Tosh.0

Tosh.0 is a truly unique comedy show featured on Comedy Central. It is unique in that social media such as Facebook, twitter, and YouTube are used through out the entire television show to create funny and entertaining social comedies. The host Daniel Tosh, a standup comic, relies on social media material that is sent to him and he uses it to produce a satirical show in which he largely makes fun of the most outrageous YouTube videos and Twitter entries. On the Tosh.0 website there is a Tosh.0 blog dedicated to social networking where people can post humorous postings that are usually related to twitter or Facebook. One entry talks about how twitter and sweethearts candy have collaborated in order to put out a heart shaped candy reading, “Tweet me.” The blog post hilariously ridicules sweetheart candy for embracing a fad for a product that will most likely be around for eternity.

Just as Daniel tosh has a twitter and a Facebook for his show almost every television show and their producing companies have tapped into social networking as a means of advertisement and direct consumer interaction. Tosh.0 is unique and takes it a step further though because the basis of his show and all the material for his show comes largely from social networking and social media. I think social networking extends far beyond America and its implications are being felt pretty much globally. While Facebook or twitter may cease to exist in the future I think social networking is here to stay because it has become such a large part of peoples daily life. Not only has it become so prevalent on a personal level but it also serves as an easy means of global communication as well as a tool used by corporations all around the world.

Jackass

I remember watching my first episode of jackass at the age of fifteen and thinking that I was the most funny and crazy show I had ever seen. At the age of fifteen I remember stumbling across occasional movies and television shows with R rated content and it would make me feel good about myself because I could for the most part comprehend the program and it would make me feel older. The first time I watched Jackass the same rebellious nature would arise within me because I knew my parents wouldn’t approve of me viewing such a show but I remember feeling like it was the greatest show in the world and like it was made for myself. It’s no secret now that MTV’s TV series Jackass was largely targeted towards young men like myself and is probably the reason why I loved it so much. I still enjoy the Jackass movies that are still currently being put out for their entertainment value, but now at the age of 19 I feel a little more disenchanted with the content matter. This development in interest and maturity also reflects the fact that the show has been deemed responsible for many teenagers and children’s accident’s, which include sever injury and even death while emulating the dangerous stunts on the show.

I think the show has shed light on the teenage subculture of America and its recklessness due to popular media. Everyone understands that teenagers are at a rather gullible and malleable stage within their life because they are going through the process of maturing into an adult as well as trying to figure out their own place within society as adulthood nears. The television shows that target teenage audiences such as MTV have a lot of responsibility because they have the means to influence some of the most pliable minds. Corporations like MTV have always been criticized for some of its shows and the various messages it relays to its audience but I don’t think it has ever become clearer than with the airing of jackass that they are willing to harness the attention of teenagers at any expense.

Continuing along the lines of some of the other capitalism/corporation assertions on previous blog postings, I feel that MTV (along with many other company’s) are very greedy and willing to please the masses at any expense. Simply put, the ends justify the means. The shock value of the show is truly one of a kind and made it the success that it has become. As far as American culture is concerned I think the show directly relates to American corporate greed and the need to put out good television at any
cost.

The Popularity of Reality TV in Contemporary American Culture

While reality television shows have been around for quite some time, it has reached an unprecedented amount of popularity in the recent decades due to the information revolution. Because of our increasingly and more readily available access to all sorts of information regarding almost every facet of life we as Americans have adopted a sense of empowerment and have become self-proclaimed experts on all sorts of matters. I think that this sort of empowerment is the reason that reality television has become so popular because it reinforces our heightened sense of expertise and knowledge about everything and allows us to have to apply our thoughts, ideas, and opinions on real social situations presented in these shows.

As I noted in the real housewives entry, the beauty of reality television resides in our ability to actively inspect various aspects of the individuals of these shows and come up with our own opinions and conclusions on their actions. Americans are very much social human beings and are very much magnetized by popular social norms. I feel like the act of watching reality television is a more social event than watching a pre-scripted movie or television series because we are very much forced to derive meaning from real life social situations (often times based on our experiences with our own peers) that are depicted on camera. Elaborating even more on the social nature of reality television it become even more apparent on shows like “American Idol” in which viewers can take an active role in eliminating contestants from the show. Think of reality shows such as Americas Best Dance Crew, American Idol and America’s got talent in which relatively unknown people become reality television stars and reach celebrity-like popularity. Because as Americans we are empowered with all this knowledge provided by the information revolution it makes sense that these shows are consistent with conquering our self-absorbed fantasies.

