Making Over Reality (Re: [lbo-talk] Queen for a Day: My Gay Makeover)

Kelley the-squeeze at pulpculture.org
Mon Jul 14 17:32:51 PDT 2003


At 07:29 PM 7/14/03 -0400, you wrote:


>On Mon, 14 Jul 2003, Liza Featherstone wrote:
> > Also, I think it's a sign of progress that straight men are realizing they
> > may not always have the privilege of looking bad. When women "needed" men
> > more, economically and socially, they had to accept them no matter how
> > terrible (sloppy, badly dressed/groomed) they looked.

What I was thinking last night as I was watching a reality makeover show was that this is an interesting phenom. What is it with making things over. First, there was the wildly popular home improvement shows on TLC. Rooms in homes or landscaping are given a make over: Trading Spaces (which has a brit counterpart, I think) and While You Were Out. Reality TV where you can actually learn a little bit, though surely not much.

The latest on the same cable channel are about making over people--and now Bravo's show. I can't wait because I wonder if it will have the same flagellation/redemption theme going on.

Both of these shows are trying to make it appear that the person being made over is somewhat traumatized, if not brutalized by the experience. It's about some sort of flagellation/redemption thing.

The first show, What Not to Wear, is about making over some poor frumpy chixor who like sweatshirts and 6 yr old birks or the Long Island housewife with a penchant for sequins and holiday appropriate attire (i.e., pumpkins sweaters at halloween) or successful business guy who still buys thrift and in bulk. For the life of me i can't remember the name of it.

the other, i just caught last night: Faking It.

First episode. Middle/Upper middle class Harvard grad, geeky, physics loving attractive hip urbanite chixor learns to become a cheerleader. Goal: with three weeks of training in technique, style, personality, comportment, diction, etc. see if you can be a cheerleader in front of a panel of experts and win a competition with other real cheerleaders.

ditto for Mr. Beer, the kind of guy who had a nickname that =reflected his love of bodily noises. Not a complete slob, middle class, nice home, nice kids, nice family. not upper level she she but definitely a nice life. Mr Beer spends three weeks visiting wineries, reading books, tasting, getting schooled by mentors, yadda in order to try to pass himself off as a somalier.

Anyway, I wonder if Bravo has this flagellation/redemption theme going on or what.

Kelley



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