Posted by Sam Richards
Frankly, it’s odd that in this world where most of us want to be more multicultural than we are that we don’t see lots of race/culture mixing on a show such as this. Maybe it happens on other shows…I certainly don’t know. But that it doesn’t happen on this one is odd. I wonder if this particular show caters to an slightly older (read: set in their ethnocentric ways) crowd of viewers.
I agree that it is interested that the diversity of these shows I lacking. But I believe I have been told in psychology classes that people of certain races are generally attracted to people of their own race. Although that does not always make sense because there are plenty of multicultural families, but in general people of a certain race are attracted to people of their own color. So why is there not diversity in the one bachelor or bachelorette? Maybe they are really trying to appeal to an older generation. I know being in college I honestly do not have time to get catch up and watch shows like this so maybe in all honesty the reason there is lack of diversity is because they are trying to appeal to a different generation.
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I guess I really never thought of race when I watched The Bachelor. Race isn’t something that I automatically think about while watching these types of tv shows. But the point you make is very valid. It is interesting that there is not much diversity on this show and the majority of the people involved have been white. But there are shows somewhat like The Bachelor that are just on different stations that have different races involved. It is kind of offensive that ABC has primarily white people on this show. Now that this has come to my attention, I would like to see different racial groups come into play on this show.
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Like many of the comments I’ve been reading, I’ve also never really noticed the “whiteness” of shows like The Bachelor before. I wonder if this is because I never actually watch these shows (actually I avoid them) or because, being white myself, it doesn’t immediately jump out at me that these people are also white. I’m trying to think of a logical reason for there being absolutely no diversity among these contestants and I must say that I’m at a loss.
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Either the choice of only white contestants was at the digression of the producers, in which case the sole reasoning would be to create the television that will bring in the most viewers, or it was influenced by the preference of the contestant, in which case they would be driven by what attracts them. Either way there seems to be latent discrimination in effect. The producers most likely believe (and are probably supported by viewer ship) that people will only watch if there isn’t the chance of an interracial relationship. I wonder if this is because viewers of these shows actually don’t want to see an interracial couple. No matter how advanced we are or how open minded we are you must admit that seeing an interracial couple catches your attention, even if it doesn’t bother you in the least. Maybe producers feel that they would lose viewers, especially more mature and possible less open minded ones.
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I think this philosophy is crap. The fact that there has never been a nonwhite person on these shows is one hundred percent deliberate on the part of the producers. It is impossible that after over ten seasons they haven’t had a black, brown, Asian, NON WHITE person apply for this show. Which means the producers must have made the conscious decision to keep the cast white. Is this discrimination on their part, or is their belief that their audience won’t respond well? Either way it’s wrong. It’s wrong because the message sent out is clearly that interracial relationships are not normal. Clearly ratings are more important than morals, more important than being fair, more important than being right.
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It seems like the only chance I have of seeing a diverse dating show is to turn to MTV or VH1 for such gems as “A Shot of Love with Tila Tequila” or “Flavor of Love.” Why is it the only time we have diversity in a dating show is when the dating show is more like a trashy joke. What kind of message are the producers of this show hoping to send? Interracial dating is only acceptable if the people are young, drunk, and ridiculous? It’s actually sad we consider ourselves to be so equal yet latent discrimination like this is blatant! It may sound stupid, but if we’re going to help solve the problems between racial discrimination, maybe we should start with “The Bachelor.”
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Well this sure is an anomaly. The only reason I can think of as to why whites are the majority on the show is because whites are the majority of the population in America. I would hope that the network isn’t discriminating against other ethnicities, but as we’ve learned so far in Soc 119 it seems as though the system is in place to benefit whites – and that racism occurs under our noses and we are not aware of it’s existence. The best solution would be for the network to be addressed about this issue so its actions aren’t repeated on future episodes.
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I, like many other people have admitted, never noticed the severe lack of diversity on The Bachelor/Bachelorette. What I do constantly notice is how every single contestant in the show is gorgeous, without exception. So it can be argued that the people in charge of the show, selecting contestants and whatnot, are discriminating against people of color AND people who don't reach their "attractiveness standards". Ridiculous.
