The cast of Gossip Girl, barely recognizable through the multiple layers of airbrushing
As I’ve mentioned before, last school year the Korean foreign exchange student would visit my desk at least once a week to practice her English conversation (which was exponentially greater than the English abilities of the Japanese students). What this really meant is that every week for one or two hours I had to talk about the latest developments in her favorite TV show: Gossip Girl.
Now, I am not a fan of Gossip Girl. The latest reincarnation of Beverly Hills 90210/Melrose Place/The OC (which are all essentially the exact same show), Gossip Girl has the ability to immediately fill me with rage and frustration within the first 10 minutes of the show. Even the clothing and the fashion (which is very cool, I admit) is not enough to justify putting myself through the torture that is Gossip Girl. I’m fairly confident that I would enjoy self-flagellation more than watching this show.
So this is why American television induces vomiting...
However, when my student walked up to my desk and asked me how old I was when I lost my virginity, it was immediately clear that I was going to need to watch this show if I wanted to be able to talk about its representation of American culture without accidentally crossing over some invisible boundary of what constitutes an acceptable teacher/student relationship. At the very least, watching each week’s episode would help me anticipate the wacky questions that she would ask me. So, dear readers, when you picture me watching Gossip Girl alone in my apartment on my computer, I would like you to imagine a scenario similar to Malcolm McDowell’s behavioral-conditioning scene in A Clockwork Orange.
Watching all of those episodes of Gossip Girl really made me start to think about American TV programming and the role it plays in the international perception of the United States. My first reaction was, “This is absolutely terrible! American culture is nothing at all like Gossip Girl! No wonder people have such a negative perception of the United States!!”
But then, I started thinking…
How accurate is the image of American culture that is found in our domestic TV programming?
My conclusion: It’s not that far off.
Don’t get me wrong here, most American teenagers are nothing like Serena van der Woodsen, Blair Waldorff or their assorted sexual partners. The average American does not live in a materialistic fantasy world comprised entirely of plush hotel rooms, swanky bars and flattering lighting. But, when you buff away the shiny veneer of brand-name goods and trust funds that are deeper than the bottomless hole from The Abyss, what are you left with?
Alcohol, Sex, and Petty Drama.
Maybe I am not very representative of the ‘average Amurican,’ but that seems to describe both my high school and college fairly accurately.
Before you freak out, let me assure you that I was much too busy being the President of the Video Game Club, parading around with a copy of Colin Wilson’s The Outsider, and calling everyone a ‘philistine’ to have anything to do with such lowbrow activities. But, if I remember correctly, high school and college was a time when everybody either was having sex with someone else’s boyfriend/girlfriend, intoxicated on alcohol or on the bottle of prescription medication they stole from their mom’s medicine cabinet, or crashing the cars that Mommy and Daddy bought for their Sweet 16. And by ‘everybody,’ I of course mean ‘The Cool Kids.’
But even if American TV doesn’t accurately portray the average American’s life, it does portray what a large amount of Americans wish their lives could be. And that, in and of itself, is pretty indicative of American culture.
The assumption that TV shows like Gossip Girl are built upon is simple: If you are beautiful, then the world is your oyster. Beauty is the only thing that matters. Even money is secondary, because if you are pretty enough and willing to stab all of your friends in the back on you mad climb up the social ladder, then you can get whatever you want. Being intelligent, considerate, or a generally decent human is irrelevant.
Which brings me (in a very roundabout way) to the true subject of this blog entry:
ABC’s television show True Beauty. (Which is now in its second season, indicating that enough people watched the first season to justify funding another one.)
The best ABC summer programming has to offer: True Beauty
True Beauty seems like your average reality-TV beauty contest – ten beautiful men and women are selected to complete a series of pointless challenges to see who is the most beautiful.
But wait! ~ There’s a twist! While these contestants compete among themselves to become the most beautiful, the judges (and a truckload of security cameras) will be testing them on their inner beauty.
Basically, ABC has gathered ten of the most vapid, shallow individuals imaginable and will test their ability to pass the most basic morality tests imaginable. I’m talking about morality tests that most animals with no higher brain function could pass without batting a mascara-encrusted eyelash.
It’s immediately obvious that there are several huge flaws in this show:
- First, it’s questionable that someone with any redeeming qualities whatsoever would even apply to be on a show like this. Thus, it is obvious by the end of the first episode that NONE of the contestants should win this contest.
