Since its invention, television has been one of the most influential forms of media to date. As tv sets grew in popularity and became a standard household item, they also become a learning tool for audiences as well. To some extent, television provides an essential framework of knowledge, and our view of society and reality, in general, is shaped by the perceptions on what and even who we watch. The issue with this is that the lines between “reality television” and actual reality become blurred, and it becomes increasingly difficult to make distinctions between both. Throughout this paper, we will examine the extent to which media represents the world in which we live. We do so by analyzing the reality tv show Toddlers and Tiaras in comparison with the news program Good Morning America. Comparing and contrasting the differences and similarities between the two, we will attempt to determine how the evaluation of This is the premise of Toddlers and Tiaras on TLC, a reality competition show that pits young girls against one another as they compete for the crown, title, prizes and cash. Following select individuals each week, the show follows the little pageant queens and their families as they travel across the country to compete in pageants in a variety of different states. False eyelashes, spray tans, flippers (fake teeth) wigs, and sparkly costumes are just one of the aspects of the show. While the premise of Toddlers and Tiaras details the contestants parading across the stage in all their made up glory to be judged on beauty, personality, talent, and costumes. Drama is imminent as the competition grows fierce, and the families of the contents lament about the struggles and sacrifices they have made to get to this point. Part fantasy and part reality, viewers, connect with the show and assess the possibility of particular occurrences similarly occurring in their
This article talked about the fascination of reality vs. illusion. The article examined the media’s current fascination manufactured reality. The article said “in our modern world where every channel seems to have its own version of a reality show, we are inundated with the media’s version of what is real. There is a reason why there are so many of these shows on the airwaves, and that is viewers can’t seem to get enough of them.” The article also talks about how the hunger games draws the children.
In “Toddlers In Tiaras” Skip Hollandsworth purpose is to get readers to understand Pageants are fun but can also be dangerous many predators attend them to seek out their next victim. Pageants can be very overwhelming and sometimes affects the participants in the long run. His exigency is the unknowing exploitation of little girls who are decorated with makeup, fancy clothes, and extensions added to their hair and the death of JonBenet Ramsey was taken serious but is believed to be a consequence of being in a pageant. “We love the beautiful dresses and the big hairstyles. We love the bling and makeup. We love our girls showing lots and lots of style, and we love seeing them sparkle”(Annette Hill). In the article Skip is speaking to many types of audiences.
How much of television is comprised of real life? By examining one show within its context, one can find the answer. Reality is reflected in the themes; rhetorical strategies; and audience, importance, and popularity. By examining the situational comedy series: Drake and Josh, a popular teen show from 2004, it is possible to see how reality shapes television. Drake and Josh is centered around two brothers in San Diego, California: Drake and Josh. Drake is portrayed as the suave, charming, bad boy in a band. He gets all the girls, leaving Josh in the dust. Josh is a nerdy brainiac, who has an unhealthy infatuation with Oprah Winfrey. They also have a meteorologist father and a kooky mother. Plus, a younger sister who painfully pranks them in
Reality based television has a broad landscape ranging from competitive game-like shows to programs following the daily lives of a group of people. Every major network now has some form of reality programming because the genre’s shows are high in viewership and require low costs for production. The genre is appealing to viewers because it provides them with a first-hand look into the lives of everyday people, which allows them to observe social behavior that helps them determine what is appropriate or not (Tyree, 2011, p. 397). Since the majority of modern reality stars start out as unknowns, frequent viewers of reality programming believed that fame is obtainable if they appear on a popular show (Mendible, 2004). According to Mendible’s evaluation of the genre in the article Humiliation, Subjectivity, and Reality TV, people enjoy reality programs beca...
