New * Older * Me
Profile * Notes * Book
Rings * Reviews
Friday Five * Writings
Web design and photo � Heavenly Ginger,
here because of Diaryland
Brush from this site

We Have Brains Collab

< ? diary of a feminist ! >
< ? blogs by women # >
< # Blogging Bitches ? >

<< # Bitch Club ? >>

100 Books Club

We Have Brains - Reality Television, 2004-01-11, 6:33 a.m.


We have brains asks:

Recently television is getting more and more "real." At first there was just The Real World, then Survivor came on the small screen and everything exploded. Now there's Joe Millionaire, The Amazing Race, Fear Factor and dozens of other "reality" shows in many categories.

In the upcoming season of The Real World (SanDiego) a non-house member is raped during a party by another non-house member. In fact the entire season seems to be one very long drinking party like the one that leads to the rape. I'm assuming that the rape and it's aftermath will not be shown on camera, but the question is: Are these shows exploitative? All of them, or just some? Are the female cast members exploited more than the male, or is there some gender equality on these shows? Did the producers allow or even encourage this to happen? What about other shows? Give examples!

I know some of you out there are addicted to "reality" -- it's time to share

I have to admit, I like some reality shows. I watch 'Survivor' and 'The Amazing Race'. I enjoy 'American Chopper', 'Monster Garage', 'Monster House' and 'Trading Spaces'. I've enjoyed 'Big Brother' in the past, to some degree at least, but cannot watch it that often, due to the frustration and disgust I feel towards it after the first little bit.

I think when you look at reality television, the first thing you have to do is look at the clasifications of reality television shows. The shows that I listed are part of different subsections of reality, each with their own definitions of what reality is. I wrote a bit about this in a first draft of my large paper this summer, and hopefully still have it somewhere (please, remember, it's an unedited first draft and this part didn't make it into the final paper):

We use the term 'reality television' to describe a number of types of shows. Reality television at it's base is a how that follows a group of people with a camera, recording and documenting their lives. The participants may not realize that they are participating in this show, or may have signed up to be on it. They also may or may not have made some adjustment to how they are living (past the inclusion of cameras 24/7) by moving into a particular apartment or interacting with a specific group. This includes shows such as 'The Real World', 'Cops' 'An American Family' and 'Pioneer Quest'. There are celebrity versions of these shows as well, featuring stars willing to open their homes and lives up to the public. These include shows such as 'The Osbornes' and 'The Anna Nicole show'. There are also celebrity game shows, where a group of people with a common goal of winning a prize are brought together in an unfamiliar situation and compete to win, with cameras on them at all times. One or more contestants are kicked off the show by the end of each episode, heightening the drama and the stakes. Many of these shows promise fame or love as the prize, while others simply place a cash value on winning. This includes shows such as Survivor, The Amazing Race, The mole, 'Joe Millionaire', 'American idol' and fear factor.

Reality television, as a genre, has been around since the 1970's, when An American family premiered on PBS. That show, which had been filmed in 1971 and aired in 1973, showed the Loud family, who were going through a divorce. On this show, network televisions first openly gay character premiered - Lance Loud, the son of the family. This show was watched by 10 million and created controversy as viewers watched a divorce unfold. In 1983, the show was rebroadcast and in 2003 PBS did a show on Lance, showing where is today - HIV positive, carrying Hepatitis C and battling a 20-year crystal meth addiction. As always, this show had imitations and sparked alternative versions trying to win the viewership that PBS was enjoying. However, until MTV began showing 'The real world', reality television was not a modern day event. 'The Real World' follows the life of seven MTV chosen twenty year olds who are given an apartment to live in and jobs, then followed around by cameras. The slogan of the show is "This is the true story of seven strangers, picked to live in a house to find out what happens when people stop being polite and start getting real." It premiered in 1992 and has continued to run, basing the show out of a different city each season. The production team of Burnim and Murray have developed other reality television shows, most notably 'Road Rules' where five or six twenty-something�s travel from place to place in a Winnebago, completing tasks and being filmed the entire time. Both shows have had crossovers and have competed against each other in 'All star' shows.