"We eagerly take on the "empowered" roles of director, of judge, and of celebrity, but are rarely reminded, in the timeless words of Peter Parker in the movie Spiderman, that "with great power comes great responsibility." With all the focus on us, we paradoxically lose a sense of our own place in the larger world. We lose, in short, a sense of our own reality." (talentzoo.com)

I think this is a very powerful statement and wraps up perfectly how American culture currently relates to reality television. With all the do-it-yourself shows and find the best in the world type shows it is obvious that Americans are somewhat narcissistic individuals. We put so much emphasis on conquering, winning, reaching personal goals, that we often lose sight of the bigger picture. Perhaps we should shift the emphasis on ourselves (very much tied into the American dream) and reflect on our responsibilities of being a globally aware citizen.

America and “The Biggest Loser”

The American dream is very much based on individualism and the idea that America provides its inhabitants the freedom to be able to prosper and make there dreams a reality. It has become rather apparent through popular media and government based campaigns that we are an overweight country due to our grandiose consumption habits and lack of physical activity. Perhaps the strong allure to NBC’s hit reality television show “ the biggest loser” is this widespread understanding that we as a nation are largely overweight and this entertaining show provides it’s contestants with the means to carry out their own physical dreams (a part of the American dream), an emotional understanding that really hits home for many Americans. Along with the show serving as a sort of portrayal of regular Americans striving to succeed in their own sort of American dream the show also refers to America as a sort of omnipresent divine being who will guide the contestants along their arduous journey. The show feeds into America’s guilty conscious by reminding us that we have all let ourselves go and have become gluttonous to a certain extent. On the same token, the show reinforces a very nationalistic sort of pride in which American perseverance will allow these contestants to shed the weight and conquer their physical dreams.

The show provides us with the following lessons and insights on American culture:

• -America values entertainment and a good story over the health of the contestants. It is quite obvious that rapid short-term weight-loss due to extreme dieting measures and physical activity is not necessarily the best way to lead a healthy life and change ones physique.
• -Mcdonaldization: Everything in America has become chained or franchised. The show has aired in 15 other countries and takes on the various cultural identities of the host country.
• -American’s sue: Trainer Jillian Michaels from the show has gone to court concerning the presumably dangerous contents of his self-branded dietary supplement. This also reinforces the first point made in that Americans are more concerned with helping people reach their goals at all costs even at the expense of health.
• -Capitalism: The show is ridden with candid in-show advertising by capturing the contestants changing their lives by eating subway and taking certain dietary supplements and working out at a franchised gym.
• -Corporate greed and expansion: “The biggest loser” is not only a television show but has also become a brand that accounted for 50 million in revenue in 2009.
• -The American dream extends to everyone in any situation: Anyone can reach any goal at any point in his or her life. This American way of thinking sounds a bit optimistic to me.

America is all about extremes:

Extreme Makeover (Home Edition): Corporate Charity

Numerous times I have walked into my mothers room to find her bawling her eyes out with a box of tissues lying close by next to her in bed. Alarmed that my mother is crying I ask her what’s wrong and she hopelessly points at the TV and I realize once again she is watching ABC’s hit reality TV show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. The premise behind the show is truly altruistic and fairly simple: find a family who is suffering from ongoing hardships and turn their life around by providing them with a very large house including all the wonderful amenities that a well-off family home would have. People like my mother absolutely love the show because of its appeal to emotion but I on the other hand tend to take a more stolid approach and wonder what exactly the motives are by the producers of this large-scale production.

Almost everyone can agree that reality TV is only true “reality” to a certain extent. I’m sure hours and hours are spent editing the film and tweaking sound bites and making other technological alterations to make the show the beautiful sop story that it is. At some point I begin to wonder where exactly the line is drawn between providing a true philanthropic event verses the formation of good television. American capitalism has unarguably resulted in a greater and growing divide between the rich and the poor.

