Reality TV analysis

For my reality TV analysis I watched America’s Next Top Model with my sister. I have totally mixed feelings about the show, and since I do not regularly watch it, I don’t know if I am qualified to comment on it. I think the sole emphasis on the body is definitely unhealthy, but if that is what these girls are really passionate about and really love, who am I to judge? I do think having these types of shows in our media portrays a false and unhealthy beauty ideal.
The show is aired on Wednesday nights at 8/7 central on CW, which is a pretty big station. This is the same time that Obama’s half-hour commercial aired, illustrating how this time block is the ultimate prime time. One of the interesting things about this show is that Tyra is the host, the creator, and one of the producers. It is very much her show. Because of this, the show must reflect her ideas and hopes about the world. The list of other producers, directors, editors, make-up artists, and other people involved in the show consists of hundreds of people, which is probably partially because it is in its 11th season. It would appear that this show is targeted mostly at young girls and women, because they are the ones who are stereotypically chiefly interested in modeling, although I would argue that it is also at least somewhat also targeting gay men, due in part to the amount of queer men on the show, and the stereotype that gay men are also interested in fasion.
The episode I watched was the “makeover,” which was an interesting commentary on the idea of beauty. The biggest problem I have with a “makeover” show is that it insinuates that all of them need to change in order to be ideally beautiful. There seemed to be little rhyme or reason to the make-overs, apart from the fact that they wanted everyone to be more “edgy.” The blondes went brown, the brunettes went blond, ones with short hair got extensions, girls with long hair got it cut. One girl they decided to make “racially ambiguous” which I thought was a very interesting decision. They gave her really thick wavy reddish hair, and Tyra said that every little girl looking at her could se themselves in her. The girl appears to be Caucasian, though I am not totally sure, but the racial ambiguity seems to boarder on exociticization. And, from what I could tell, none of the African American girls had natural hair at all, which suggests that natural hair is not attractive, and extensions and relaxation and other changes are necessary to have ideal hair. Another problematic quote was “every girl deserves to be pretty,” suggesting that the girls weren’t pretty already, but they deserve to be pretty so they will become pretty.
I wonder about some of the financial aspects. At the end they eliminated a girl, and told her she had to leave immediately and go home. But who paid for the ticket? Last minute plane tickets are extremely expensive; did the show pay for it, or did they make the girls pay for it? If the girls had to, that is extremely classist and unfair.
The girls are only ever depicted shopping, talking, or primping, from what I could tell. They were never shown reading, writing, or even listening to music. Not doing anything intellectually stimulating; indeed, even the conversations weren’t very sophisticated. This might be an unfair statement, because the audience is at the mercy of the editors as to what we are privy to, and maybe one of the girls was reading Anna Karenina on the side. But, even if this is the case, it is interesting that the editors did not choose to show the girls in more substantial activities. As far as I could tell, all of the girls were between 18 and 23, which is the typical college age, but they never spoke about whether or not they were in school or wanted to be in school. Perhaps they mentioned this on the first episode when they introduced everyone, but I think leaving this out takes agency away from them and promotes the idea that a girl should be pretty and thin, but not educated.
My sister argues that America’s Next Top Model is good because it has a variety of contestants, including various races, a mentally disabled girl, a plus-size model, and queer women, including, on season that I watched an episode of, a trans woman. I am skeptical of the motives behind these choices, and I worry that they were just to make the show more interesting and to increase viewership. However, I suppose even if this is the case, it is still good that different people get a chance to be on such a popular TV show. But, I still don’t know how I feel about it, because how many times do these girls actually win? How long do they stay on? Have they ever had anyone who is physically disabled? Has there ever been an American Indian? How far are they willing to push the boundaries, and when/where is the limit?
Amy Adele Hasinoff has an interesting article about these questions, though her article is mostly focused on race. It is called “Fashioning Race for the Free Market on America’s Next Top Model.” She argues that the explicit discussion of race on the show has been commoditified, especially narratives of racial self-transformation. One of the show’s winners had to “overcome” her rural Southern accent, because it would not be acceptable for her to have it as a model. Hasionoff uses the girl’s accent to illustrate how the girl when from “Southern rural African American” to “hip-hop glam African American,” and the show ultimately supports and celebrates this transformation by naming her the winner. One quote that I thought really demonstrates her argument is that race is “hyper-visible as a malleable commodity yet simultaneously invisible int herms of historical and structural social inequalities.”
Age is also interesting. As I said, the girls on this season were between 18 and 23, and the oldest competitor was 26, according to a Wikipedia article. The youngness of these girl implies that late teens and early twenties are the ideal age for beauty, and any older than that it is too late. At one point Tyra said something about a woman who modeled in her “time,” suggesting that Tyra modeled a long time ago, and that is way over. Tyra is 34, and incredibly beautiful, but apparently too old to model.
I am sure there are reality TV shows that promote worse body ideals and images, but I’m also sure there are better ones. Americas Next Top Model may not be extremely horrible, but there are definitely aspects to it that are unfair and, in my opinion, unhealthy and negative.