For those of you who do not pay attention to such matters, the Miss America Organization (MAO) has decided to recapture some of the pageant’s shrinking audience by making it a four week reality show with a two hour live finale. Miss America: Reality Check has given us the chance to “get to know” the contestants, at least as well as you can “get to know” someone you’ve only ever seen in a broadcast signal. If the MAO was hoping to re-enforce the stereotype that contestants were appearance obsessed, empty headed bikini stuffers or to put forward the idea that the pageant rewards style over substance, they have succeeded brilliantly.
Let’s start with the advisory board. What were they thinking when they chose the people? “Let’s make Miss America a contest to find the latest celebu-tart.” “I know! We’ll let the celebrity culture and fashion industry re-make the contest! That will convince people Miss America is really about achievement.”
Then there are the contestants. I work with college students every day. To suggest these girls are the best and the brightest in the nation is absurd. They might have the brightest smile or the best hair, but their achievements in scholarship and talent are nothing extraordinary. They might have an edge in service, but that is debatable.
I would have some respect for Miss America if the institution and the contestants would just face the facts. Miss America awards scholarships to girls who fit a very narrow definition of physical beauty. Miss America contestants are using their bodies to get through college in the same way that strippers use their bodies to get through college. Only strippers are less pretentious and more honest about what they are doing.
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2 comments:
Ooohhhh...I've been...watching? Well, maybe it's better to say that it's been on in the background while I do other stuff, and I haven't been able to figure out what the point of the show was about, so thanks for the clarification.
You forgot to include how really very boring it is, too.
Yeah, word.
I don't really want to judge the girls, particularly, but man, it's a bad show. The one I saw, they had like, a trivia contest? Where if they failed to answer the (really easy) questions, they had to jump in a pool? I think the premise was that it's funny, because girls can't be pretty AND smart or something? As a young woman, I'm pretty offended.
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