Tag Archive for "reality TV"

Posts Tagged reality TV

Quick Hit: Can a lawsuit bring some racial diversity to The Bachelor and The Bachelorette?

Jennifer Pozner has an interesting piece up at the Daily Beast on the class-action racial discrimination suit against The Bachelor and The Bachelorette.

That calculus has governed casting on The Bachelor since its 2002 debut on ABC. Ten years, one spinoff (The Bachelorette), and 24 seasons later, every star of TV’s oldest reality romance franchise has been white. So were 22 of the 25 hopefuls on The Bachelorette’s Season 8 premiere last week. With that history, it came as no surprise that we heard almost no dialogue from the lone black contestant, Lerone, or that Southern blonde Emily Maynard sent him packing at the end of the episode. (On Twitter, one viewer suggested a #MenOfColorCountdown to see how long the ...

Jennifer Pozner has an interesting piece up at the Daily Beast on the class-action racial discrimination suit against The Bachelor and The Bachelorette.

That calculus has governed casting on The Bachelor since its 2002 debut on ABC. ...

By Jos Truitt • 12 years ago

Jenn Pozner and Melissa Harris-Perry’s class talk reality TV

Yesterday Melissa Harris-Perry’s Tulane class had a Twitter chat with Jenn Pozner about reality TV and the messages it’s selling us about race, gender, class, our bodies and sexualities, inspired by Pozner’s book Reality Bites Back. Zerlina dropped knowledge in the chat as well.

You can read the whole conversation at the hashtag #RealityBitesBack. Here’s few highlights:

Victoria’s Secret:

@MHarrisPerry: My mouth is agape as student describes to me the opinion that Victoria Secret models are heavy.

@JennPozner: Victoria Secret fashion show? An advertiser’s wet dream. Literally. Hour long product placement Clothing size and body image: @amymmmmmkay: every time a woman has curves, she’s labeled as #exotic. it’s only okay ...

By Samhita • 12 years ago

TLC’s Virgin Diaries comes to the US

TLC is debuting a new reality TV show that showcases the lives of 30-something virgins.

Alternative tagline: Adult virgins kiss on wedding day; looks like bird feeding.

Fetishization of the myth of virginity is an ongoing theme in conservative politics. (Check out Jessica Valenti’s book on the topic). It’s frustrating and harmful when reality TV continually echos some of the most disasterous cliches about women and sexuality.

But, reality TV now goes a step further from fabricating problematic story lines. Reality TV today showcases “freaks,” wherein characters are picked based on how outlandish their stories are and how much we will be shocked by their lives. So technically they want us to laugh at their stories, in all their ...

TLC is debuting a new reality TV show that showcases the lives of 30-something virgins.

Alternative tagline: Adult virgins kiss on wedding day; looks like bird feeding.

Fetishization of the myth of virginity is an ongoing ...

By Rose • 13 years ago

Quick hit: Apply to be a freedom rider for PBS

January 17, 2011 is the deadline to apply for the PBS contest to reenact the 1961 Freedom Rides. Via PBS:

In May 2011, forty college students will embark on a journey retracing the route of the original 1961 Freedom Rides and beginning an important national conversation about the role of civic engagement today. The ten-day, all-expenses-paid trip is a unique opportunity for college students who are committed to learning from history and to applying those lessons today.

American Experience will select students with a broad range of backgrounds– lending diverse voices to the journey. We are looking for students who want to share their experiences and who are eager to learn from their peers, from pioneers in the civil ...

January 17, 2011 is the deadline to apply for the PBS contest to reenact the 1961 Freedom Rides. Via PBS:

In May 2011, forty college students will embark on a journey retracing the route of ...

By goddessjaz • 13 years ago

MTV Apologizes for Jersey Shore’s Transphobia

Yes, I watch Jersey Shore and have been watching since the first episode. I am somewhat ashamed being half-Italian that I take pleasure in watching self-proclaimed “guidos” and “guidettes” engage in drunken tomfoolery and unapologetic misogyny. But it’s no more painful to me than watching my sisters of color (and all colors) fawn over Flavor Flav, Real and Chance, Chad Ochocinco and a various assortment of dirtbags. Glutton for punishment, perhaps?

I remember this season when “The Situation,” whose entire shtick is that he can get any girl because he and his abs are so irresistible, meets and makes out a woman in the club who appears to be transgender. Initially I thought the exchange was pretty comical ...