Have you ever watched the show "Toddlers and Tiaras" before? To sum up "Toddlers and Tiaras" it's a TV show that gives us a view on how child beauty pageants really are. The author of the article "Toddlers and Tiaras" Skip Hollandsworth is an award winning journalist who is currently the executive editor in Texas Monthly Magazine. Hollandsworth uses a lot of ethos, pathos and logos throughout the article to prove his point, which is how child beauty pageants are affecting little girls (around the age of six years old) mentally. Ethos means credibility, Pathos means to produce emotion and finally Logos means logic or facts. Throughout the article Hollandsworth explains and describes how these "beauty pageants" are affecting little girls (around the age of six) mentally and how they become insecure of themselves.
She grabs the foundation and smothers her face with it; she creates a mask. She sprays the hairspray till the fumes clog the air. She squeezes into her bejeweled dress and puts on her heels. She transforms into someone who is unrecognizable, and fake. This is a little girl. The process of preparing for a beauty pageant is very demanding and stressful while little girls spend hours training and getting ready for their appearance on stage. Weeks are spent choreographing their dance routines and thousands of dollars are spent on, “glitzy” dresses, fake teeth, and spray tans. As long as beauty pageants for girls under the age of 16 continue, there will be an increase in mental and physical issues, an increase in the objectification of women, and there will be negative impacts for little girls.
In the television show Toddlers & Tiaras, one can view all the beauty treatments these girls go through. At ages as young as three, the parents make them wax body hair, get spray tans, get their teeth whitened, dying their hair, and so many other painful enhancements. The children will cry and complain about the pain but the parents brush it off and state that beauty is pain (Toddlers & Tiaras). A huge thing that these parents do is require their children to receive fake teeth that are known as “flippers;” the girls go through a long, uncomfortable process of getting them created and many of them feel uncomfortable while wearing them for performances. “Some parents even encourage their children to have plastic surgery in order to perfect their pageant looks. Younger girls undergo cosmetic surgeries, and have their teeth corrected prematurely” (Lieberman 756). Pageant parents are excessive when it comes to preparation for a simple competition and they are willing to put their child through any pain to win. These caregivers are also abusing their child with the large amounts of sugar and caffeine that are forced to be consumed to stay awake during a pageant. “Pixie Stix, a sugar-based candy, commonly known in the industry as ‘pageant crack’ is one standard method parents use to keep their pageant princesses full of energy”
“Toddlers and Tiaras” is a television show originally aired on TLC, capturing the preparations and day of activates for a glitz pageants. Participants in these pageants are usually girls ranging in age from months old to teens.
Child beauty pageants have been a part of American society since the 1960’s. These pageants consist of modeling swimwear, evening attire, dance and talent. The young children entered in the pageants are judged on perfection, confidence, capability and looks. Judges would call this “the complete package.” Children are divided into different age groups to make the pageants fair. They are guided by there parents who spend well over 200 dollars for the pageants. Money is spent on fake nails, hair extensions, makeup, clothing, eyebrow waxing, and anything else their parents are willing to do to make their child the best looking. Keep in mind that these little girls range from ages 1-12. The issues with these pageants are that these extremely young girls are beginning to compare themselves to other “prettier” girls, which leads to negative effects in the future.
