The “Rich Bitch”

Is Reality TV aBad Girls Club? Television Use, Docusoap Reality Television Viewing, and the Cultivation of the Approval of Aggression

“…. produced and edited for the delight of audiences” (Lee & Moscowitz, 2013, p. 72). Producer heavy handedness in shaping the “reality” of reality TV was discussed over a decade ago in the Robins Report in Broadcasting & Cable .…”

“…Prior studies generally show a higher incidence of nonphysical forms of aggression being modeled by characters in reality TV (Coyne et al, 2010; Wilson et al, 2012). The docusoap genre features aggression in an ostensibly realistic fashion (Rifon et al, 2014) and has captured headlines for its emphasis on discord among its male and female stars (Farber, 2009; Genzlinger, 2010; Heffernan, 2009) often fueled by the interventions of producers (Lee & Moscowitz, 2013; Murray & Ouellette, 2004; Robins, 2005; Woods, 2014). Based on these content patterns as well as the evidence that specific genres of television can cultivate viewer outlooks (Bilandzic & Rössler, 2004; Potter & Chang, 1990), especially when those genres have a claim on social reality (Cohen & Weimann, 2000) and have consistent content features within (Bilandzic & Busselle, 2012), we predict the following hypothesis:…”

The Cultural Politics of Islam in U.S. Reality Television

“…SOS is consistent with the "rich bitch" (Lee & Moscowitz, 2012) genre of reality television that focuses on wealthy, narcissistic cast members and invites viewers to judge them. At the same time, the show also surprisingly pushes boundaries with its portrayal of interracial, interfaith, and gay relationships.…”

Witches and bitches: Reality television, housewifization and the new hidden abode of production

“…While shows like The Voice or American Idol explicitly narrate the hard work involved in becoming a celebrity brand and makeover shows tell stories about the construction of a ‘successful’ body according to the dictates of the television industry and its celebrity culture, shows like Bravo’s Real Housewives are portraits of a life free of work; rich and privileged, the stars of these shows effectively model what it is like to ‘live on TV’ and make money doing so by becoming a brand. Of course, this is not to discount the many fruitful ways we might read the specific texts of the Housewives shows – as promoting women as vapid, superficial and voracious consumers, for example, or perpetuating stereotypes of women as vain, catty, bullying and emotionally unstable, or creating a kind of campy vilification of the numbskulled uber-rich for the delectation of audiences suffering through an economic recession (see Cox and Profitt, 2012; Lee and Marcowitz, 2013). Rather, it is to underline the co-implication of the reality television texts with their specific mode of production and value-generation; the texts work in the service of an overarching meta-narrative line that celebrates the carefully crafted display of certain kinds of affect, the legitimating power of the television camera’s gaze and the financial gain it promises (Hearn, 2014).…”