Blog #13: America’s Next Top Model: Legendary or Problematic?
By: Jessica Mongare
Most remember the reality TV show “America’s Next Top Model'' hosted by Tyra Banks. The show focused on a group of aspiring models and faced them with challenges to see who would win the competition and become America’s Next Top Model.
Although the show was loved by many, so many problematic and controversial events took place on the show. For instance, for every season Tyra Banks forced the contestants to get makeovers and change their hair (cut or dye their hair). And in fear of being eliminated, these contestants had no choice but to do what was directed.
Another example of the scandals that took place was during Cycle 4. One of the challenges consisted of the models switching “races”. Ultimately, blackface had appeared in the episode and stirred so much controversy later on.
Also, during Cycle 5, Tyra criticized a model for being openly gay and expressing her sexuality. Kim Stolz said to Tyra and other judges Jay Manuel and J. Alexander, “I want to be out. I’m gay and I’m really proud of it.”. Tyra responded “Like, I’m black and proud. But I’m not walking down the red carpet like, “I’m black, I’m black.”.
In conclusion, there are so many other scandals that took place on the show that I haven’t listed. Revisiting and finally addressing all the problems with the show made me so disgusted and angry. What are your opinions on ANTM and the controversy behind it? Do you think Tyra Banks should take the blame for all the scandals?
Wow, Jess! Talk about a throwback. I remember watching this show religiously (the early seasons), but lost interest as the series got drawn out for so long. I do remember some of these "questionable" moments, and I have to admit, many of us did not realize how problematic they truly were. Yes, we knew that blackface was a horrible thing. But somehow seeing it in the context of 'high fashion' allowed us to accept it or overlook it. Or maybe just not realize it. Terrible, I know.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we can blame it on the 'different time' we were living in during the '00s. But that's a lazy excuse. The reality is, we have all grown tremendously (as a society and culture) in the last few years and are now aware of our own ignorance. Shows like ANTM do NOT age well when you point out some of these offensive aspects of the show. That doesn't take away the show's entertainment factor, though - as it was super fun and interesting to watch when the contestants were not subjected to such cringe.
That said, I don't blame Tyra, the contestants, or the audience for accepting these controversies as entertainment. The blame lies somewhere in the middle....
Nice topic!
I've been seeing this topic a lot on twitter, I'm glad the show is finally being exposed for being so problematic. Tyra Banks should definitely take blame for allowing any of it, but it wasn't just her, the blame should be spread out between the other judges and everyone who was in charge of the show too.
ReplyDelete-Brianna Torres
If she's the one hosting the show, she has the final say most likely. Therefore, she definitely should be taking the blame and responsibility for allowing offensive content to be aired.
ReplyDelete-Franco Jimenez
I never knew about the controversies of ANTM until I watched some videos that were recommended on YouTube. Tyra did seem a little too aggressive towards the models and was way too harsh on her comments. Very hotheaded and too quick to react. She never seemed to be considerate of others. I think Tyra Banks should take the blame and accountability for the scandals but the blame shouldn't just be placed on her. There were many other people who could've intervened and stopped the blackface. The camera crew, directors, and other helpers of the show should admit that they should've talked to Tyra about her attitude as well as mistreatment of models. Though Tyra was the main one to create scandals, somebody could've given her a wake-up call to reality.
ReplyDelete-Natalie Munoz
Looking back I never realized how problematic this show was but I didn't really watch it that much. In my opinion I don't think Tyra should be blamed for all the scandals on that show I think the producers and people who allowed episodes like that to be aired should all be held accountable.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Tyra takes part in some of the blame but she was probably just doing her job. The producers of the show should be the one's to be blamed the most, they were more focused on producing entertainment and didn't realize the bigger picture of the problems they were creating. Since times has changed people are starting so realize how much problems the show brought but at the end of the day Tyra shouldn't be the only one to blame.
ReplyDelete-Ikenna Onyegbule
ive seen this on twitter and social media for a while. I think Tyra should be blamed because some of the things she does on the show is very extreme for the girls and to be honest its harsh. She makes the girls cry sometimes and ive seen that one girl passed out on stage. She needs to take it easy with how she treats them. Some of the former models want to come out and expose her but tyras legal team is "Stopping" the former models from doing that to stop tyra from getting exposed.
ReplyDeleteThis really put models in a bad light because this showed only The Superficial version of the model industry. The "pretty", the cookie cutter version of model. I think something that needs to be addressed along with the black face was that these people put these models in danger. The modeling industry now is very much more supportive because that's not the only thing there is also Instagram modeling and people like Ashley Graham. And of course top model Adut Akech who was born in Africa. So we're now allowing diversity but thrive in this environment.
ReplyDelete-Oluwakemi Akanle
I used to be obsessed with this show when I was younger, and I have recently been re watching some of the seasons. I never noticed how messed up some of the challenges were and how mentally draining this show must have been for the models. The modeling industry is definitely very intense, however, this show really takes it to a new level of difficulty. I do think that Tyra's attitude throughout the show was very degrading almost, but I also do think that some of the blame also has to be put towards the creators and the producers.
ReplyDelete-Olivia Reina
I think this stems to a deeper issue of people willing to watch this. These types of shows are made to be controversial in order to increase rating and are willing to destroy lives and reputations in the process. Our whole system of media is based on numbers instead of content and whenever people dislike a video, it still counts as a view, giving the company more money.
ReplyDelete