Now, I haven't watched the Bachelor/Bachelorette since high school probably, but of the seasons I've watched I don't remember ever seeing a redheaded contestant either. Being a redhead myself, this aggravates me. And I may be wrong, there may have been a ginger somewhere in the mix that I don't know about. But going back to "hollywood standards", I know that redheads aren't typically the most sought after women…. for example, there has never been a redheaded woman to be on the cover of Playboy Magazine. And seriously… there are most DEFINITELY some hot, playboy-material gingers in the world. So while I'm aware that us redheads aren't technically our own race, we're a subculture I'd say. One that receives enough prejudice to have a word that describes it, "gingerism". It was rampant hundreds of years ago, when redheads were believed to be witches, vampires, degenerates, etc., etc. And today people just like to poke fun… I'm sure you have all seen or at least heard of the "ginger kids" episode of Southpark, where redheaded kids were portrayed as "disgusting, inhuman, inherently dumb, have no souls, and are unable to survive in sunlight". I personally don't get offended by ginger jokes, only because I never knew the derogatory nature of being a "ginger" until I got to college. What does bother me is that beautiful redheaded women or handsome redheaded men are completely underrepresented in the media. And no, it's not like they're RARE. Seriously? Google Cintia Dicker… probably amongst the most beautiful supermodels in the world today. And Shaun White… alright I'll admit he may need to donate to Locks of Love but he's definitely good looking. My point is, if I were a person of color I would be pretty pissed about the lack of diversity on reality shows that "recruit" beautiful contestants. Because I know that's how I feel about the lack of my fellow gingers.
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You bring up a very good point. Why don't the correctly represent the racial and cultural demographics of the united states on shows like the bachelor? I remember hearing about a season of "survivor" that I believe was based upon the "race" of each cast member. I think eve the tribes were split up based on the race of the individuals participating. How can they get away with something like that? Is that even okay to do? When I first heard of the season of that show premiering I was like, "what? can they actually do this? This is bizarre." It is obvious that people are aware of these racial decisions in society, so why don't the people in charge think of these things before they make these decisions. Are they really that ignorant?
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It is kind of odd that most contestants on The Bachelor are white. I guess once in awhile they will throw in a token minority to please people but its usually only one cast member and they barely make it far in the show. Something to look at is the race of the bachelor. The guy is usually white, good looking and makes a decent living. I think the producers of the show want to match him with someone of the same background. If you watch shows such as Flavor of Love and For the Love of Ray Jay the cast is mostly black and brown with one or two whites. In these two shows the “bachelor” is black. I doubt it’s a coincidence that the bachelor is the same race as most of the contestants.
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This was a real eye opener. I have never realized how predominately white shows such as the Bachelor and the Bachelorette are. I actually watched the season opener of the Bachelor this season, normally I have no interest in these reality shows, but it was on and actually kept my attention for the episode anyway. I remember when they introduced all the women and even though I never consciously said to myself where are the other races? Why are they not represented on the show?, I remember that after the first ten women made their entrance they all began to blend into the same person. I guess part of my confusion on keeping them separate is that many of the girls shared similar physical characteristics. Most of the women were of the same thin body type and basically the the same skin tone and personality wise, well they all seemed a little fake, rehearsed, and ridiculously flirty (but I mean what can you expect it is a "reality" show).
I found that the only way I could tell them apart at first was hair color and started to categorize them as the "blondes" and "brunnettes". I actually felt bad for the bachelor because it was hard for me to put a name with a face and I wasn't in charge of having to eliminate anyone.
Now that I think back number 1 it scares me that I didn't consciously acknowledge that many of the races had been left out and number 2 it scares me to think a show in today's diverse and accepting world would allow for this white dominated contestants and number 3 it scares me to think what kind of message does this send to women and girls of color as well as white women. Being a male I can't experience this first hand but it really has to make you have some kind of image complex or anger or some negative feeling when you watch all those contestants walk out to introduce themselves and one after another of these "image of beauty" women are all or mostly white. I understand the guy was white but wow talk about limiting his options based on appearance anyway and reinforcing the idea that white men should marry or date white women. I feel more Americans probably watch reality shows than pay attention to the news or read up on race relation topics or interracial relationships and this is becoming more accepting, but what knid of message is being conveyed when a white man only has white women choices? I think its time the ABC network consider what they air because these types of shows really impact peoples' lives and shape their views.
Personally, just based on looks alone I have found women of all colors, races, body type attractive (although personality can really make or break the deal), but it really concerns me to think how many people may watch these shows and never see a problem with at least the lack of choice for diversity. Again it is not just race, but all these women look the same "Model" look. I mean no wonder there are products out on the market for whiting skin cream and plastic surgery and anorexia. It's time we start to diversify are outlook on what it is to be beautiful so that there is not one single perfect model of beauty that the media portrays: the thin, white barbie doll look. Then may be some insecurities that some women may have will be lifted and the pressure of looking a certain way will lessen, so ( I know I sound cliche) they can be them self. I mean personally I'd much rather be with a confident girl that was happy with herself, than some "model" that was always unhappy with herself.
