Event Title
Love and Hip-Hop?:The Misrepresentation of African-American Women in Reality TV
Location
Diamond 123
Start Date
30-4-2015 9:00 AM
End Date
30-4-2015 11:55 AM
Project Type
Presentation
Description
The reality TV industry, historically, has not addressed issues of race and class overtly. Prominent reality TV shows like The Bachelor, The Apprentice, Survivor, Rat Race, The Real World, and even Americas Next Top Model have not made it a point to highlight the races and classes of the people they document. But a new genre of shows such as VH1's Love and Hip-Hop: Atlanta, and Bravo's The Real Housewives of Atlanta and Blood, Sweat, and Heels, have largely been focused on the lives and experiences of African-American women. There is clearly a growing market for these reality shows as they have become exceedingly popular, so we must question how the racial identities of the cast members affect these shows. This study is focused on understanding how African-American women are portrayed in American reality TV and the particular stereotypes presented in these shows. Through visual and discourse analysis of VH1's Love and Hip-Hop: Atlanta I have found that the show and its portrayals of African-American women largely recreate and reinforce the predominate negative stereotypes of African-American women that have been pervasive in mass media. The American TV industry is bursting at the seams with new reality TV shows, so it is crucial for the future of an ethical and equal TV industry that we acknowledge and end the misrepresentation of African-American women in TV today, and make better representations for TV tomorrow.
Faculty Sponsor
Sonja Thomas
Sponsoring Department
Colby College. Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program
CLAS Field of Study
Interdisciplinary Studies
Event Website
http://www.colby.edu/clas
ID
1723
Love and Hip-Hop?:The Misrepresentation of African-American Women in Reality TV
Diamond 123
The reality TV industry, historically, has not addressed issues of race and class overtly. Prominent reality TV shows like The Bachelor, The Apprentice, Survivor, Rat Race, The Real World, and even Americas Next Top Model have not made it a point to highlight the races and classes of the people they document. But a new genre of shows such as VH1's Love and Hip-Hop: Atlanta, and Bravo's The Real Housewives of Atlanta and Blood, Sweat, and Heels, have largely been focused on the lives and experiences of African-American women. There is clearly a growing market for these reality shows as they have become exceedingly popular, so we must question how the racial identities of the cast members affect these shows. This study is focused on understanding how African-American women are portrayed in American reality TV and the particular stereotypes presented in these shows. Through visual and discourse analysis of VH1's Love and Hip-Hop: Atlanta I have found that the show and its portrayals of African-American women largely recreate and reinforce the predominate negative stereotypes of African-American women that have been pervasive in mass media. The American TV industry is bursting at the seams with new reality TV shows, so it is crucial for the future of an ethical and equal TV industry that we acknowledge and end the misrepresentation of African-American women in TV today, and make better representations for TV tomorrow.
https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/clas/2015/program/399