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Performing Race in Flavor of Love and The Bachelor

2008; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 25; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/15295030802327774

1529-5036

Rachel E. Dubrofsky, Antoine Hardy,

Theater, Performance, and Music History

Abstract Using the reality TV (RTV) shows Flavor of Love and The Bachelor, we ask how the space of RTV is raced. Might the use of surveillance footage and reliance on notions of authenticity create a space where people constructed as a certain race are privileged? Are the qualities valorized in a participant on a White-centered show—comfort with being under surveillance, appearance of not performing—aligned with discourses of Whiteness? How, then, to understand the construction on Flavor of Love of participants self-consciously claiming and performing an identity? We argue that while it is true Flavor of Love animates racial stereotypes, it also allows for fluid and complex understandings of Black identity through active claiming of identities—in contrast to the restrictive naturalized White identities presented on The Bachelor. As RTV shows emerge featuring people of color, it will be the critics’ responsibility to identify if RTV becomes a Televisual ghetto where only certain performances of race are allowed or if RTV can be a space where diverse conceptions of race are animated. Scholarship on RTV needs to find new ways to express the complexity of surveillance and notions of authenticity as they intersect in the display of raced identities. Keywords: WhitenessBlacknessSurveillanceReality TVPerformanceFlavor of LoveThe Bachelor Acknowledgements The authors thank Debby Dubrofsky for her incredibly attentive editing and support, Kent A. Ono for his wonderful insights, Mark Orbe for his feedback and support, two anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions, and Lorenzo Hardy, Robin Boylorn, and Keysha Williams for their insight, support, and feedback. Notes 1. We use the term “Black” rather than “African American” to describe people of African descent residing in the United States. The term “African American” is less specific as it can be applied to African diasporic people throughout the American continents. 2. Burke (1950 Burke, K. 1950. Rhetoric of motives, Berkeley: University California Press. [Google Scholar]) argues that naming can be creative and disruptive, serving as a behavior guide. Naming does not describe the conditions surrounding people, but reveals the motivations for their actions. 3. Since only two of the 11 couples from The Bachelor remain together, and none from Flavor of Love, it might be more apt to say the shows are about failed love. 4. In recent years, cable television shows starring people of color have had commercial success. See Comedy Central's Chappelle Show and Mind of Mencia, and MTV's Run's House and Making the Band. 5. We do not include longer-standing dating shows (i.e., The Dating Game, Blind Date) in this category. We are interested in romance RTV shows that serialize the activities of participants over time. Dating shows follow the activities of participants in a single episode with no carry-over into the next episode. 6. A term used in Black urban music, “wifey” was coined by the group Next in their 1999 single “Wifey” to emphasize the seriousness of a relationship without the legal commitment. 7. Though we do not have time to explore this in detail, it is important to ask how these practices work for a queer subject or other subjects of color: an Arab subject, for instance, faced with the growing use of racial signifiers to identify them as the “face of terror” which, as Gates (2005 Gates, K. A. 2005. “Technologies of identity and the identity of technology: Race and the social construction of biometrics”. In Race, identity, and representation in education” ), 2nd ed, Edited by: McCarthy, C., Crichlow, W., Dimitriadis, G. and Dolby, N. 59–71. New York: Routledge. [Google Scholar]) argues, underpins the development of biometric surveillance technologies for US national security purposes; or a female subject, already always on display (Berger, 1977 Berger, J. 1977. Ways of seeing, London: Penguin Books. [Google Scholar]; Walters, 1995 Walters, S. D. 1995. Material girls: Making sense of feminist cultural theory, Berkeley: University of California Press. [Google Scholar]), who is held in the popular media to a standard for appearance and behavior and thus at greater risk of transgressing the expectation of meeting the standard. 8. For instance, cartoonish images of a clock ticking often appear when a woman talks for a long time, and when Flavor uses heavy slang,an animated graphic called a “Flavor-a Lation” attempts to decipher his comments. 9. The tasks are often the focus of media controversy as they shore up stereotypes about Blacks: Women cook fried chicken to demonstrate their domestic skills, go to church to connect with Flavor's mother or swing on a stripper pole. There was also the infamous “five senses” test on season one, where Flavor was blindfolded and used his five senses (licking, fondling, looking, smelling and listening) to decide who was most appealing. 10. Quinn (2000 Quinn, E. 2000. ‘Who's the mack?’: The performativity and politics of the pimp figure in gangsta rap. Journal of American Studies, 34: 115–136. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], 2004 Quinn, E. 2004. Nuthin but a g thang: The culture and commerce of gangsta rap, New York: Columbia University Press. [Google Scholar]) notes that the pimp is a hero for rappers, representing a way of life that earns respect and power, a role model for poor Black youth. 11. Perceived inauthenticity about one's intentions is judged harshly on Flavor of Love. In season one, Schatar “Hottie” Tyler and Brook “Pumkin” Thompson are dismissed for appearing on other reality television shows and not telling Flavor. Cristal Athenea “Serious” Stevenson in season one is eliminated for allegedly trying to use Flavor to spark her modeling career. In season two, Heather “Krazy” Crawford is sent home for being more concerned with igniting her music career than being with Flavor. These violations stem from behavior perceived to be inauthentic (pretending to look for love when they really want fame), not from allowing their authentic (and inappropriate for the show) identity to be revealed. Additional informationNotes on contributorsRachel E. DubrofskyRachel E. Dubrofsky, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor and Antoine Hardy a doctoral student in the Department of Communication at the University of South Florida. Email: racheldubrofsky@gmail.com