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This was something that I have never really thought of before while watching tv, specifically the dating reality shows. While this show is not the most mind enthralling show out there, I have to admit that Ihave seen a few of the Bachelor/Bachelorette seasons. And it is true, in none of the seasons have I seen a contestant that has won or has been the Bachelor/Bachelorette that was not white. The majority of the contestant’s definitely have been white. It is pretty amazing that after this show has been on for so long, that they never have mixed up the races more on the show.
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ABC is a network that finds its way into any American household with a television and electricity. It is a prime example of what this country represents and it accounts for a large portion of what American culture values.
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This is indeed true, white people seem to dominate most of these shows on various networks. It shows how much we have left to go within our society. Network producers must feel as though the majority of the people that watch their shows are white, but that’s just a guess. While on the topic of majority whites on television I would like to discuss this idea on a larger scale. If you look at other television shows and even films you would see more white people than other minorities, and if you think about it how many big time “white stars” can you think up fast in your head as opposed to minority ones? When it comes to white people this is easy: Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Christian Bale. That’s what popped in my head within a matter of minutes. Now if you try to do that on the other end what would happen: Will Smith and Denzel Washington? These are the only two major black stars I can think of that match up with fame and fortune similar to the white ones I mentioned. Why do you think this is?
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This issue coincides with another article within this blog from about two weeks ago speaking of Avatar and the “white hero”. This article spoke of why most films needed a Caucasian male to take place as the hero of the film rather than a minority one. Unfortunately, we still live in a world where people are scared of change and would like to keep their place at the top of the “mountain”. Issues such as these in turn put a damper on minority kid’s imaginations and have other impacts watching these movies, cartoons, and other television shows.
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When I was a kid, it was somewhat difficult for me to pretend to be a hero such as Superman, Batman, or Spiderman because they where all white men. So when I would pretend to be these characters, I would make them black of course (being a black male). Growing up I realized how black people and other minorities where scarcely represented not only on films but cartoons as well. Can you think of at least one black super hero that reached the same amount of fame that superman did? I think not. It’s truly sad indeed, but if directors, cartoonists, and producers started adding a huge plethora of minority characters as lead characters, what would happen? Would people not watch them? That’s what I feel like those who create these shows must feel like. At the end it’s all about the ratings and people will do anything to increase their ratings on their shows, but at the same time, I feel like people would watch anything these days so it really shouldn’t matter, should it?
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I find this very interesting because my sister and I were just discussing this last week about how it is always mostly white women that are competing for the bachelor who, in every season (or almost every season I think), has been a white male. I don't think white women are the only ones willing to humiliate themselves by being rejected on a show like this, but maybe the only ones willing to take the risk of rejection? Or maybe the bachelor has some say as to which type of women he would like to be in his "pool" to choose from. I don't necessarily think it is fair to say that white women are willing to humiliate themselves. I am not saying this because I am white but because I think that black and brown women are just not chosen as much as contestants for the show because this deals with someone's life, no matter how real or not you think it is. We, as humans, are naturally attracted to someone of our same color most of the time. I do find it interesting that they have not had a black or brown bachelor on the show and in my opinion I honestly think that the popularity of the show would go down if there were a black or brown male as the bachelor trying to win someone's heart. I am guessing that the female contestants on the show would be predominantly black or brown just like they are predominantly white when there is a white bachelor. I would like to see what the ratings and number of viewings would be if they decided to one day have a person of color be the bachelor or bachelorette. I have noticed on the show that they have been using women who are rejected by the bachelor as the next bachelorette. I guess they do kind of deserve a "second chance" if they want it and they are the ones calling the shots this time around. I do think that many of the contestants appear on the show just to get their name out there and be known, kind of in the sense of a popularity contest. I'm sure that many of them find relationships after they have been dismissed from the show just because different people know who they are now. My question would be are the women actually there to find "true love" or are they there to become known? I do not know if many of them take this as seriously as they should or maybe they take it more seriously in the beginning than they should. I do not think that enough of the women realize that only one woman out of the 25 can win, so their chance is very small.
