Real Bodies?

A Look at Body Image in Reality Television

Over the past ten years, reality television has become a mainstay in American popular culture. From shows like Survivor and Dancing With the Stars to The Hills and The Real World, many Americans are either familiar with or a fan of a few of these shows. 

However in analyzing these "reality" shows and observing the types of people that appear on them, one must ask what sort of message producers and executives are sending to the general public of what "normal" body image is. 

In this post, I will look at several reality shows and through analysis of these shows as well as reaction from a variety of people to the shows with respect to body image we will be able to answer a very important question. 

What is the "reality" of body image that these shows convey?

The Hills 

The Hills is a reality television show that follows the lives of young people in Los Angeles. It first aired in 2006 and the show was based around the life of Lauren Conrad, who became famous in the reality television show Laguna Beach. The show is now in its 6th season and although Conrad has left the show, another former Laguna Beach star Kristin Cavallari has taken center stage and signed on for two more seasons. 

Watching many episodes of this reality show, it becomes clear that the body image showcased is not that of average mid-twenties Americans. Rather the men and women in the show are in shape and toned to a degree that makes them appear more like models and movie stars. 

The Cast of MTV's The Hills 

In an essay for the Genders OnLine Journal entitled Living The Hills Life, Alice Leppert and Julie Wilson discuss how MTV turned these ordinary people into an image and brand. 

"As The Hills constructs Lauren as a soap opera heroine, it simultaneously makes her a star and thus an image to aspire to for young women navigating U.S. consumer culture. Through branding Lauren's lifestyle, MTV provides the viewer who aspires to be Lauren or be like Lauren with never ending opportunities to consume as Lauren does. The articulation of Lauren's star image to a feminine fashion and consumer culture creates a prized form of female celebrity, whose value to MTV is immeasurable for its ability to marshal a young female consumer-audience. While critics commonly acknowledge what Graeme Turner describes as "the mass production of celebrity" via reality TV, MTV has retooled and refined the practice of celebrity mass production. The result is the emergence of Lauren as a reality star, whose status as soap heroine of "real life" in the Hollywood Hills makes her at once a compelling point of identification for young women and a potent new form of lifestyle brand."

According to Leppert and Wilson, Lauren Conrad is not supposed to be representative of a "real" person, only when it can be used to tie viewers closer to her brand. MTV uses all aspects of Lauren and the other cast members, including there body image, to create not accurate depictions of normal Americans but to create a brand used for revenue gaining. 

Reactions To Body Image in The Hills

"They all look like low end movie stars. All the same, with dyed hair and fake tans."

Shawn Heavlin-Martinez, 17

"They are all anorexic thin, they don't look healthy at all. Kristen looks pretty realistic and normal to me though."

Taylor Rogers, 20

"The all probably have personal trainers and diets and stuff."

Lauren Small, 19

"Woah, what are you looking at over there? She is a looker."

Mike Reed, 55

"Hip, up to date with the American standard of beauty as represented in fashion magazines and movies. They are way typical and all look a like in a way. All of them are obviously concerned with how they look."

Ali Dorri, 30 

In the next post, I will analyze two more reality television shows and the message of body image they convey. After that analysis a conclusion should become apparent.