- Second, the contestants are competing to win be the new “Face of Las Vegas.” Wait, ABC is testing the morality of the new “Face of Las Vegas?” Doesn’t that seem like a bit of an oxymoron to you? I mean, they are competing to represent a city whose very existence is dependent on how well it embodies qualities like instant gratification, overindulgence and questionable morality.
- And, third, none of the contestants are in any way representative of natural beauty. Each participant seems to have been cast due to their ability to conform to a simple two/three word stereotype. Dumb peroxide blond. Greasy Italian. Bitchy Asian chick. Douche bag fratboy. All of the contestants represent such an artificial caricature of beauty that it’s fairly obvious they would have difficulty being hired for any modeling/acting/vaguely aesthetically-pleasing job.
In all honesty, I’m a little confused about what the point of this show is. At first, I thought it was just a flimsy excuse to make fun of beautiful people. The fundamental concept of this show depends on the ability of the camera crew to catch the contestants doing horrible things on camera. How stupid and self-absorbed to you have to be to, for example, steal clothing when you know that you are being followed around by cameras?
Contestant Amy: "It's all downhill after 25."
The average ABC viewer can switch on an episode of True Beauty and be reassured of their moral/intellectual superiority. Even though the women have $20,000 breast implants and the men have washboard abs, they all lack the basic survival instincts of a cockroach and are thus losers.
But, it quickly became clear to me that True Beauty completely buys into the one thing that it is supposed to stand against – superficiality. In the first episode, the girl who stole her entire outfit actually won the challenge and got to stay while the guy who had the only creative and entertaining outfit was eliminated. Granted, he also stole, but that kind of seems like a moot point after they let the girl win. I’m fairly certain that the contestants would seriously consider killing one another if it would improve their chances of winning and they thought they could get away with it. And, frankly, that would make for a much more interesting reality TV show – kind of like Clue meets MTV’s Real World.
Ultimately, True Beauty just reinforces the same propaganda as Gossip Girl – if you’re beautiful and willing to act like a generally abhorrent person, you can have whatever you want. Sure, the audience gets to snicker at the unbelievably stupid behavior of the True Beauty contestants for 30 minutes, but in reality the show is just an hour long montage of artificially-enhanced breasts, toned bodies that haven’t consumed a single carbohydrate since the age of 15 (with the exception of alcohol), and enough hair care products to contaminate the water supply of a medium-sized suburb.
Is this really what true beauty means in America? No wonder everyone else in the world thinks Americans are vapid, materialistic morons. Because according to shows like this, we are.
Tags: american TV, constantine in tokyo, constantineintokyo, gossip girl, reality television, reality TV, true beauty, TV
Kelly
Stuff like this depresses me. Due to all America’s “realistic” movies, half the outside world thinks we all own guns, all have short tempers, and beauty gets us everywhere. (The depressing reality about the latter statement is Hollywood runs everyones lives, I can’t stand how such useless people are the topic of every day discussion, over, how about, something productive?)
I have heard more on one occasion that some Japanese students are reluctant to meet and speak with Americans because of the perceived stereotypes coming from Hollywood. However it is comforting to say those same students change their mind immediately after actually meeting any. Still, it’s depressing to think a lot of the world still thinks that most American guys are like Bruce Willis and girls are like Paris Hilton.
constantineintokyo
The worst stereotype that I have encountered about America while I have been in Japan is “America is extremely dangerous/violent.” There were a few famous incidents of young Japanese people being killed in America that were widely reported on by the Japanese media and many Japanese people interpreted that as “If you go to America, you run the risk of being killed.” This mindset is much more prevalent than I thought it would be –
We were talking about the differences between American and Japanese hand gestures in my advanced English class. There was an illustration of a guy holding up his middle finger, so I explained that this means F— You and is not something that my students should do. The Japanese English teacher chimed in and said, “Yes, if you do you might get shot!” This is coming from a man who has studied English most of his life, has met many American people and traveled to America at least three times. And one of those trips was two months long! So, it really surprised me that he still had that image of America stuck in his brain.
It is fairly amusing that this Japanese English teacher thinks that all Americans are carrying around concealed weapons and are ready to start firing away when someone flips them the bird, but it’s also pretty disturbing that this image is so prevalent. =/
C
That’s why ABC’s catch phrase is “a new kind of ……”. They use that phrase to describe the new way of living that they are producing, which basically, if you boil the drama out of it, is alcohol, sex, and vanity. It just leaves you with garbage TV that, in this case, is just postmodernism sprinkled with plastic surgery and makeup. Everyone will, sooner or later, shrivel up and die, so what is the point for seeking this kind of beauty? Beside that, our petty definition of beauty is so messed up and wrong that we confuse true beauty with Pamela Anderson.