However, the reality television genre gained the most attention in North America with the premier of 'Survivor', a reality game show where 16 Americans are cast away on in an abandoned area. Separated into two tribes, they first competed tribe against tribe for rewards and immunity. The tribe that loses immunity has to vote a tribe member out of the tribe. Halfway through the series, all remaining participants form one tribe and compete individually for rewards and immunity. The final two participants then compete for the grand prize of one million dollars. The seven contestants who were last voted off come together on the last show and vote for who they feel �Outwitted, outlasted and outplayed� all other characters. With few comforts and one million dollars at stake, personalities tend to flare and at times, the show exhibits what happens when people are stripped of many of the niceties in life and compete for one million. The show has now run for six seasons, and while it is not as much of a ratings success as it once was, it still commands an audience.

Once �Survivor� became popular in North America, a plethora of reality shows followed. They ranged from shows such as �Big Brother� where a group lives in a house together, unable to leave and without access to events happening in the world (a notable exception was the September 11th terrorist attacks where the participants were informed, including the one who lost her cousin due to the attacks) to �The Mole� where a team competes in events around the world, gaining money for �the pot� by completing tasks. However, in the Mole, one person is sabotaging their attempts, trying to cost the pot money. At the end of each episode, one person is dismissed from the show because they showed the least knowledge of the mole in the test taken at the end of each episode. The ultimate winner is the one who correctly guesses the mole and shows their knowledge by answering the most quiz questions correctly and quickly in the final show. At this final show, we are told who is the mole and how they sabotaged the different events. �The Amazing Race� is another show that has appeared, where contestants are paired in teams of pre-existing relationships (married, siblings, parent-child, friends, etc) and participate in a race around the world, completing tasks as a team or separately. The last team to check in at the finishing line loses and leaves the race. At the end, the team that has come in first wins One Million Dollars.

These shows are based more upon the game show concept of winning money for completing tasks. However, other shows that are also called reality game shows deal less with money and more with relationships, generally in the amorous department. �Temptation Island� takes couples on an island and separates them, putting the females in one area of the island and males on the other. Then, males and females are produced whose job it is to seduce the members of a couple. The reason? To see if they survive this encounter as a functioning couple. Throughout the show they are shown what their mate is doing, causing some heartache or confusion. Another show such as this is �The Bachelor�, where one good-looking, self-sufficient and available male is given a group of women to choose from. As the weeks go on, he eliminates them with a �rose ceremony� until he has chosen the one he wants to marry. Trends have shown that the second place participant often gets her own �Bachelorette� show, in which she performs the same task, only choosing between a group of men. �Joe Millionaire� takes this concept further, with a the group of women told that the male participant has millions of dollars, when in fact he makes very little money. The �winner� is then told that he has a low salary. Conversely, in �For Love Or Money�, the women know that they are competing for either one million dollars or for �the guy�. If they are the last woman standing, they can make their choice. The male in the situation only finds out near the end of the show about this twist. The female contestant in the first edition of this show choose the money and now has a chance to play for two million. In the new segment of the show, she has to choose between the males and if the last one standing chooses her, she wins two million.

I should have included 'Trading Spaces' and 'Monster Garage' and others like those shows within there as well. These are shows which are closer to the 'Cops' and 'Pioneer Quest' genre, in that they are given a specific task outside of their normal living. They do however still have a game show element as they recieve a prize at the end - a new room or tools. 'American Chopper' fits into the 'Cops' genre in that there are no prizes, instead it chronicals a family at work.

With all of these classifications, there are different treatments of people. The treatment and expectations of males and females varies. I will concentrate on specific shows and genres of which I am more aware. First, another quote from my essay, regarding casting.

