According to Medical Procedure News, reality television is contributing to cosmetic surgery procedures, with more than 9.2 million procedures performed as a result of people watching reality shows. Unlike the daily fictional television shows that fill one’s life, reality shows reflect the life one lives daily, thus having a greater impact on the viewer and popular culture as a whole. Reality programs reflection of society not only helps shape popular culture but reinforces traditional family values, morals, and beliefs. Bravo’s original reality television show, The Real Housewives of Orange County portrays such a message to the audience. The Real Housewives of Orange County sends a message to the popular culture audience to adhere to traditional gender roles by the themes of; work, money, and control within the program.
Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Orange County is an original series of NBC Universal Cable Entertainment, and has been an NBC cable network since December 2002. Bravo has an active following among young women and gay viewers in the United States, with a concentrated age demographic of 18-54, according to the Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau in 2012 and is viewed in over 94 million homes nationwide.
The series is now in its seventh season and follows six Southern Californian women documenting their everyday lives filled with shopping bacchanalia, lavish dinners and parties, and beach vacations; the ideal living of the rich and famous. The series introduces the six housewives: Kimberly Bryant, Vicki Gunvalson, Jeana Keough, Lauri Waring Patterson, and Jo De La Rosa; and adds an additional cast member to the mix, Tamra Barney.
Kimberly Byrant is the typical stay at home mother, with two children and a Fortune ...
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The novel is set in a cultural background wherein women had every reasonable freedom to talk about their marriage and children, but could not carry on what they found it to be good and reasonable because they were restraint by social constructs. Women were bound to their husbands and children and religiously they were conditioned to lots of dos and don'ts. However, a critical look reveals that women were construed to be mere objects of amusement, possessions cared for and displayed. They were expected to be subordinated to their husbands and children (Wyatt, 1995).
On September 20, 1984 a show aired that changed the way we view gender roles on television. Television still perpetuates traditional gender stereotypes and in reflecting them TV reinforces them by presenting them as the norm (Chandler, 1). The Cosby Show, challenged the typical gender stereotyping of television, daring to go against the dominant social values of its time period. In its challenge of the dominant social view, the show redefined the portrayal of male and female roles in television. It redefined the gender role in the work place, in social expectations, and in household responsibilities. The Cosby Show supported Freidan in her view of “castigating the phony happy housewife heroine of the women’s magazines” (Douglas 136).
The emergence and soon popularity of reality TV in some degree demonstrates the huge market of selling “real experience” through exposing “realities” of privacy, relationship between players, etc. (Deery 2004 in TV program area.). However, reality TV may not be intrinsically “real” though almost all involved players are unprofessional actors and programs are usually highly inscribed. Players are actually selected carefully (e.g. audition or interviews) and constrained by various signed agreements and all filmed scene sections are delicately edited with special purposes, making reality TV kind of erasing reality and fiction together (Bingchun & George (2003)).
Nussbaum, Felicity. “Risky Business: Feminism Now and Then.” Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature 26.1 (Spring 2007): 81-86. JSTOR. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.
It seems that you can’t turn on a television set anymore without a reality show being on. All networks have recently started to pump out reality shows left and right. And why wouldn’t they? Reality shows are highly rated, with three of them being in the top ten on the Nielsen ratings chart. In fact, these shows are becoming more popular than the sitcoms and dramas aired. New sitcoms and dramas struggle to get attention of the public when going against a reality show. Programs such as The Beast and Go Fish, which critics loved and raved about, are victims of the wrath of reality shows. These shows are now cancelled.
Desperate Housewives goes behind the scenes into the secret lives of housewives in a perfect suburb. From the outside, everything looks perfect: perfect family houses with the white picket fence, well-kept yards, and happy families. The show tells the story of a group of girlfriends in the 40s and their lives. They all follow the rules of their gender by taking care of their families and husbands as the job of a typical housewife. The husbands, while the show isn’t featured on them, have most power over the household, while the wives work under them. On the show, there is Lynette (Felicity Huffman), who quit her high powered job to stay home to take care of her children, even though she was making more than her husband. Bree (Marcia Cross), another stay at home mom, is a duplicate of Martha Stewart and known for her perfectionism. Susan (Teri Hatcher) is a divorced mother and shares custody of her daughter with her ex. Gabrielle (Eva Longoria) is an ex-model with a rich husband and really nice house and stays home wh...