Lights, camera, pouty lips welcome to the four dimensional world of children 's beauty pageants. Over the years, child pageants have become a hot topic gaining a great deal of delight from numerous people around the world. From having a strong standing, ongoing fan base that keeps the hit TLC TV show Toddlers and Tiaras; on air to having some of Americans ' favorite beauty queens making guest appearances on shows such as the Ellen Show. Regretfully, the idea of putting an end to child pageants has become somewhat of a hotter topic than the pageants themselves. People often put down what they do not understand why dress a child like that? Why all the make-up? What some do not seem to understand is that there are advantages to being a beauty
In one episode of the now discontinued tv show that had 103 episodes (IMDb, 2013), Toddlers and Tiaras, a 3 year old girl dressed up in an outfit modeled after Julia Roberts’ character in Pretty Woman. This 3 year old, dressed as a prostitute flounced along the stage waving to the judges with hands on her hips. (Canning, 2011). Another example of celebrity mimicry for these pageants which sexualize these children that has been aired on Toddlers and Tiaras is when a 6 year old was stuffed into a padded bra in order to dress up as a busty Dolly Parton (Adams, 2012). These pageants then become a breeding ground for dangerous predators, Kidscape, an organization which attempts to prevent the bullying of children, CEO Claude Knights tells the Guardian Magazine ‘"We do know that predators or paedophiles continually tend to justify their interest in children by saying children are sexual beings. That children are now given a channel to become little Lolitas, to be portrayed as older, to almost become mini adults – these are all trends that give legitimacy to that kind of thinking."’ (Day, 2010). The phenomenon of sexual predators making child pageants unsafe has even infiltrated pop culture and has been spoken about in TV shows like It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and in many documentaries such as America the Beautiful: Sexualizing our Youth. These young girls are put on stage and are given things like fake teeth, fake eyelashes and spray tans in order to look older, this is a thinly veiled opportunity to make children look sexy in the same way that 25 year olds looks sexy. Ignoring the looming threat of abuse, dressing and giving a child other beauty enhancements in order to make them look attractive in a way that America traditionally sees adults as attractive robs the children of childhood and will cause them to
The tension is building. It is almost time for her to go on stage. Everything, from head to toe, is double checked to make sure it is perfect. Her make-up is flawless. The foundation covers any unevenness in skin tone, while the blush gives her cheeks a nice rosy glow. Eye shadow, mascara, and false eyelashes have been applied. Lipstick and lip gloss contribute to the pout of her lips. Her hair has been curled, teased, placed in an upswept hairdo, and heavily sprayed with hair spray to keep the hair in place during her performance. The costume is custom made with lots of sequins and beads to catch the light and sparkle when she performs her dance routine. Her name is announced, and the four year old child struts out onto the stage, smiling and swinging her feather boa to the tune of some sexually suggestive song. All little girls dream about winning a beauty pageant and wearing a tiara, but have child pageants exploited that dream?
What do clouds of hairspray, false eyelashes, glamorous dresses, overbearing mothers, and youthful faces caked in makeup all have in common? Most of these things can be found at child beauty pageants. Every year hundreds of thousands of hopeful children compete to win crowns, trophies, and money. These children range from as young as six months to sixteen years of age. This multibillion dollar industry has gained fame rapidly in the past decade with the TLC show “Toddlers & Tiaras” and also America’s hyper sweetheart and star of her own TLC show “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo”, Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson. While dolling up young girls and boys to strut on stage is becoming the norm in America, the French have already banned child beauty pageants
Imagine waking up early to get ready after weeks of rehearsals and spray tans, hours and hundreds of dollars spent on a short, sparkling dresses, heels, and at times revealing outfits. Kids are seated for hours to do hair and makeup, and last minute preparations; parents make sure they do not become impatient so, they hand their child a juice box to calm them down. However, this isn’t helpful for a 5 year old being forced to participate in pageants in order to make her parents happy and boastful that their child has won the “Grand Title”. Some parents, in order to win these prizes, have to hide their childrens’ imperfections with heavy make-up, spray tans, and flippers (fake teeth) to make judges see them as a flawless. Parents have entered their children into these activities before the age of one!
Parents of the pageant world dont always understand how provocative and wrong it is to dress their children up in show outfits or giving the child additives to make them look better. Sadly, some parents find this ‘cute’ or ‘fun’. They don't seem to understand how doing this to their children can change their attitudes in a negative way as they grow up. For example, some parents have dressed their children up as Dolly Parton, the ‘street walker’ from pretty woman, and much more. A pageant mom quoted this “I’d rather she be perfect and have a little frozen face. Some people say her eyebrows look a little pulled already but they look striking” (Child Beauty Pageants are Abuse). This type of behavior from a parent should not be acceptable. Another pageant mom who is a trained beautician said this “I’ll make her frown before injecting, which helps identify a potential wrinkle.” (Child Beauty Pag...