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I have never watched the Bachelor, but I’m not really surprised about the under representation of minorities on TV. The network executives and other head people in charge make a lot of the programming decisions. They pick what kind of shows gets picked up by the network to produce and air. Also, after reviewing the pilot episodes, they decide the changes that need to be made in order to schedule the program in a prime time slot like if the actors are good representatives of the characters or if the material is appropriate to broadcast. I’m a telecommunications major and I have studied and noticed these unfair trends before. In the past 15 years, the number of minorities owning multimedia companies has actually decreased. You would think the opposite, but white men predominantly own multimedia companies. Since white people own most of the media companies, they tend to pick programs that they would like. In turn, most of the programming appeals to white people. Network executives also have a difficult job of trying to appeal to all the demographics. Their job is to have programming that appeals to as many people as possible. They are selling the demographics the advertisers want. So it is not just the networks fault, it’s the advertisers because they want a certain demographic that would like their product. I don’t think it’s fair just to blame the people in charge of the network. Although it wouldn’t kill them to have more minorities represented in their programming, they are trying to make the most money. If they appeal to the specific demographics advertisers want, the more money the networks can make.
I also think that they are scared of offending people or taking things farther than they have been before. For instance, a lot of people find black and white couples still shocking. As awful as that sounds, it is the truth. I think the younger generations are a lot more accepting, but the older generations still see the shock in interracial couples. Maybe the executives think that if they have fewer minorities, there is a smaller chance that an interracial couple will win? I don’t agree with that reason, but there is a high likelihood that could be a possibility. I think that time will be the only answer to see more minorities on television. As the more accepting younger generations get older, they would get less offended of seeing more minorities n television. The executives in charge of the networks will also eventually be part of that younger generation. For right now, minorities are represented on networks that cater to younger generations like MTV and VH1. MTV and VH1 have a lot of reality shows that have a decent number of minority representations. When that generation grows out of those television networks and moves to broadcast networks, more minorities will be represented.
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I actually never noticed the disproportionate percentage of white contestants on the Bachelor. I don’t make a big deal of it. I don’t think racism is as big a reason for this as much as social acceptance would be. Directors and producers think of everything before putting together a show like “The Bachelor”. I’m sure a disproportionate percentage of the people who watch “The Bachelor” are white as well. Obviously not all the audience of the show are white, but I think a bigger percentage of the audience is white compared to the percentage of white people in America.
When I watch shows like “the Flavor of love” (which is another show very similar to the “bachelor”, but with mostly black contestants), I don’t wonder why so many of the contestants are black. The bachelor in “Flavor of Love” (Flavor Flav) is black, and it is common for people to be attracted to their own race. There were a couple of contestants on the show that were different races, but that is because the show was on VH1. The show’s primary target audience was African-American and putting African-Americans on the show would help intrigue that target audience. Therefore it would make sense that a disproportionate percentage of the contestants are of the same race as the bachelor of the show. On BET, almost every person is black. Whether it is music videos, TV shows, game shows, reality TV shows etc… That isn’t racism at all. A huge percentage of the audience that watches BET is black, so the director and producer of the show would obviously surround their shows with black people.
Another reason I think the shows are designed this way, is to actually avoid racism. What would happen if a minority contestant got eliminated from the show really early, for no apparent reason? What if the white contestants ganged up on a minority contestant? What if the final two contestants were white and another race, and the white contestant won? Wouldn’t the show be seen as slightly racist? Especially by people who look for any reason to call anything racist.
Another thing I’ve noticed is that most actors are white. Although a disproportionate percentage of the athletes and musicians are African-American. Actors/actresses are chosen by directors and producers. They find people that fit the description of the characters they want in their production. Athletes and musicians are chosen by pure talent and it doesn’t matter their race. All I’m saying is that, the “white face” is more accepted on television. It is just what we are used to. If they had a choice, most Americans would be more comfortable seeing a white face on television. So when they have a choice, a lot of people who choose casting, tend to choose white people for their shows.
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This posting by Sam definitely struck me as funny. I generally dislike these shows to begin with but I was amused by what he pointed out. America's fascination with these shows is strange. I'd be interested to know more about similar shows in other countries and if they are as race-specific as ours are. The general contrast between people on ABC's dating shows and MTV's dating shows is alarming. Just thinking about the type of people who end up on the shows. I greatly dislike Tila Tequila. But I also dislike the women on The Bachelor. That has all to do with their representation of women, and nothing to do with race. It may be a little easier to manipulate white people into signing up for this sort of thing. Perhaps people would raise some sort of stink if there were people of different races on those shows. It could turn into "oh well she didn't get picked because she's black". So then it becomes about beauty on two levels. I could see how networks would be afraid of that sort of conflict. Someone made a comment that the viewers of these shows has a lot to do with who is on them in the first place. ABC is geared much more towards people over the age of 30 and their idea of acceptable programming is probably a lot different than the teenagers that MTV is meant for. Hopefully the direction that MTV is going will be the right one (in terms of being more accepting all around) but avoids all the sex, drugs, and rock n' roll. The whole topic speaks more to corporate America than anything else though. Networks create a large majority of their shows based on what will get them advertisements. Advertisers have target audiences to sell to. I think we've come a long way though from times when it was the unspoken rule not to put people of color on television, or have them in degrading and minor roles only. Like with everything else concerning race relations though, it still needs a lot of work. I've also come to notice that sometimes participants in reality television play into the roles that are expected of them. This mostly makes me think of Jersey Shore. Those people definitely had to have been doing dumber and dumber things because they knew it would make for good ratings later on. Maybe the producers egged them on. Perhaps this mentality applies to everyone on television in a way? Maybe they all get caught up and start moving away from their true character for the sake of celebrity. I'd rather have actors with scripts than so called "reality" shows. It's not reality if there isn't an equal distribution among the colors.
