Oh effing no. I was totally pumped about this show...the prospects, the hope, the change, the fact of de-plasticization. Oh, woe is me. After the 2nd episode, I have very serious doubts about this. Here's a laundry list of the reasons why in reverse order of importance:1. A lame attempt at reality show format. So they have these contests...that are lame...and with zero apparent consequences. "Why" I ask, "Why?" TLC--you cannot just throw out any old drivel and assume that tv-watchers are idiots. We are now highly evolved and used to watching shows with a complexity rivaling that of disarming a highly dangerous explosive. You can't take us of Lost and 24 ilk and hand us not only a stupid but inconsequential series of "trials" and assume all with be hunky dory. In fact, it is neither hunky nor dory.
2. Michael Urie. Annoying. Un-funny. Overly-perky. Overly quirky. Overly unknown. Did I already say, "Not funny." This dude's part of the bain of the whole existence of this show. Maybe someone who looks like they didn't just come off a stint at band camp would help thing. I don't know.
3. "Expert" consultants. Under what rock did they un-earth these gems? I find it very hard to believe that these B-list, no-name, tranny look-alikes that they've brought in to "make women modern" know anything about making women modern. I find them bitchy without the reputation to support the bitchiness. And without a huge amount of talent or appeal. Not good.
4. And, finally, the judges. Admittedly, I thought this might be the deal breaker and sure enough, it is. Their advice is fleeting, confusing, and a bit off. Their critiques are uneven and, in my estimation, also have nothing to do with a real or a modern women or even the actual situation at hand. And consider the source, I suppose. A "stylist" (which seems to be code for "I flunked out of design school"), the West Coast editor of "US Weekly"(the job for the gossipy Queen Bee of high school clique-dom), and the male photographer. All super-great candidates to decide what the modern American woman should be.
5. The editing. Yikes. TLC is no Amazing Race that's for sure. By the looks of the show, there are 6 women in the competition--3 who know what's up and 3 who should be mocked shamelessly. And what we see from these 6--just bad. It's so clearly edited to make us think one thing while the truth is the opposite that it's not even fun. Trying. Too. Hard. Strangling. Me.
I'm so disappointed because the promise of relevant change was dangled not so far from my pop culture nose, leading me to a mirage in the old-fashioned desert. Miss America is a classic symbol of the American woman (whether or not it's right is another debate). It needs a change because it simply does not represent women at all but instead forces modern competitors into roles that are so out-dated they're laughable. But the driving force behind the change seems no more savvy or modern than women prancing around in bathing suits and singing bad versions of operatic arias; it's just different. At the height of the problem is that we never even know the contestants real names--they're all "Miss [insert state here]." Would anyone really stand for that anymore? Just because we watch them to discuss at dinner one night stale and prosaic "debate topics" (contraception, abortion, etc), we still also witness the judges hold them to unreal fashion standards and berate them in they're not wearing enough eye-liner. The ones who really challenged others on the debate questions were edited to look aggressive and angry. And there are an awful lot of tears being shown. It's a reality check--but who's reality and how real is it? At this point, all of this still has absolutely nothing to do with me, which means I'm tempted to go surfing and give up on Miss America altogether.
Even after the 2nd episode, it's clear no change will actually be happening here. Yes they cut some hair and made some "suggestions", but they're all superficial; it seems that works on both the literal and the metaphorical level. Oh well. I'm really pinning my hopes on the state costumes now.
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2 comments:
Bull shit
Do you know anything..obviously not ?
A male photographer that has shot over 300 magazine covers, shot campaigns for top designers and works on image of nearly every top American female celebrity..does not know whats modern ?
Get real.
Go back to your suburban bubble
Fool
Hmmm...okay "male photographer" (really...with a name like that, who's the fool?): I'm not saying any photographer doesn't know what modern is...just this one based on what I saw. And the last time I checked, Ms. America had nothing to do with "celebrity" per se but an example of the "ideal" American woman (as wrong as I find that concept). And the whole point of this blog is to consider the problems of these types of social realtionships...if we find nothing wrong with allowing a male photographer to define what the American woman is or should be (and based on your comment, I find his presence even more problematic because he is obviously so deeply ingrained into the world of celebrity which has nothing, really, to do with reality), then I think you're the fool. The best part of all of this is that Ms. America relies on the suburban bubble--we're the audience that this pageant targets (is it any shocker that the major pageant telecast audience, pageant winners, and the pageant industry basically exist in the Midwest?)so, maybe it was foolish to attempt to modernize the pageant so much that as a suburban bubble-ite, I lost interest. Of course, if you watched the outcome of the pageant (which I'm sure you didn't...why? Oops...I feel the "fool" thing coming on again) you'll see that Mr. Photographer's input had absolutely ZERO to do with the outcome. Ms. Michigan won (surprise, surprise) with her big blond hair and marginally not dowdy dress. Nothing modern or fresh about her. So, in the end, his presence was all for naught anyway.
Don't delude yourself--his celebrity status as a photographer of 300 magazine covers and other realms within the fashion industry has absolutely nothing to do with the modern woman; the modern woman is actually real.
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