Have you read Pilgrim’s Progress and Pilgrim’s Regress?
constantineintokyo
I really loved that you described it as ‘postmodernism sprinkled with plastic surgery and makeup.’ Wish I had thought of that! It’s spot on.
No, I haven’t read Pilgrim’s Progress or Pilgrim’s Regress – how does C.S. Lewis’s spiritual search for Christianity apply to this? I’m very intrigued now…looks like I’ll have to read it!
ohdrahcir
Awesome and level headed post! I also have no clue what these dumb shows are trying to prove. Even when shows like True Beauty and films like Sex and the City 2 come off as pure fantasy, they still depict a false sense of self image to an easily manipulated public, like thin models on magazine covers. And they can’t successfully poke fun at something superficial such as this and think they’re clever about it in proving the opposite because television, film, and magazines are so visually manipulative. At the end of the day, regardless of their well intentions, these depictions of glamor through sex, excess, and “beauty” are really just propaganda first and ethics second, except ethics is buried in so much visual illiteracy that it seldom gets its message out clearly.
That image of Alex from Clockwork Orange being conditioned is the perfect visual cue for 21st century’s brainwashing of the American public and of the corruption of the world’s perception of the American culture.
constantineintokyo
As much as I’d like to think that the image of Alex from Clockwork Orange is representative of our conditioning by mass media and consumer culture, I don’t think its accurate. For the most part, I think that Americans are willing recipients of this conditioning. The popularity of shows like True Beauty, America’s Next Top Model, The Swan (the most grotesque show in the history of American television, in my opinion) and every single show on MTV is proof of this.
I know for a fact that I have been influenced by it. Even though I can sit back and criticize these kinds of shows, and even though I know that every single image I see in magazines and online has been manipulated by Photoshop (or ‘retouched’), I still feel pressure to try and conform to some of these standards of beauty. That’s why I can be a size 6 and still feel like I need to ‘be skinnier.’ Though, moving to Japan hasn’t exactly helped with my body image either! =P
ohdrahcir
I guess I just imagine mass media being capable of subversively conditioning us as early as when we’re able to comprehend complexities. It’s become such a big part of our culture’s make up that we can all be doomed to a way of thinking before we even know what hit us. But I completely agree that we’re all willing recipients to a degree. I know I’m also not immune to influences of mass media. If it’s not body image, then it’s fashion, or status, or wealth, or whatever. It’s in what we decide to let influence us that really says what we want about ourselves.
Funny that you mentioned America’s Next Top Model because I immediately remember that one particular season where the models went to Japan that had an influence on me. The show never sold me on the looks of the models except I surprised myself when I fell pretty hard for the one model who had a degenerative eye condition that would cause her to go blind in a few years. I happened upon that one episode when that bit of “character” was revealed by her and I just watched it every week until the end because I actually cared about what happened to that girl. Whether or not that was a genuine concern, or if the show wanted her to play up that aspect of herself didn’t really mattered to me. If it was an illusion, it certainly succeeding in evoking sympathy from me. I still think I got duped in the end, but it was certainly something worth falling for I guess. 🙂
constantineintokyo
I watched that season of America’s Next Top Model too! I remember banging my head against a wall when the models couldn’t read the Japanese dialog off of queue cards for the Campbell Soup commercial. Come on, it couldn’t be THAT hard! It was also amusing when they tricked them into eating umeboshi…ah, good times…
atheistwithfaith
I suppose this is slightly tangentical but I think you would find “Amusing Ourselves to Death” by Neil Postman quite interesting (if you haven’t already read it). It follows the idea that Huxley’s Brave New World paints a more accurate reality than the oft quoted 1984 by George Orwell. It basically deals with the idea that as a society we are controlled by the media blitzing us with meaningless and vacuous ideologies to which we are encouraged to subscribe.
A very good cartoon summing up the ideas in the book:
http://www.ixix.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/2009-05-Amusing-Ourselves-to-Death.png
constantineintokyo
That’s a pretty disturbing comic strip…down right chilling, actually…
nessa
Hey Constantine,
A LOT (meaning pretty much every single one male and female) of my Asian students (Chinese, Korean and Japanese) that I private tutor here in MTL watch Gossip Girl.
I bit the bullet and watched Season 1 so I could follow. Getting some of the them to talk is hard enough so being able to have them describe to me each episode seemed like a good place to start.