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This is quite an interesting post. I never really realized how "The Bachelor" or "The Bachelorette" was filled with predominately caucasion people. I think this might also have to do with the bacholor's or the bachelorette's preference, since they are the ones looking for their future soul mates. At the same time, I am not really surprised because most people would prefer to date someone with similar culture and race. Personally, as an Asian American, I would want to date or get married to another Asian America, more specifically Chinese. However, when I recently told my parents that I was dating a someone Chinese who speaks Canto, my parents were not really fond of it. They'd rather have me dating someone Chinese who speaks Mandarin. This is because the cultural differences between Cantonese people and the Mandarin people and also the negative stereotypes about Cantonese people. I thought that this was very ridiculous in a sense that people could be so picky about minuscule things like that, because ultimately people who speak Cantonese, and people who speak Mandarin are both Chinese.
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Let me just start off by expressing my extremeeeee hatred for this website because once again, I had almost my entire blog typed out and the website froze and completely rebooted my whole computer. damn this. Now let me see if I can recall what I was saying.
Up until I read this blog post, I never really thought about how many white people were on shows like this. The Bachelor isn't a show that I normally watch but I was aware that all of the contestants are usually white. I think that the main reason that it is like that is because of the network itself. ABC has been around for many years and I feel like most of the shows that have been on the network have also been predominantly white. I wouldn't go as far to say that white people are the only people that will humiliate themselves on TV, because I watch a lot of the reality TV shows on other channels such as VH1 and MTV and almost all of the dating shows that are somewhat similar to The Bachelor always have people of other races as the contestants. Other networks and TV shows that aren't dating shows but reality shows always have people of other colors on them and I personally think that it is to add a little bit of controversy. For example, on the network Oxygen there is a show called Bad Girls Club and almost every season there is "the loud black girl" and what not. As bad as this sounds, I think that is one of the main reasons that networks such as ABC and CBS and FOX may not put people of color on the show. Not that I think this but most people think that hispanics or black people are going to be loud or start drama because they are on TV. Networks like ABC, CBS or FOX are all well respected, multi billion dollar networks that are usually considered to be family appropriate. Maybe the fact that they keep shows like this predominantly white is the reason their networks are more successful than smaller networks like Bravo or Oxygen? Who knows. I don't agree with it, regardless. On the dating shows that air on VH1 and MTV, there are white, hispanic and black people but they are all usually classless and dirty regardless of the race. You would never see any of those white girls on The Bachelor because they are just uneducated and raunchy and on The Bachelor the women usually have jobs and education and a real life. I think they should definitely add more color to these kind of shows just because there are many women out there of all races and i don't really see why it is that big of a deal? Sorry that my entry is all over the place Andrew.
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I completely agree with what is being said in the video. Although I have watched the Bachelor and the Bachelorette series on television a few times in my day I never really took in the fact that there wasn't really any men or women of color on the series. I think I took more notice of the fact of when there was people of color rather than when there was not people of color on the show. I think that that is the main issue that we have in our society today. The presence of color in everyday life should not shock white people, yet still it does. Why is this? I feel that this is because there is still that old school mind set that people should end up with and marry someone of the same race. This mind set is not appropriate for this time and age especially when there is so many inter racial relationships in the world and especially in the united states where reality shows like the Bachelor and Bachelorette are aired. Because ABC, the station that runs the shows is one of the big four cable companies that has more influence over the public as a whole and sometimes people do not respond as positively to couples of color as they do to people who are not of color. The companies would be differently affected by the type of audience that they were attracting if they were to include black and brown people in these types of shows. The people of the net work are not intentionally singling out people of color they are just trying to make money by going toward a safe demographic. Maybe if there was more color integrated into reality television shows on major cable net works then this would be able to be changed. The whole concept makes me laugh really. I do not actually think that white people are more apt to be ok with putting themselves out there on network television than black and brown people are but they are sure making it look that way to the United States television watchers. I feel that maybe black and brown people feel as though they will not be accepted into the television culture as people who are white have on the Bachelor and Bachelorette television shows. Now The show has set itself up for viewers to be surprised to see people of color on it. With this division of color America is creating more of a racial gap than it should. I think that also the show might have a lot to do with the preference of the actual bachelor or bachelorette and if they are only having a white man or woman as the main person then I would think that if it is as closed minded in the world as we think it is then they would ask for and prefer someone of the same race.
