TV Politics: Democracy, Nation, and the Public Interest

    TV shows and, strangely enough, reality TV shows often introduce us to issues at large in society that we may not have encountered in our personal lives. The reason for reality TV's ability to present those issues is because the people on the show are real people and not characters. True enough, post-editing and through certain staged situations, those people may fall into certain archetypes and be portrayed accordingly; but they are still real people with real problems from real backgrounds. Paul presented America's Next Top Model and how it's a free labor market where the employees are exploited to provide entertainment to the masses. Whereas in free labor markets people work for free to create a product, in a reality TV show such as ANTM those "employees", the models, are themselves the product. As such, they are heavily exploited. A cycle of ANTM that is most representative of this sort of manipulation is the very third cycle.

In this season or "cycle" as Tyra calls them, Cassie was a blonde, blue-eyed model from Oklahoma. The audience expected Cassie to win because she physically resembled what the masses believe models look like. However, Cassie was harboring a dark secret: she had an eating disorder. She claimed she wasn't really bulimic because she didn't throw up after every meal. Tyra even visited the girls along with a nutritionist, where Cassie confessed her eating disorder. However, she refused help from Tyra who, despite that and her endangered health, still kept Cassie around for another two episodes.

You also had Toccara, a plus-size model in the same cycle, who would find her path to the top challenged as a result of the show not providing clothes in her size. This seemed very sketchy as the show knew beforehand that they had a plus size model, so Toccara shouldn't have had to face such a challenge. And below is another video that shows further instances of ANTM's judges being hypocritical as far as their stance on body image in the industry is concerned.

But ANTM also furthers certain stereotypes. For example, again in Cycle 3, Kelle was a black girl who grew up in a well-to-do family in New York and lived in a gated community. She also owned her art gallery. She was perceived by Tyra and the other girls in the competition as being too "white". She was subtly punished for that because her pictures were consistently the worst of the bunch; yet, she managed to survive all the way until the top 9 because Tyra and the other judges wanted to break her. And break her they did. Kelly began to perceive herself as being ugly and referred to her mouth as a monkey mouth. She could no longer look in the mirror without crying and stated that she's come to terms with her snout.

Here are some clips of Kelle being brutalized by the judges.

Well, the truth is that Kelle was sabotaged.

The screencaps from the show reveal that Kelle had far better pictures than the ones that were chosen for her. She was made to look like an awful model as part of her storyline and so that the judges could say that she was such a bad model because she couldn't get in touch with her "black side". There are other instances where Tyra would manipulate the show to further certain stereotypes. She even crowned a girl she previously knew named Saleisha, even though Saleisha was one of the weakest models of her cycle.

    Reality TV shows such as ANTM inadvertently showcase real-world politics, such as free labor market, cultural and racial stereotypes, and clear-cut favouritism. However scripted they may be, they still offer a glimpse into our world. Reality TV shows reflect what our world is currently and what our needs are.

    There is so much to say about ANTM, especially given the fact that Maria did a presentation on feminism and Trevor on MASH and its being socially relevant. ANTM, while providing great analysis for those same topics, does so more in a negative manner. The women are demeaned and many of its cultural aspects create misrepresentations especially for ethnic women who join the show. This was the case for another Cycle 3 contestant Yaya who was often told she was too Afro-centric.

Post-show, Yaya has stated that being told that she's too Afro-centric was hypocrital because none of the white girls were told they're too white or that they're trying to force their Caucasianess on others. 

Much like Family Guy, ANTM has become a satire of itself. Die-hard fans of the show still carry some sense of nostalgia for its earliest, more raw days just as Suzanne spoke about people's fondness for The Wonder Years. However, unlike Family Guy, ANTM has run out of issues to place in a certain light, however negatively it goes about accomplishing this. With each new season, one can expect certain character archetypes: the awkward white girl, the black diva, the silent threat. Thus, nothing feels new. It's constantly recycled and no longer provides much for critical analysis.