzz for "Haters" has grown since its first airing on Feb. 20, and viewers around campus are anxiously awaiting the show's next episode.
"Haters" was born one weekend during the three creators' sophomore year, when Olatunde, Morris and Davis were sitting around Linda's dorm room lamenting about how college life had become jaded and how certain situations and people were getting on their last nerves.
But in their usual good-natured and fun-loving demeanors, the young women decided that all this complaining they were doing was just straight-up "hating," and they began to laugh about the notion of being a 'hater.'
Linda Olatunde, who has a passion for cinematography and plans to pursue filmmaking as a career, thought that this idea of 'haterism' would be a great subject to explore in a spoof documentary show. Bringing the idea to Davis and Morris, Olatunde proposed that they make a show for TUTV that examined the "haterist" aspects of typical college life.
Carolyn Davis defines the slang term "haterism" or "hateration" as being, "When you know something is good and you know it's better than you, but you don't want to admit it."
The term "hater," thought to have been coined in the mid 1990s, has been used to describe those who display unfounded negative commentary or envious behavior towards another person because of either jealousy or frustrated intent. Often times, people will say that if someone is bashing or insulting them without good reason, that person is just 'hating.'
Calling for the help of other Tufts students to complete this project, the three girls enlisted many of their friends to assist with production. Sophomore Scheivon Jarrett, who can be seen doing the man-on the-street interviews, and junior Kim Cosby, who helped on shoots, both lent a hand to make Olatunde's creation come alive.
Olatunde remarks that, without the help and support from her fellow Tufts classmates, this show would not have been possible, especially since many of the skits include students giving their thoughts about the common "haterisms" that they've observed.
The first episode aired every night during the last week of February and still has showings at around 11 p.m. on TUTV. Lasting for about 20 minutes, "Haters: Part 1" focuses on explaining exactly what a 'hater' is and displays some 'haterist' actions that occur in everyday life.
The show comically spins the viewer into the "Haters" world of quirky injustices, like when an honest person is followed by suspicious employees in Jumbo Express while, in reality, another person who isn't being watched is blatantly thieving all over the store. The show also pokes fun at how there is always the stereotypical angry black person on reality television.
As the three main characters featured in the show, Olatunde, Morris, and Davis become somewhat like the "hater" detectors, going around reenacting 'hater' situations and unveiling people's true, deep-down "hater" attitudes.
Though the first episode was short in duration, the ideas and scenes in this show are fresh and innovative. Being one of the few minority-produced and directed shows on TUTV, "Haters" proves to be a unique and hilarious addition to the station's spring programming.
With two more episodes scheduled to be shot this semester, "Haters" intends to bring viewers more spoofs and satiric skits that examine the notion of "haterism" on the Tufts campus.