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To be totally honest, I think this is just more of a fact that maybe people of color aren't exactly interested in putting themselves on display like this. I feel like black woman are more likely to want to be on a reality show like The Real World or something like that with more drama. Most of the black women that I know do not like to sit and pout about some guy that turned them down. They seem to be stronger and more willing to move on and have fun with the people around them, hence the Real World reference. I don't think it really matters if there are white, black, or asian girls on the bachelor because no one takes the show seriously anyways. If they were playing for real love and it wasn't all just a hoax then it might matter to have a little more equality. It does seem like there are more white girls than black on tv, which is a shame but at the same time you will always find inequality of race in every profession. I think that this is one of those things that really doesn't matter and should just be cast aside. There are specific departments in every network office that make sure affirmative action is being met and justified.
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I think this answer is pretty simple. The largest demographic of people that watch the bachelor is white people, predominantly white females. There are shows with all black people because the main audience they try to appeal to is black people. I think if the bachelor had all black people unfortunately white people would not be as tuned in to watch because they can not relate. If black viewership on the bachelor or minority viewership of the bachelor went up I definitely think you would be more minorities in the show. That is the way television works.
Sports is a different situation where predominantly white males watch the NFL but most the NFL is African American. I think in this situation fans just want to see the best players. Fans also want whatever will help their team win and if that means all the players are black people are definitely fine with that.
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Yes, the show is very “white” and/or lacking any other race. But to play devil’s advocate for a second there are plenty of other love or dating shows mostly catering to minorities. I’m think Flavor of Love or For the Love of Ray J, or I love New York. There are the couple of token white people on those shows but I think you could definitely compare them to the Bachelor. I think when it comes to dating/attraction some people are just naturally drawn more towards a certain race so to up their odd of finding someone they are attracted to they predominantly cast the race you would find the bachelor or bachelorette most attracted to. But then again its television so I’m guessing the answer can’t be that reasonable. I’m guessing it has something to do with generating revenue.
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I don’t think this issue is limited just to Whites. Since the appearance of MTV Real World, the U.S. got hooked with reality TV programs. In these programs, the casts look like they are acting as they wish without any planned scenarios. People love these shows because they make us feel like we are sneaking into someone else’s lives without feeling guilty. We also love these shows because we would like to see their crazy behaviors without censors.
A few reasons that I listed above are why almost every TV station has at least one kind of reality shows. Among them, dating shows are one of the most popular formats in reality TV world. Dating is something that everyone does during their life time. Thus, people tend to sympathize with the contestants and the casts. Obviously, ABC’s The Bachelor is the most well-known dating show in the U.S. Even after the finale of this year’s new season, people, tabloid magazines, and entertainment news are still talking about the show. As one could have felt, the power of this dating show is phenomenal. But, why is this show the most popular when there are many other dating shows out there?
For example, when Flavor Flav’s Flavor of Love was aired, this much of attention was not engendered. For sure, much entertainment news talked about his show and how outrageous they were, but not this big. I think it is because of the casts’ skin colors. I’m not saying that the U.S. is full of racists. However, it is undeniable that a show full of whites has more chance to be popular than full of blacks, browns, or Asians. Just like in Hollywood, TV stations are still prone to make shows with whites. Even though the U.S. is a melting pot of every kind of races and rationalities, whites are still taking the majority of population. Even though most of us are not racists, we tend to feel more comfortable and find it easier to sympathize with people who have same skin colors as oneself.
I don’t think that whites are the only people who are making themselves laughing stocks by appearing in dating shows because other races do the same thing. I think people tend to think that whites are more likely to do so because white shows become more popular than others. Also, because of the majority of the viewers, producers tend to make more TV shows with whites. When we see this issue in a broader view point, we can realize that whites are not the only ones. We also can’t blame the “whiteness” of these dating shows because producers are doing so to make more profits by gaining more viewers.