Anyways, I ended up falling for Chuck and so now watch it for pleasure as much as for my students. Though I REALLY hate this season, the previous two were pretty good. And yes, the fashion/designs on the show are great but I just like how it seems to make fun of itself. I do also find that there are a lot of expressions that come up and the students can pick them up quickly.
In their defence, it would be hard to watch a serious drama with little “action” and all talk and learn another language. I think my students like the fact that they know who is sleeping with who as so can tell and figure out who is saying what by catching words if not understanding everything. I think it is the most important skill to learn – how to survive without understanding everything – so if Gossip Girl does it well why not have fun enjoying seeing the new hairband of the week.
It is shallow but all my students and myself seem to know that from the get go.
Anyhu, in other news I got my placement – Shizuoka City, right by the ocean. I am moments from Shizuoka University. You asked me to let you know when I knew.
constantineintokyo
Yeah, I think the shallowness of the show is pretty obvious and it does seem to be a pretty effective way of studying English. The problem I encountered was that my student kept amusing that it was a fairly accurate portrayal of life in American high schools and asking me to verify it. Then I had to figure out the best way to answer her…and round and round it goes. =P
Shizuoka City? Thanks actually surprising close (geographically speaking) to where I am, I can see the Shizuoka peninsula from my island. It sounds like a great placement! Congrats!
Giuseppe Flavio
Hello Constantine,
I reached your blog some time ago while searching a review for Harakiri (a very good movie), and I checked it now for further reviews (I’ll try Versus). But I also found this interesting post, so I’ll comment on it. I’m Italian and here the TV is full of US made movies and serials (all dubbed), while US TV shows are mostly unknown. So, the image the average Italian gets about USA comes mostly from movies and serials and I find this image quite depressing (many others won’t share this view) for the following reasons:
1) In the USA everything is black or white (exclusive or): there are the good guys, that are so good to be nauseating, and the bad guys that are so bad to be (involuntarily) comical, there are the winners and the losers. But reality has many shades of greys and many other colors, this black and white worldview is childish. In real life sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, being a full-time winner or a full time loser is extremely rare.
2) These movies and serials are so full of stereotypes to be easily predictable, and consequently boring. So one gets a stereotypical image of US people. Obviously these stereotypes can’t be real, but it looks like many people try to conform with them.
I’ve also noticed that, mutatis mutandis, point 1) and 2) holds for the US press and US public opinion (renaming french fries to freedom fries comes to mind).
On the other hand, US peoples are not seen as especially violent here in Italy.
I’m also starting to realise that the concepts of beauty for Italians and Americans are diverging. I don’t find Contestant Amy (I suppose she is the “Bitchy Asian chick”) a beauty by any standard, she looks a quite ordinary girl with a lot of makeup. Similarly, I don’t find the “Russian Mata Hari” Anna Chapman to be such a stunning beauty as suggested by the media fuss around her. She’s a nice girl but nothing exceptional, she wouldn’t stand a chance to became Miss Russia.
constantineintokyo
Hi Giuseppe, Thanks for reading my blog. I hope you continue to find it interesting! I have to agree with your points about American TV, movies, and culture in general. TV and movies do tend to reduce everything to good/bad and black/white (it’s easier that way) and Americans in general tend to view the world along those lines (once again, it’s easier that way). It’s very unfortunate and American TV/movies are getting continually worse because of it. I’m not sure I really understand the current American conception of beauty – it’s dominated by plastic surgery and photoshop and is consequently very, very fake. =/
Giuseppe Flavio
Thanks to you for the blog, I enjoy both the movie reviews and the posts about Japan and other foreign cultures. You’re right when you say that’s easier to see the world black and white, for every issue there is always a simple, easy and wrong solution.
I think this ubiquitous (at least in the West) worldview is the reason that makes many westerners believe that Japanese are bushido fanatics. I don’t speak Japanese and I’ve never been in Japan, all I know on Japan comes from Japanese movies and a few things I’ve read about Japanese history but this limited knowledge doesn’t fit with the above mentioned stereotype.
BTW, I like Japanese movies mostly because they’re not the usual good guy vs bad guy story.
elie
hey great blog post yet again, personally i couldn’t be bothered to watch any of these shows to form an opinion on them.
also that comic on Huxley was great.
i was wondering if you could review one of the greatest film of all time
The good, the bad and the ugly.
the music in that film is great and just adds to the tension between all the characters.
constantineintokyo
Oh dear god, The Good The Bad and The Ugly is one of the best films ever!!
I want to do a review on it, and probably will very soon, but I’m afraid that whole review will just be me restating the sentence ‘This movie is awesome!’ over and over again.