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Vision is Perception: Whats “Real” About Reality TV?
From Left to Right: VHl’s Basketball Wives, Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Atlanta, and VH1 s Love and HipHop
Margaret West Arts and Entertainment Writer and Alexis Barnes Forum Writer
We know reality television is not real it is
one of the most successful genres. Why is that
even though these shows do not model our
own lives we find them so entertaining?
The concept of what’s reality and what’s
scripted is a once definitive line that has
become blurred by the infatuation of overtly
expressive women from different racial
backgrounds bound by one common thread:
status. Each once of these women dominate
in their communities and garner respect from
the Press and Hollywood. Chrissy Lampkin,
Evelyn Lozada, Big Ang, and Nene Leakes
have become household names that bind
women across the country with a sense of
fantasy that the average woman can only live
through television. The lack of the effective
communication skills and the evidence of
emotion: primarily anger, guiding all logic
within their interactions sends interesting
messages to the U.S. and the world about
American womanhood.
So what keeps us coming every week? Be
fore Basketball Wives, Football Wives, Mob
wives, The Housewives and everyone else’s
wives, who can remember what was on TV?
How did a bunch of “grown” women fighting
and having drama with one another turn into
America’s favorite television shows?
According to Lauren Berlant, Reality TV
is “a porous, affective scene of identification
among strangers that promises a certain ex
perience of belonging and provides a complex
of consolation, confirmation, discipline, and
discussion about how to live as an x. “ That
variable allows viewers to change the differen
tial to fit their own lives and create discussion
points. This bind shared by so many women
can be see and a yoke to the heavy burden of
societal ills that reinforce negative, yet some
times relatable issues. Viewers have gotten so
caught up in superficial glamour that they are
blind sided by the fact that an ill representa
tion of women exist. The “bling” is blinding
us so well that we don’t see the effects on our
communities.
Viewers and participants are being sold a
fake dream. This truth is hidden behind the
commonalities of success with businesses and
families. The vacation settings, big mansions,
and VIP club sections ultimately portrays liv
ing luxuriously. And let’s not forget the fights
that have become major parts of these shows.
The desire to be like the stars contradicts the
statements to excuse them from the drama.
“That’s not me”. Who is it, then? The reality of
a negative impact on society is more real than
the premise of unscripted raw behavior that
viewers and producers call reality.
One Spelman Sister, Ayjah Thomas C/O
2013, is a cut from a different cloth than the
average quilt of reality TV subscribers. “Real
ity TV is sheer entertainment that’s out of the
norm from my life personally.” The level of
“coonery” is too high for personal participa
tion from Thomas, and many other mature
women in the black community, popular to
contrary belief. Other young black scholars
who enjoy some humor after a long day or
week of academia share her sentiments.
But where does the female community draw
the line between entertainment and reinforce
ment of poor images of women in the media?
Is a laugh worth the damage to the character
of women, especially the overwhelmingly
large amount of minorities participating in
Reality TV? As socially conscious female
scholars, we owe it to ourselves to disassociate
our support from the glamorization of igno
rant exchange that reinforces gender roles in
our society.
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Is it Worth
Seeing?
Lauren Hawkins
Arts and Entertainment Writer
Is it just me or was there no significant
publicity about “Red Tails,” a historical movie
about the Tuskegee Airmen? Before the movie
debuted, I may have seen one commercial, if
that, advertising the film. Red Tails, an action
packed film based on the lives of the trium
phant and skilled Tuskegee Airmen, America’s
first black pilot fleet who fought in World War
II, debuted in theaters on Friday, January 20,
2012. Backed by tremendous support from
viewers and especially the black community,
Red Tails received more support in the box
offices the entertainment industry expected.
Since George Lucas, producer, first pitched the
idea of a movie about the Tuskegee Airmen, he
explains that he was faced with lack of inter
est from many studios that had little faith in
a movie that featured an all-black cast. As a
result, many African Americans felt the need
to prove that a movie like Red Tails would be
supported and interest viewers, by going to
see it the first weekend it came out. Since its
release, many critics have argued that although
the movie made a good attempt at honoring
and explaining the significance of the Tuske
gee Airmen, it does a subpar job at delivering
an interesting and meaningful storyline. The
flying and battle scenes add to the plot and
make the movie interesting to watch, but many
scenes begin to tell a story and later leave the
audience hanging and wanting more. Although
the movie satisfied some and disappointed oth
ers, At Spelman, some women agreed that they
would have loved to see the movie portray an
African American woman as the love inter
est of one of the airmen. They also expressed
that although women played a vital role in the
armed forces during World War II, they were
not included in the storyline. Although I un
derstand and identify with their concerns, I do
not think these aspects would have made a big
difference in the plot of the film. As women,
of course we want to be able to identify with
someone in the movie were watching, but in
Red Tails the love interest and other volunteers
during WWII would have only provided a
subplot that would not have affected the main
storyline in on direction or another. There have
also been comparisons between “The Tuske
gee Airmen” another film about the airmen
that debuted in 1996. Some people believe
this movie did a better job at focusing on the
discrimination the airmen faced in the armed
forces, and the choice of actors, created better
scenes and a more fulfilling plot. It is up to you
to see if Red Tails lives up to your expectations
and provides an interesting film that you will
be happy you supported. I went and saw it at
12 am Friday, when it came out and it lived up
to my expectations. I look forward to seeing
“The Tuskegee Airmen” and comparing it to
Red Tails, two movies that made an attempt to
share a piece of African American history with
Hollywood and viewers all over the world.
Editor in Chief
Kirstin C. Evans
Executive Editors
Kelly Harper
Brittany Fennell
Wrts <§l (Entertainment Editor
Brittany Abrahams
Wash ion <&. /Beauty Editor
Chelsea Cardell
1forum Editor
Rabiah Elisa
Jdayout Editor
Keya Elie
JjUbgkCJBkn
Charmaine White
flews Editor
Faith Porter
Photography Editor
Eric Ross
Public Pelations Chair
Briana Nneka Nwbobi
Jlrts and Entertainment Writers
Margaret West
Tristan Travis
Ain Ealy
Wash ion and Beauty Writers
Aaliyah Nurideen
Adrienne Porter
Sasha Jones
Worum Writers
Marjani Ruth Hall
Kammon Taylor
Amiri Lampley
Ariel Smith
Alysha Phanord
Jlayout designers
Cameran Botts
Lauren Holloway
jCifestyle Writers
Taylor Wade
Jazmin Tillman
Lauren Hawkins
flews Writers
Jasmine Ellis
Ayanna Runcie
Maya Dixon
Business fUanaget
Michaeline Frazier
Public Pealations Weam
Kendra Mills
Lauren Halloway
Chelsea Cardell
Michaeline Frazier
Community Service Chair
Jazzmine Trotman
^Advisor
Dean Kimberly Ferguson
Would you like
to write for the
Spelman
Spotlight or
contribute an
article?
Please Contact:
Kirstin C. Evans
Editor-in-Chief
via:
kevansl4@scmail.spelman.
edu
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Spelman
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350 Spelman Lane, Box 1234
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