Page 147 - A Handbook Genre Studies in Mass Media

CHAPTER 5

is familiar with, but who have just enough individuality to raise them
higher than their stereotype.
The Surreal Life presents a world where dinnertime brawls are the
norm, supermodels jump out of windows, and major league baseball
players parade around in women’s lingerie. Just as in a circus sideshow,
the audience is left with both positive and negative reactions. Positive,
in that celebrities have as many, if not more, vulnerabilities as everyone
else. Negative, in that celebrities create so much drama in their own
lives as to leave little room for real happiness. Following the theory of
the ideological approach, these people are no longer in charge of their
own destinies.
The perpetuation of their fame drives each of their actions. Omarosa’s
lies are visible in the videos taken of her when she is unaware—though
a media literate individual would question just how unaware she could
actually be. The conflict between Omarosa and Janice Dickinson was the
highlight of VH1’s season. Omarosa delighted in calling Janice a “crack
whore” and took every opportunity to accuse Janice of using drugs,
especially cocaine. Janice, in turn, took cheap shots back at Omarosa,
baiting her to continue with her accusations.
In the final episode, Janice speaks to her lawyer about filing a defama-
tion suit against Omarosa. Since Omarosa had answered the phone and
had been told who was calling for Janice, she appeared later in Janice’s
bathroom with an apology. Later that night, at the cast mates’ final dinner
together, Omarosa told the group she had not known Janice had talked to
her lawyer and claimed that she had never apologized to her.
The audience knew she had, in fact, apologized—the medium had
revealed that through the video. The other cast members were unaware
of these actions, and did not support Janice or Omarosa in the resulting
battle. In this situation, the audience is omniscient—the people watch-
ing the drama know much more than the people living it. The cameras
create a supernatural controlling factor in the house—the producers of
the show can be totally in control of what will happen next.
During the members’ last dinner together, each is given a card and
asked to tell his or her cast mates about the subject on that card. The men
in the house are asked embarrassing or heartrending questions: Bronson
reveals his father’s abuse of himself and his mother, Jose talks of the night
he put a gun to his head, Carey speaks of his break-up with his girlfriend
and how it drove him to a stunt that broke most of the bones in his body.
Omarosa is asked to tell her roommates about her divorce; she will say

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