How do these show get filled? Prospective contestants must go through a casting and screening process when they apply for the show. From this, a cast is formed to fit the needs of the producers. This cast presents the reality that the producers want to portray for their particular television show. Often, the majority of the cast is white, heterosexual and in non-amorous shows, may be split half males/half females. Each cast member plays a scripted role: the alpha male, the bitch, the mother, and the clown. As casting associate who has worked in the field of reality television stated about the casting process:

    From dating reality to adventure reality, the main priority of the casting department is to go for eye candy with attitude/issues� simple nice people need not apply unless you have some hidden drama.. For good measure, we sprinkle in a few psychological questions that allow you to share your deepest secrets with perfect strangers. From serious crime incidents to people who have yet to come out of the closet, I have heard it all..

In many ways, people are chosen to play to a stereotype. Women, for example, are found to be either portraying �the vamp� or �the seductress� or �innocent with no brain� in reality television shows. (Behrmann, n.d.) They are considered either beautiful and evil or beautiful and dumb, posing a threat with the former and an alliance with the other. Often, strong women are �voted out� of shows that count on peer voting, while those who are considered less physically strong are kept in. This could be due to relationships formed, or as Behrmann states:

    women are thought of as something to be acquired. They are viewed as a piece of property rather than a person. Men in these shows try to play with the women's minds and try to win them over. The women in these shows are portrayed as mindless females who willing to do almost anything to get the attention of the men they lust after.

Thus, reality game shows that are controlled by peer acceptance and approval show females who are allotted the role that Wurtzel wrote of: � thinking, crafting, intelligence in any means makes them a target and an object of suspicion.

I would say that not all reality shows are exploitive, nor do they all portray females as womyn who are willing to do anything to win, including strip for a prize. When you view 'The Amazing Race' or 'The Mole', you are not struck with the same exploitiveness that you are when you view 'Survivor'. Perhaps this is because 'The Amazing Race' and 'The Mole' are not peer controled. They use your own brain power and efforts to continue within the game. Thus, any stereotypes and exploitation is done by the characters themselves, not by the casting director or the other cast members.

Within other shows, stereotypes abound. In 'Survivor', the females are rarely more than one role - if they are, they are often cast away in the early votes, leaving the stronger males until it becomes a merge situation. Often, weak females are kept until the end with the thought that they would be easy to beat in immunity. If a strong female survives, it is due to their alliances more than their personal strenghts (unless you consider alliance formation a strenght, which is can be). 'Big Brother' often keeps the attractive females. They is due to relationship hopes or formations. As well, show provided clothing is often more flattering to females who have very little body fat - I've looked at the bikinis passed out in the first episodes and thought 'damn, I'd never make it on this show'. Attractiveness is key, then ability to save ones self.

I don't watch many reality shows because I think they're exploitive of most people. All of the love or sex ones, I try to avoid. The idea that someone will fall in love with you as a competition may have appealed when knights fought for their ladies, or cat fights occured on the gym floor, but not as entertainment. At least not to me.

One thing I've noticed about shows such as 'Trading Spaces' is that they try to play with gender stereotypes. Often, they have the males, especially the more macho ones, sewing, while the females get to use the carpentry tools. The problem is I can't tell if it's a joke to the production staff or a way for them to try to open minds. Or if they are simply stating more obviously that 'there are male and female roles and look how wacky we are in subverting them!' I do know that on 'Monster Garage', Jesse James and the production crew did give a lot of grief to the all female team and there were many comments made on their femaleness, rather than the fact that as a team they sucked (about which comments are made regarding all male teams). Yes, they pulled it off, because they had some strong females on there carrying those who were weaker, but that is often the case with all male teams. One leads and saves the butts of others. When females are on mainly male teams, they are often outsiders, butts of jokes and disrespected due to their gender, unless they are very specialized in their field. Yes, there are males that are made fun of as well, but their masculinity is not brought into the equation.

All of this being said, I enjoy the few reality shows that I watch. For many, I don't look at them as reality but sociology. And, I consider that in so many ways, they are no worse - or could be better - than many of the other shows on television right now, in terms of their exploition and gender biases. Sad, but true.

I apologize for those who made it to this point. It's early, so this doesn't read the best. It's also long, so if you made it here, congrats. Now, go do something worthwhile :)


(1 comments)

<<

>>


Miss
These?
* Moving Day ** Things I know ** Where I whine about food ** Long sickness description ** Explaining *