Letters to the Editor
-
"Wow," said a (male) friend when I told him this theory. "Is all reality television just misogynist?"
Silly "male" friend.
EVERYTHING is misogynyst on Planet Broadsheet!
(By the way-- this "male" friend of yours wasn't gay, was he? I hear those are the only decent men in the world.)
-
I see a South Park episode!
Mr. Hanky as the Bachelor. [Or maybe his suave younger brother, as I believe Mr. Hanky is married.]
I can just see him kissing the women on the cheek as he hands them a rose.
-
No it's all bad fiction
They all play a part. The angry loud screaming drunk bridezilla shit talking pole dancer fat black urban blond nutcase. It's a part just like the hair extension 3 note warbling range 'soul' singer on American Idol. It's a product. They're hired actors and actresses.
-
Coil of poop?
Haven't laughed out loud like that in awhile. I'll add this to my quiver of verbal arrows along with other descriptors like "bolt of cloth"...coil of poop...nice!
-
Back in the day...
Intelegent well trained actors where paid money to exemplify sterotypes.
Black actors would shuck and jive, female characters would faint or scream and ocasionally scheme, but to a large extent such entertainments where deemed unacceptable for the thinking masses.
But we sure do love a good cat fight.
So what do you do?
You go out, and find ignorant types, and social climbers, and and every other creature on whom the sterotypes are based in the wild, and film a documentary.
People want to see action, and drama, and even though most gold diggers don't spend their days in mansions with Flavor Flav, that is what is interesting to watch, and the best part is, since it's "reality" it can't be racist or sexist right?
-
Protest Too Much?
The best part of this article is that Ms. Hepola tells us how terrible and ridiculous these television shows are, but that doesn't stop her from watching them. I understand if she watches these shows in order to critique and ridicule them, but despite the words she uses in the article the tone of the article suggests she actually really enjoys these shows. It is quite ironic that she actually enjoys watching these "crazier than bat shit" women doing what they do best, which is behaving like crazy bat shit. Well, clearly bat shit is actually much less crazy than reality television and Ms. Hepola.
Suggestion: Stop watching these nonsensical, demeaning programs. The more you watch crap like this the more sympathetic you become to it. This is the bind Ms. Hepola is in. Intellectually she knows better than to enjoy such nonsense, but the reality is she wants to see more. Why would women want to watch such awful portrayals of their gender? Me thinks Ms. Hepola protests too much. I think that despite the fact that Ms. Hepola ridicules these shows and the women in them she is actually a bit envious of the women and their roles in these shows. There is a kind of crazy-ass, irresponsible freedom that the women in these shows represent, and Ms. Hepola likely thinks to herself that being one of these women would actually be fun, but then her intelligence kicks in and she realizes insanity should not be envied or cherished at all, and then we get an article like this.
-
Porn
This is like the old argument that porn is demeaning to women. These women aren't forced into these roles, they agree to do them and they choose to be as crazy and stereotypical as they want. Maybe these people are the real feminists. They don't try to placate anyone or fit into some kind of "independent woman" mold, they're not trying to represent women they're just out for themselves.
-
Social Stereotypes
The reason why all these shows where women compete for a man are successful (meaning there is one version after another being produced) is that the depiction of women on these shows conforms to the social view of women - that we will scratch each other's eyes out for the attention of some man.
The "people" are comforted by stereotypes.
I don't watch this crap - but I have to deal with people who do. And that is why I find these "reality" shows destructive.
-
Crazy women
Add "Bridezillas" to that list!
-
Some people just want their 15 minutes.
I am not willing to debase myself to get on TV, so I probably won't.
Some people are willing to do anything to get their moment in the sun on the "boob tube."
I saw a youtube of some lunatic religious woman on some "wife swap" show and always thought that the only reason this woman was on tv was because she was willing to make a spectacle of herself. Pathetic really, but the shows are cheap to make and amateurs don't ask for residuals.
Bread and circuses have been replaced by pizza and geek shows.
Pax
-
Television Programming
They choose psychopaths. sociopaths and borderline personality disorder role models because that is the behavior they are selling to the viewers.
Monkey see, monkey do.
Debase the population.
Debase the currency.
Debase the dialog.
Profit!
Torture was not acceptable until Fox's "24" made it acceptable.
Evil and crazy people are compelling to watch, exciting to the senses, and for some reason, highly desirable and sexy - at least on TV and in the movies.
Good role models are a hard sell in the MSM so we get crazy evil and/or stupid instead.
-
Why do women want The Bachelor?
My personal theory is that women want him because all the other women want him. They feel that he must be something special if all the other women are competing for him. This seems to be common in our society: women want men that other women want.
I have a friend at work who suspects these women really just want to be on TV.
When I first saw The Bachelor, my first thought was "Why are these women all competing for this guy? Why would all these gorgeous, successful women degrade themselves for a rich, handsome, but otherwise boring guy?"
My second thought was "How can I get on that show?"
-
Bad Girls is Awesome
I watch it too, guiltily, perhaps, but those girls are such skanky, backstabbing, pampered, biyotches who engage in insane catfights (and real fights, where the only large black girl in the house, who wasn't even fighting, gets thrown in jail because she is the large black girl and leaving those supposed "bad girls" shaking in their boots about what she would say when she returned) and I can't stop watching it. Now, I can't stand the Bachelor (since its all about getting a man) or any of the dating show, but Bad Girls is like the Real World...on crystal meth with a crack chaser.
Love it. And I like Bridezilla's too, though sometimes those Brides are justified in their craziness.