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I think it has a lot to do with what race the star of the show is. If the bachelor was African American, there would be predominantly African American people. It has a lot to do with what the person looking for a partner is generally attracted to. I know that nowadays most Americans are open to interracial relationships, but that does not mean that they are preferred. This goes both ways, most black people are open to it but would probably prefer to be with a person the same race as them. I think it is interesting though that depending on what channel you are watching, the races very. It is true that ABC is predominantly white yet other stations like BET or MTV have a lot, if not mostly black people. I think that each network is looking to please the race that watches most of their shows. Not only the bachelor, but also most of the shows on ABC are based on the white race. Yet if you change to the BET network, most of the shows are based on the black race. I do not think that The Bachelor should have to change their contestants based on race. It should be about what the person is looking for in a relationship and if that person is more attracted to women who are white that should be the majority of people on the show. And I also do not believe that the shows on BET should be altered to incorporate more whites.
Not only do I think that certain networks tend to lean towards a particular race, but also gender. There are stations predominantly female or male. I do not believe they should have to change though to make each station equally each gender. I feel that each station needs to fit a certain group; otherwise they would all be similar. It is ok to lean towards one race or gender, as long as the audience is happy with it. I feel like people make too much of a big deal out of little things like what number of people on a show are a certain color. Well if we worry about adding more black people into The Bachelor then what about other races like Native American or Asian. It is pretty much impossible to make sure that an equal number of every race takes a part in every TV show. I do believe that the fact that The Bachelor, on ABC, is mostly white because of how long it has been on air. Decades ago, no people of color would even be caught on ABC so I believe they are going in the right direction towards integrating races into their shows. It is certainly better now than the beginning of ABC.
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As a watcher of several reaity television shows such as Flavor of Love, I Love New York, For the Love of Ray J, The Bachelor and even the Bachelorette, I have seen them all and ones that I didnt even name like Frank the Entertainers Basement Affair, I know exactly how these shows work and I have noticed a tread. WIth the shows like I Love New York and For the Love of Ray J where there is a person of color choosing who they want as there girlfriend or potiential main squeeze, the diversity of the contestants is at an all time high. There are people who are Asian, White, Black, Hispanic, Indian, of every nationality and all over the world and each person is given a fair chance no matter there race, and who the host picks is based on there connection with them and they normally have a really diverse cast. However on shows like Rock of Love and the Bachelor there is really no diversity at all in the contestants, and I didnt know if it was because the producers who pick the contestants didnt add diversity to the cast or if the host was not interested in people other than there race, which is white(Part1).
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On the bachelor there didnt look like diversity at all, but in Rock of Love, every season there is two black women on it, that have the rocker mentality and they never stick around very long nor do I ever see Bret Michels kiss them or anything of that sort and in other shows I have noticed the same trend. And also with a host that is white like with the Bachelor and Rock of Love and everytime they never pick anybody that is of another race other than themselves, however people that are of dfferent ethinicity other than white, they always seem to have people on the show that are different races than themselves and they pick based off vibes(Part 2).
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Now as a person who is all for interracial relationships and engages in them herself, I like to see things mixed up. I like to see people of all ethinicities coming together because it doesnt matter whether you are black, white, brown or albino, people are people. Now I was not sure if it was the network controlling this and trying to keep colors from getting mixed up, maybe trying to gear it to a specific audience so that people, who dont condone in interracial relationships, which there are people like that, they didnt want to offend them or maybe it was the best candidates for the show just so happened to be white, I was not sure. But I think that more minorities should be in shows like this, whether the host is a minority or part of the majority(Part 3).
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This was a very interesting point that I, as well as other people I am sure, have never even thought to explore before taking a race relations class. The bachelor and the bachellorette shows have both featured only white men or white women as their target singles looking to be wed and have generally used a majority of white suitors as well. However, I think the description Sam gave to justify this generally sums up the reasons for this choice that the creators of the show have made: the audience watching shows in prime time, such as the bachelor, are generally middle aged or older crowds. "The bachelor" is targeted to please even the most fickle audiences, which is most likely why they leave the bisexual, gay, exotic, and controversial shows to other networks that target younger, more accepting audiences. If you asked a group of high school or college aged kids what their dating reality show of choice is, a likely answer would be one such as "For the Love of Ray J" or "A Shot at Love With Tila Tequila". Those shows are very popular in the teen to young adult aged population. They are featured on networks that target youth, such as VH1 and MTV. These networks thrive on creating shows that stir up some level of controversy. On “A Double Shot of Love”, producers brought in two blonde bimbos with DD cup boobs to feature as the bisexual twins looking for love. For this particular show, the level of sex appeal and the desire to know which girl would end up with a man and which would end up with a woman drove audiences wild. For other dating shows similar to this, they feature young music stars that are outspoken and attractive looking to be set up with the man or woman of their dreams. The group of suitors almost always consists of a carefully casted group of men and women ranging from bad ass men to sweet innocent little girls to huge breasted, tattooed, bad mannered groupies. For shows like this, nothing matters besides creating entertainment and earning the network ratings. The audience does not care what color or religion the people on the show are, as long as they cause some drama and provide us with entertainment that survives even after we have watched the re runs 4 times that week. However, if you asked parents or grandparents what their favorite reality dating show is, generally they will have never heard of those shows I just mentioned and likely know few dating shows beyond the bachelor. The audience of the bachelor is mostly white and targeted towards the older white generations, therefore the networks will show what gives them the highest ratings. It would be interesting to see what would happen to ratings if the networks experienced using different races/religions for their bachelors. The use of varied groups of suitors would probably more accepted than the person who is the bachelor or bachellorette being a person of color.
