I've relaxed my stance on Reality TV in the last year or so;
partially because I’ve been able to stomach a few shows and also because I’ve
come to realize the genre isn’t going anywhere. I can’t always rage against the
machine. However, please believe there are certain franchises that I will
forever be at war with, mostly because of the characters they create and how
those characters has become the chief media representation of a segment of our
culture. So imagine my surprise and disgust when four Reality personalities
grace the cover of Vibe magazine with “Meet Your New Role Models” superimposed against
their heavily made-up figures.
Over the last couple of years the “Basketball Wives” and
Atlanta installment of the “Real Housewives” have been among the most talked
about reality shows and not because of any outstanding performances, but the
drama held within their one-hour time slots has been riveting, if not embarrassing.
The bankability of those shows have spawned numerous offspring, most notably
the Los Angeles version of “Basketball Wives” and “Love & Hip-Hop”. These
shows have the same premise, putting a group of women who allegedly have some
strain of commonality and following their day-to-day lives.
These lives include fabricated rivalries over the most
trivial of moments, copious amounts of liquors, more B-words than an Eddie
Murphy routine and the latest rage, fights complete with tossed glasses and
other objects, weave pulling and plenty of tears. Essentially, we’re watching
summer on Martin Luther King Boulevard masquerading behind designer names and
high-end locales. Instead of showcasing groups of women thriving in a man’s man’s
man’s world, we get the lowest common denominator and due to mainstream media’s
historic reluctance to accurately and consistently portray women of color in
empowering roles, this is the version of our women that gets displayed on the
Idiot Box several times weekly.
Since Flavor Flav’s Reality rebirth, Reality TV has become the vehicle for resuscitating dying
careers, so when Toni Braxton signed her family on for “Braxton Family Values”,
I’m not sure if she thought Tamar would become the breakout star. However, I’m
quite sure Tamar had seen more than her share of other shows and knew what
works; I’m sure she took note that NeNe Leakes, Tami Roman and Evelyn Lozada were
the most controversial personalities on their respective shows and more
importantly, saw how their profiles and bank accounts exploded because of their
on-screen personas. While Toni thought she would ignite her stalled career and
maybe put a little cash in her sister’s pockets, Tamar figured she would follow
the Reality blueprint to become a star and hopefully find three people
interested in her singing career.
Two weeks ago a Jill Scott tweet prompted a terse response
from Tamar and sister Towanda that launched a few responses from the sisters
and even fans that objected to the way the sisters were immediately offended by
the tweet. If that’s the response garnered by someone saying “a real
representation”, what are you saying to those that routinely go in on you? Not
to mention that your show is not the only game in town, so who knows if Jill
Scott was even referring to that show, when there are so many poor representations
on the air? I guess guilt is heavier than weave…
Vibe has a responsibility to move units and this cover could
possibly be nothing more than an attempt to do so; these women have established
followings and just look at how the internets have been buzzing since the cover’s
release. There’s a chance someone came up with the tag line as mere provocation,
much like Rick Ross appearing chest naked on last year’s “Sexy” issue. Based on
the ratings, the copycat shows and the social media capital these characters
hold, they have become the new role
models. We freaked out because we associate the term “role model” with a level
of positivity, but those words are generally missing from its definition, so
these women have become role models and it’s not hard to see just who they’re
influencing.
Over the last couple of months, Facebook feeds have been
littered with videos of young girls brawling with one another or being
assaulted, bullied or downright degraded by other young women. The most
infamous of which was a video of Tashay Edwards confronting another young lady
over a Twitter comment and commencing to brutally beating the girl down on her
front porch. The entire ordeal was disturbing, even more so that it was
videotaped and uploaded to the internet for the world to see…which we did. In
the aftermath of this beatdown, I came across “The Bad Girls Club” on Oxygen
and have been glued to my TV watching this nonsense, not because I’m
entertained by it, but because I cram to understand its intent.
The deplorable behavior on these shows and lack of
consequences has resonated in the mind of an impressionable generation on the
verge of self-destruction. Take a look at those half your age and realize far
too many of them have half the sense you had at that age and go twice as hard
on the vices you have now. You couple their lifestyle with the celebrated “stars”
of these shows and we have a lethal mix that has spontaneously combusting at
every turn.
Enter “Scandal”, Shonda Rhimes brilliant D.C. drama
featuring Kerry Washington as high-powered attorney/fixer Olivia Pope and in
seven weeks we saw the rejuvenation of a culture…but that’s TV, this is “reality”,
right? If your reality is anything like mine, you don’t know too many women who
behave like the caricatures we see nightly on television and you’re thankful
for that. However, perception is reality and though other cultures have similar
shows that display depraved behavior, there seems to be enough to counteract
the effects of the pigeonholing. I often joke about how Essence rotates the
same five women on its cover, but now I’m thankful they don’t add these four
and a host of others to the mix.
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