Reality shows have become such a phenomenon in our culture that they exist for almost any situation imaginable. Whether it is an arranged living environment like The Real World, following around a celebrity like Being Bobby Brown, a competition or game of some sort such as Project Runway or Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, a dating show like The Bachelor/Bachelorette, or a self improvement show such as The Biggest Loser, these categories continue to become more refined and more and more shows spring up with new twists on these ideas. However, the more that producers strive towards representing real life situations the more risk there is for it to become scripted and not like real life at all.
A few years ago on MTV, a show aired called Laguna Beach. It followed around a group of high school seniors and documented their daily lives and all of the drama that went with it. One of the cast members on the show, Lauren Conrad (L.C.) received her own show when she graduated high school and moved to L.A. called The Hills. It showed the drama in her life regarding her roommate, her job, school, dating, and life in the fashion world. The show gained a lot of popularity and is now in its fourth season. It has been criticized for being scripted and not a reality t.v. show at all which, if you watch the show, is totally believable. Certain situations seem very unreal, such as when Lauren's enemy Heidi happens to show up at the same party as her and confront her on issues, which of course makes for good television.
From a pop culture perspective the show has had a large influence on teen culture in regards to trends such as clothing, hair styles, and phrases. Because Lauren worked for Teen Vogue and now works for people's revolution, she is looked up to by others for style tips since she is a fashion student and has worked with major designers in her career. Her looks can be constantly seen on MTV, gossip magazines, entertainment shows and in real life when teens borrow her ideas. For example, this season Lauren has been noted for wearing her hair in a braid on the side of her head and i have definitely seen a good number of girls on campus sporting the same hairstyle in the same way. (see photo above). It is not necessarily a bad thing that girls copy her trends but interesting that in certain aspects of popular culture she is the epitome of certain roles.
From a gendered point of view this show does not do much for the image of women. The girls in the show can be described by the typical "valley girl" stereotype. They are attractive, wealthy, shop constantly, and have ditzy personalities. They do not fit the traditional mold of women portrayed on t.v. as housewives who take care of their husbands because they are still in their early twenties and not married yet. They do represent the more modern view of women as independent, working, and taking care of themselves. However this image is compromised by what seems to be their lack of knowledge on anything else besides clothing. They show a very stereotyped image of girls who gossip, talk about guys, each other, and are very girly.
7 comments:
This blog post is very interesting. The fact that it is portrayed as a "reality show" can give real young girls the wrong idea about how the should act. As mentioned, Lauren is very pretty. Young women may strive to be like her, focusing solely of their looks and what boys think of them, instead of their studies or more intellectual activities. It is so true that reality tv these days is not reality at all, but it still has the ability to affect especially young females live and perception of priorities.
I think it is true that reality television shows, especially "The Hills" does not portray women in the best light. "The Hills" is such a popular show watched by so many teenage girls and as a result many female teens feel the need to mimic and model the lifestyle, trends, behaviors and appearances that are portrayed in the show. Lauren Conrad and her click of Hollywood friends portray a life that is unrealistic for many "average" female teens; however, this fantasy life entrances many girls and as a result they strive to imitate the images they see. I think this can be detrimental because a lot of gendered images portrayed are idealistic and may even be unattainable for many.
Very interesting blog. I never watched The Hills or Laguna Beach because I really couldn't stand the people in it- i.e. the 'valley girl' image. The one episode that I was forced to watch (only because I was doing homework and my roommate was watching it) seemed so fake a scripted.
It is interesting how shows like this influence females today. I wonder though, do shows that have primarily males (I can't think of one off the top of my head) influence men the same way that shows like this influence females?
I often do not watch the hills, because it does not provide a true reality. It seems quite scripted, or at the very least it is well planned. From the episodes I have seen, women are portrayed as vicious, back stabbing, and fashion obsessed. I understand the show takes place in the fashion world, but it seems very unrealistic.
The show portrays the very worst of what women are. It shows gossip, and women putting men first.
Very insightful analysis. In fact, a distinction is emerging between "reality" television and "real life" TV with reality television being scripted as you note. What do you think that the long-term impact might be when media perceived as being reality is in fact scripted?
It seems to be general knowledge that shows like The Hills are not real life representations and that it is so scripted and just made for TV ratings. However, girls still follow the trends and use the phrases as you said. If this is all created by producers and screen writers and is not real life while it's labeled a reality show, why are people drawn to it? I guess reality TV has no appeal to me so I just don't understand how other people are so engrossed in it. Then again, I feel like shows like these are just treated like primetime TV dramas like Grey's Anatomy and One Tree Hill; they can't wait to see what crazy thing happens next.
Brenda
I don't know if anyone else remembers when "Clueless" (the series) came out, but I remember the same thing happening to "girl culture" when we were in elementary/middle school. It was suddenly very cool to speak like...well, an idiot--every other word was "like", with a "valley girl" question-like inflection in their voice at the end of each sentence. It was OK to not care about anything except purses, clothes, makeup, and boys, because the girls on TV were doing it. Joking about drugs, drinking, and eating disorders wasn't uncommon, either. That show was supposed to be a parody of the "valley girl" California image, to be a caricature and funny, and now we've made the full transition to that image being our "reality", if only on reality TV. I think that it's interesting how much a "real" educated, brunette? woman or girl can be persuaded to emulate the image of a, albeit talented, fashion-school princess when the lifestyle is so far removed from their reality that it isn't something they can fully relate to. I know that we say that this image in the Hills is scripted, but what if it isn't? What if it's all real and people are tuning in to someone else's actual life, wanting to be like them? I think that's a more concerning idea than girls wanting to copy the trends on a scripted TV show (remember everyone's hair after Jennifer Aniston cut hers on Friends?)
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