The same capitalism that fuels and produces shows such as these seems to only add to the problem by using immense amounts of money and resources on a few individuals so that they can jump from an extremely poor environment to a rather upscale environment, completely adding to the overall economic inequalities of the nation. This notion is illustrated by a before and after picture of a home that was redone in the show posted below.

Before:

















After:

















Also playing off of this idea arises the thought that the show could be making a more humble and widespread difference for families across America using the same amount of time and manpower spent on a single family. Unlike my mother I tend to laugh and be cynical when I watch the show rather than empathize and cry with the poor and unfortunates family new and spoiled life.

Masculinity and the Jersey Shore

One of the most popular and overly talked about reality TV shows currently on MTV is the Jersey Shore. Part reason why the show is so fascinating from a college guy's standpoint is that fact that many of the male characters in the show are partaking in the same sort of glorified gender performances that occur on a daily basis at FSU like guys going to the gym to get there 'swell' on, or going to the club with your bro's and macking on ladies, or acting like complete idiots in public with no disregard for anyone around. The show reinforces a hyper masculinity that many younger guys in a college environment can relate to and laugh at.

The dehumanization of women is always present in the guy's weekly sexual conquests as they categorize the ugly females as "grenades" or "hippos" while the good looking girls are usually regarded as "slam-pieces" or something along those lines. The most interesting aspect of this specific Italian masculinity being portrayed in the show is the way in which the guys also embrace many popular female gender roles while still maintaining a very rigid and hardcore masculinity. The grooming habits of the men on the show can be considered slightly feminine in typical American society just in the sheer amount of time spent on self grooming. Mike the Situation explains his reasoning on the premise of "Gym, Tan, Laundry" by explaining that,“ If you don’t go to the gym, you don’t look good. If you don’t tan, you’re pale. If you don’t do laundry, you ain’t got no clothes.” The fact that these "manly' men consider themselves "Guido's" and are full blown members of this Italian subculture, it deflects the attention away from some of their more feminine characteristics and acts. The Guido culture exemplified in the Jersey Shore is a good representation of the complex nature of gender performances and what is deemed as acceptable in mainstream American society.

REAL housewives?

The cable network Bravo is known for having some of the most racy and controversial reality TV shows out there but the Real Housewives series really "takes the cake" in my opinion. I have never kept up with an entire season but I have watched bits and pieces of the show. I often times find myself watching for longer than anticipated because I see these grotesquely rich females parading around in their fancy cars, partaking in high class drama, and squandering on all day shopping sprees and wonder is this REAL life?

The entertainment purpose of the show is not only the riveting high-profile drama that occurs in the swanky restaurants of New York or the exclusive conventions in Atlanta but rather the fact that most people cant even relate to the lifestyle of these individuals in the slightest bit. Although the show is more likely geared towards an on older female audience I will admit that the show has some entertainment value mostly because most normal level headed people like myself love nothing more than critiquing these individuals every dreaded move and making fun of them; the beauty of reality television. It’s amazing how the stereotypical affluence in housewives is represented in a different cultural and geograpphical environment every season. This is exhibited by the pictures of the casts in various seasons below.


The housewives of Atlanta are predominantly African American and much of the show is centered around the African American culture of Atlanta. Name of the housewives are as follows:NeNe Leakes, Kim Zolciak, Sheree Whitfield, Kandi Burruss, Phaedra Parks, Cynthia Bailey.


Notice how the cast becomes considerably more white and their are no African American housewives in this season. Instead the show tries to exploit the stereotypical "jersey girl" with thick jersey accents and other "jersey" mannerisms.Names of the housewives:Teresa Giudice, Caroline Manzo, Jacqueline Laurita, Melissa Gorga, Kathy Wakile.


Being consistent with the other geographically stereotypical seasons Bravo features a group of Miami housewives that are very "Sofla" portraying Spanish women with broken accents and a more tanned and brown skinned cast. Names of the housewives:Larsa Pippen, Adriana De Moura, Marysol Patton, Lea Black, Alexia Echevarrrria, Cristy Rice.

The representations of class are consistent across seasons, featuring some of the wealthiest housewives in American and revealing them as rather "classless" individuals. The Bravo series clearly reinforces many of the racial and class oriented norms of American society to the point where it becomes visually shocking; thus providing entertainment for the masses and the ratings to continue an otherwise awful television show.