How Does Reality TV Portray Race?

Alfred Lockwood
How does reality TV portray Race?

When thinking about reality TV shows such as The Real World, where the saying is “where people stop being nice and start being real” is the slogan used, other shows such as Road Rules, Big Brother, or more up to date shows like I Love New York, The Flavor of Love, Flavor of Love charm school, The Batchelor, The Batchelorete or the 2005 VH-1 hit Being Bobby Brown comes to mind. What’s the point of all of these shows being on TV? Well one is to entertain you of course that’s the main reason but the other is to supposedly show you the reality of things, because the only real way to find love is to go on TV and give the one you love a red rose or perhaps a large cartoon sized clock right? At least that’s what these shows want you to believe.

There was once a show in 2006 called Black White that came on FX that was suppose to show people what it was like to deal with society while living as another race, to make it a little more simple it was to see what it would be like to walk in another persons shoes, the concept was of rapper Ice cube, RJ cutler and Matt Alvarez. Two families of three one white and one black were to change races thanks to special effects make up to see if they would be treated a certain way in the outside world as another race, now this seemed like a good social experiment that would hopefully open peoples eyes to racism that is still going on today. source.

Lee Siegel of the New Republic was once quoted saying “Black White is not a provocative study in secret prejudice, followed by growth and awakening. It’s reinforcement of stereotypes the show claims it wants to examine and expose”.

It’s funny how a show that’s suppose to have some social message behind it is being blasted for reinforcing stereotypes, when any of today’s “reality” shows have no message at all just stereotypes, well at least some of the shows do or the ones aimed at a certain audience. Which audience is the target that’s the question is it the "urban audience" well by taking a look at the shows and the people that represent the show as being the shows face we can figure it out.

On Flavor of Love which airs on VH-1 you have a forty-eight year old man who’s real name is William Jonathan Drayton but is better known as Flavor Flav searching for love -- there’s no problem with that.

On The Bachelor at one point there was a twenty nine year old NFL quarterback Jesse Palmer also searching for love, so what’s the difference they are both searching for love, well lets take a look. One is an established athlete who according to wikipedia, played for three teams in the NFL and on the show The Bachelor he decided what woman was right for him by getting to know them and meeting their families and at the end chose who would receive a rose, sounds romantic right? Doesn’t matter if it is or isn’t -- its reality keep that in mind.

Now we have Flavor Flav many people don’t know exactly why he is famous they don’t even know what he did to be famous much like Paris Hilton but that’s another story, Flavor Flav was in a very political and controversial rap group known as Public Enemy he was what is known as a hype man to Chuck D, but what else is he known for? Well it’s not a secret that he has a pretty long wrap sheet, and if you google him you could find this out for yourself, to save you the time here’s some of the issues he had according to an article in the New York Times written on Nov 8, 1995, Flavor Flav was arrested for possession of an unlicensed gun and three vials of crack, he was also serving a three year probation sentence for assaulting a neighbor.

Now how does he find love? Well, first he gives these women outrageous nick names takes them out on romantic dates like when he took one of the girls to the very classy KFC, then he gives them a large clock to wear before stating that they know what time it is, lets not forget when he had the women clean up one of the most filthy houses of another rap superstar Warren G, now of course this probably wasn’t his real house but that’s what the producers and writers of the show want you to believe.

Now, do you see a difference in the two shows? A few people do, one person is 19 year old Maryan Dumas who is a college student and considers herself to be a Caribbean American when asked if she believes a certain race is being targeted in order to maintain an audience she said “ yes I believe that is true for example Flavor of Love, Flavor Flav picks a women as a potential soul mate because she can make him fried chicken, greens and mashed potatoes”. She goes on to explain why she even watches these types of shows “the reason I watch flavor of love or any reality TV is because there might not be anything on, it’s a last resort for entertainment what makes me turn away is the concept of finding love on TV”.

What makes these shows entertaining? Maybe it’s the concept of love or maybe it’s the outrageous characters we see dressing in loud colors, or the fights we just know are going to happen sooner or later within the house because there is always that one Tiffany Pollard. Tiffany Pollard who the hell is that? Maybe I should have used the name she is now so famous for New York, there is always that one girl in the house that is going to be New York.

Why is it there is always someone who is full of confrontation? Well, twenty-year-old sales associate Keyshera Hayes has the answer “The drama keeps people attracted to the show, it’s entertainment and with out it then the show would be pointless”. Exactly. Drama is what keeps people watching.

Just think about why people watched the train wreck of a show Being Bobby Brown. It wasn’t because they couldn’t get enough of the self proclaimed king of R&B the man once famous for singing to tenderonies and explaining he could do what he wants because it was his prerogative, no it was to see if the tabloids were true and to see a strung out former R&B singer and even more important a strung out Whitney Houston. The sad thing is how they exploited a woman who once had one of the best selling debut albums and a follow up album that was the first album by a female to debut at number one on the billboard two hundred was reduced to a joke and was up for a VH-1 big in 05 award for the phrase “hell to the no”.

Now some people may not be bothered by this but others are, forty three year old special education teacher Keri Hayes is one of those people “I feel anger because I can’t believe someone would go through that just to be on TV.” When asked if anything could be learned from reality TV Ms Hayes replied “I seriously doubt it”. She went on to explain why certain shows play off of stereotypes “ many of them play off stereotypes because if they didn’t they wouldn’t have viewers”.

What are these stereotypes exactly when it comes to reality TV? Thirty two year old city worker Ronald Burtun helps break down these stereo types “they try to get people that play up to these stereo types they have the typical white person who drinks and is a party animal, your confrontational angry black guy who wants to sleep with every women in the house, the loud black girl and the emotional white girl”. When asked what he feels while watching reality shows he says "angry, because it exploits society in general it’s a watered down version of Jerry Springer”. When asked what reality show sticks out he replies “American idol in a positive way but I would like to see more of the African American culture doing something other then singing and dancing on TV”. When asked what he thought about shows that have women of another race such as African American, Latin, Asian or Hispanic, competing for a white male he replied “they are getting kicked off” when asked what Maryan thought she replied “they have a chance at winning but they are usually put on the show to be loud, rude, and start arguments.”

So, what can be learned from this? Lets review women of another race according to reality TV producers are there because they are naturally loud, rude and confrontational, women who are Caucasian well, they drink sleep with anyone and are gold diggers. African American males are only marketable if they are shown as being clowns like fried chicken were on drugs or had a criminal record sometime in there life, Caucasian males are the hopeless romantic type that, are either very rich or like on I love New York like dominant women and are easily controlled like Tailor Made who won the second season of I love New York. And interracial couples don’t really exist unless the relationship is a mixture of everything above, oh and lets not forget the real lesson learned which is reality TV is just another way to racially profile a large group of people with out any real backlash because it’s entertainment.