The Bachelor & the Bachelorette: Can’t Buy Me Love?
Do you know the guiltiest pleasure of the American public? Two simple words reveal all—reality TV. This new segment of the TV industry began with pioneering shows like MTV’s The Real World and CBS’s Survivor. Switch on primetime television nowadays, and you will become bombarded by and addicted to numerous shows all based on “real” life. There are the heartwarming tales of childbirth on TLC, melodramas of second-rate celebrities on Celebrity Mole, and a look into a completely dysfunctional family on The Osbornes. Yet, out of all these entertaining reality shows arises the newest low for popular culture, a program based on the idea of a rich man or woman in search of
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The Bachelorette, created in order to be politically correct in my opinion, is the same show in reverse—twenty-five young dashing men after one single, attractive and rich woman. Addressing these shows with an eye bent to cultural analysis, the messages and constructed social meanings depicted are decidedly derived from a capitalist society.
Therefore, the Marxist base-superstructure model must be consulted, and the capitalist ideology behind The Bachelor explained. Karl Marx’s theory basically states that the base determines the superstructure’s content. Upon relating that idea to mass media or more specifically TV as the superstructure, the base can be defined as capitalist corporations consisting of writers, producers, editors and directors who all support capitalist ideology. As a result, the American audience sees what capitalists believe should be America’s dominant ideology. The primary message that The Bachelor sends is that money can bring a lasting happiness and a loving marriage. There are also the inferred ideas that people should value a person’s youth and attractiveness above personality and intellect, and that a meaningful relationship can be formed into a marriage proposal in just a few months. For many skeptical and educated viewers, it is hard to see the reality or truths in these shows. So this is when
Papacharissi and Mendelson (361) examine the notion of gratification among the audience watching reality television shows. They establish that apart from the one-off entertainment viewers get, they also gratify their psychological and social traits. Reality shows make use of ordinary people in doing extraordinary things such as surviving in harsh conditions, winning large sums of money, overcoming extreme fears among others. When ordinary people watch the actions of the participants, it becomes much easier for them to relate to them as their own representatives. Aslama and Pantti say that the shows resemble the political arena where the public vote in representatives to act on their behalf in the great stage of the nation (181).
Reality TV burst onto the television scene in the early 2000s’s. Shows such as, The Bachelor, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, and American Idol are just a few of the hundreds of reality TV shows that are capturing the hearts of Americans on a weekly basis. The effects go unnoticed by the viewers, but as these shows are watched, they begin to take over the personality of the audience and are changing the way people perceive the world today.
In the essay “Getting Real with Reality”, the purpose of the author, Cynthia M. Frisby, is to inform the readers, that viewers of reality TV watch television to compare themselves to the people within the shows and why they do this. There are many ways that captivate these large audiences and when it comes to the fascination of reality television I would have to agree with Ms. Frisby on the account of people idolizing figureheads within reality shows.
The Bachelor is a T.V daring show, In the reality show the bachelor women are often portrayed as the stereotypical woman. Women on the show all have this dainty appearance which also enforce stereotypes of femininity like cattiness, and a dependency on men. In general, many of the women who go on The Bachelor are portrayed as overly emotional, jealous, possessive or even crazy. The Bachelor preserves a part of gender roles that include dating as well as marriage. The show displays a particular kind of femininity that has to do with a world that is run by a man. The “good girls” are defined by their passivity and commitment to real true love on are against the “bad girls” who seem to be in the game for themselves or do not show the proper attitude. The shows grabs the audience by displaying certain behaviors that some will be acceptable and another would not be acceptable for a young women to act.
Reality television has recently become a staple item in the world of entertainment. Capturing the actions, attitudes, responses, and behaviors of real people on camera appealed to a wide range of audiences. The Bachelor, showcasing one eligible bachelor who is given the chance to select his final mate from a pool of beautiful women each season, is a perfect example of a highly successful reality TV show. However, this decade-long reality dating show embodies sexism, misogyny, and racism. Therefore, this paper analyzes The Bachelor within the perspective of race and gender.
Reality television’s portrayal of ordinary people is anything but real. However, audiences across many cultures are still drawn to them. Audiences aren’t just passively consuming reality television; they are actively engaging with it, and its significance conveys the viewers with the ethical obligation of media literacy. “This tension between the ordinary
The most problematic aspect of the video is the prolongation of gender norms and the overarching perception that an unmarried woman must constantly be thinking about her future husband and planning out the things he has to do to win her heart. The traditional gender role Trainor sings of shares the notion he should “take you on a date,” and not forget “flowers every anniversary;” because if he treats her “Like a lady,” you’ll “be the perfect wife/ Buying groceries,” and “Buy-buying what you need.” Even though Trainor has done the easy part in buying the groceries and parading around like the “perfect wife,” she declares she has “never learned to cook,” and her man should not expect her to “be thinking I’ll be home and baking apple pies.” Moreover, he has to treat her “like a lady,” even when she’s “acting crazy,” because “you’re never wrong,” so “why disagree?” Yet he has to do his part in telling the “perfect wife,” “everything’s alright,” and of course, she will honestly reply with “Buy me a ring.” Such lyrics support the man will never be right, and should always apologize even if he knows she is wrong, another inequality depicted through gender roles.