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When Desperate Housewives first aired in October of 2004 on ABC television network, the controversial pilot episode sparked interest in over twenty-five million viewers. On a seemingly quiet, average suburban street titled Wisteria Lane, four women – Lynette Scavo, Gabrielle Solis, Bree Van de Kamp, and Susan Mayer – became instantly connected by the suicide of Mary-Alice Young, a fellow neighbor and poker club member. While the reason behind Mary-Alice’s death remained unknown for several seasons, the show began to unfold a juicy plot chocked full of the stereotypical drama of suburbia; intermixed between love triangles and tragic affairs, more unusual and mysterious events began to occur. Although Desperate Housewives attempts to portray gender equality and society’s ever-altering perception of gender through the use of jobs, relationships, and melodramatic occurrences, this façade does little to hide the traditional roles of each gender and how those roles complicate the daily life of the families of Wisteria Lane.
I think many of reality shows today are giving impression that a women 's value is based on their appearance, and have influence them to go under knife, to look prettier. In the other way, reality shows may have also have upward effect, as the author mentioned. People can learn from people in reality tv, they can select them as role model , learn rom their experiences and be inspired by their life and get motivated to reach their
Reality television has been around since 1948. Over the past decade, reality TV has seen a dramatic rise in popularity. Today, you can turn on the television and there is a chance that a reality TV show will be on. Reality television is a big part of American’s lives today. There are reality shows starting from relationships, drama, entertainment, to cooking, fitness, sports, and many more. According to a recent study by the Girl Scouts Institute, “Forty-seven percent of girls and young women say they are regular viewers, with thirty percent saying they sometimes watch it." It also reports, “eighty-six percent believe these shows often put girls against each other to make the shows more exciting, and seventy percent say they make people think it is ok to treat each other badly.” Reality television has affected society greatly by encouraging violent behavior, it elevates imprudent personalities, and depicting women of their values.
A. “Reality TV Offers an Amoral Message.” Reality TV. Ed. Ronnie D. Lankford, Ph.D. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2008, 32-37. Print.
A television is defined as “a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic (black and white) or color, usually accompanied by sound” (Webster’s). Since the invention of this device in the 1930’s, people have been able to be entertained by various television shows in the privacy and comfort of their own home. Although each of these shows relate to different age groups, nationalities, race, and genders, they all seem to have one thing in common. They all act out and portray the stereotypes placed on people because of their age, sex, job, culture, race, look, and position in the household. Due to these different categories being presented in the media pre conceived notions are formed about how people should behave, specifically men and women. Women generally take care and men take charge. But why does the television represent this “take care” and “take charge” image of women and men? In this paper, I will focus on one of the highly popularized television shows that viewers watch today; Desperate Housewives. Using this television show, I will be able to show and analyze how women are represented in the media and why they are represented this way.
Reality television has become nearly unavoidable and American society is more affected by reality television than they realize. Society can be shaped from reality TV in many ways like the way people act, and also the way people can perceive a problem. I never really could have thought just some of the stuff we watch on television like Big Brother, could be impacting us in any way. I always thought the reason people said reality television is bad for us was because we would get addicted and not want to leave the couch. I started to research reality television by looking up what could be the potential impact and I was shocked by the results that were good and bad. Coming from the article by John Perritano he says “Many say reality TV has put
The creation of television broadcasting changed the way the world interacted, making it one of the most successful and important innovation. The Entertainment industry brought Reality TV to America, changing and evolving along with the changes in society. The concept of Reality TV is to show the struggles of real people or actors without scripts, surprising, and terrifying many of its viewers. The television content has changed over the years reflecting the changes in society; the Reality Shows are becoming more obscene, controversial, and competitive.