Let’s move on to some interesting statistics dating back to when the show first premiered. There is a total of twenty-one seasons of The Bachelor. However, only four couples remain together today. But, here is something crazy! The first couple who is still together today, dates back to the 2010 season. In other words, it takes nine seasons for this show to actually work…Anyway, of the twelve seasons of The Bachelorette, amazingly there are more couples still together, with the number being five. What is even more fascinating is it only takes one try, yes one try, for this show to work, so to speak. The first season, ever, in 2003, Ryan Sutter proposes to bachelorette, Trista Rehn and they are still together today.
With all that goes on behind the scenes, it honestly, defeats the purpose of the show. While producers have a say in certain things that happen, you compel to wonder if some of the contestants who made it to the end honestly ended up there based off of what the bachelor or bachelorette wanted. Given that roughly twenty seven percent of the couples last, this show is not the real deal. Drama is more important than two humans falling in love. With that being said, yes, I will continue to watch this show, for it is very entertaining, but I will not agree with what is happening, nor will change my opinion on the reality of the
“The Bachelor” is a trending reality TV show that has attracted controversial responses from viewers all around. It formed a cult followership even from those who oppose its depiction of unrealistic fantasy love and romance and impractical ideals of women. It has become a popular culture phenomenon in the Western countries, as well as Australia; bringing in remarkable revenue for media companies like Network Ten. Network Ten has a high return from airing this show and others amidst its continuous annual losses.
For close to a decade, the ethics behind the existence of reality TV have been questioned. While there are ardent viewers of reality TV, researchers and other scholars disapprove them, and claim that the world would have been in a better place. Reality TV shows, especially in America, are extremely profitable to media owners, and this has increased their popularity in the recent years. The main target audience for these shows are teenagers and women, who spend a lot of time discussing about them, even hours after the shows. Most of the reality shows in America and other parts of the world have common ideas. The most fundamental aspect of most reality TV shows is that they display people who go through embarrassing, painful and humiliating ordeals. This is what the reality shows expect their audiences to be entertained, and presumably laugh at the situations the people go through. For this reason and many more, it has been found that they are more detrimental than entertaining to the society, and therefore, the world would be in a better place without them (Pozner 89-91).
Reality television is the newest trend that seems to he invading televisions and homes all across the world, but what is it with these shows that are causing people to become obsessed with them? One of the greatest appeals is the low budget production of these shows. You take a group of different strangers, drop them off in the middle of nowhere with no supplies except a few meager items and then let them fend for themselves on national television. There are no sets to attend everyday, no props, and no lines to remember, just unscripted, unedited characters that are supposedly everyday people. Then there is that incentive of a cash prize that is offered, a phenomenon often called “lottery mentality.” Even in this alleged age of economic prosperity, most people no matter how hard they work will never make it rich. These shows produce the illusion of “quick strike” wealth, which makes ordinary people think that it could be them someday striking it rich. The biggest reason though that these shows are so popular is the good old-fashioned competition and conflict. Before shows like “Survivor” and “Big Brother” came about, talk shows such as “Jerry Springer” and “Rikki Lake” were the only shows to provide conflict between people, hut no one would ever know if these were staged or actually real people. With reality shows these days, we know that these are real people
There has been a huge increase in “reality” based television over the last few years. From Survivor to Big Brother it seems that we are constantly being bombarded with a new type of reality television program. But why do people watch these shows? What makes these shows so interesting? One theory brought up in an article in Psychology Today by Steven Reiss Ph.D. and James Wiltz, a Ph.D. candidate at Ohio State University, is that, “reality television allows Americans to fantasize about gaining status through automatic fame” (Reiss and Wiltz, 2001). This is the American dream, acquiring fame with little to no work at all. And what better way to do it than on television?
As humans, we naturally strive to find status in society. We have an innate wanting to be noticed by our peers. Reality television is now seen as a gateway to participation in
Reality television provides daily entertainment and influence into the lives of the viewers. Reality TV shows have an unpredictable component that is both unexpected and surprising. People watch reality TV as they find it relatable, although multiple scenes may be scripted; this is overlooked by the audience. Reality TV stars may get minimal privacy because most of their lives are shown on TV, but spectators enjoy this, they perceive it as a glimpse into the life of a