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Additional Blog # 2
I do not think that White people are the only ones who are willing to humiliate themselves on television. I also do not think that they are the only ones that should get the lime light either.
However, I think that television show producers are not really interested in who gets the lime light, but more so why people are getting and how people are getting the lime light. Most people in world are white as we all probably know. On television, it is more frequent for us to see white people on dating shows and other happy shows because they are so suppose to be happier and more understanding people. They are supposed to have better moral values than people of color. On the other hand people of color only get the lime light when we commit a crime or have done something wrong it seems. However, every now and then producers will throw in a person of color, so the demographics will look ok and so that “Everyone” is represented “Fairly”.
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When I watched this video, it was not surprising at all because I have felt the same way as this girl for so long that it just became a normal occurrence for me. I feel like everywhere we are all trying to increase diversity and become more multicultural, but on some level it seems like just superficial. I remember one of our race relation discussion topic revolved around something like this, so for some companies and some universities, if they want to strengthen their stand on diversity, they would have certain percentage requirements for their future students and employees, so they would recruit accordingly to the percentage, if that is the case, then what is the ultimate point of really breaking through the racial barriers when the motive behind it is just for show?
The topic of portrayal of diversity on Primetime Media was commonly conversed among my group of friends when we noticed that Asian American is rarely the main character in any movie or any show. Let’s talk about the Bachelor, it is predominantly white and we definitely don’t see accurate demographic representation on this show, but since it doesn’t say, “The Bachelor; Caucasians,” then it just doesn’t seem right not to include different ethnicities. Many other popular TV shows like Gossip Girl also has no main character of a minority ethnicity, does that mean the Upper East Side only has Caucasians? The media is one of the key places that still need to take action in breaking through the stereotypes because it, on some level, created many stereotypes in the first place. Growing up, the media has placed a tremendous amount of influence in my life and I am sure for many others as well. From children shows to Disney channel and TV drama series, what we watch in many ways determine our world views, which include stereotypes in real life.
Although this issue of predominantly Caucasians on major TV shows still stays true and unchanged, but the media trend has shifted towards the Internet, and here I am very excited to see many minority faces, especially with the popularity with Youtube, the stage is fair and equal for the self-made stars base on the number of views from all over the world. For once, there is no restriction on who gets the main role in a movie or who gets most views or popularity. I think the change of the medium of the media with the internet has really showed that people would rather see more of the right ratio breakdown in the popular movies or TV shows. Here I want to mention Youtube beauty guru/Lacome video makeup artist Michelle Phan, she is basically a self-made star from doing makeup tutorials on Youtube and from the support of all her viewers, and she is now famous and appeared in Vogue. So she is able to become a main role in the media because of her own efforts not because of the producers’ picks and choices.
I think with shows like The Bachelor, what we notice with the all-Caucasian appearance is going to continue to occur but things are progressing, and hopefully, for the better.
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I think this student brings up an excellent point about race and the bachelor. I think that it is strange that most of the contestants have been white. I think it says something about the United States representation of beauty. When we think of someone who is beautiful we usually think of someone who is white. I think this representation of beauty is wrong and we need to expand out image of what we find attractive. In recent years there have been many attempts to expand what girls find beautiful The Disney movies the princess frog, Milan , and aladdin and dolls of other races but still the most common image of a beautiful girl in the united states is a white girl. However I am white and I personally find white guys more attractive than men of other races. I am not racist in any way but I just find more in common with white guys and I am naturally more attracted to them. I also think that on the show they also want to find relationships that are going to be compatible and usually people find more in common with people of their same race. This can also be seen in early years before kids are old enough to learn what racism is. Kids chose dolls that look like them and often pick friends who look like them. This can be a sign that maybe people are not racist in relationships and just have more in common with people of their same race. Sadly I do not think that the show’s ratings would not be as high if the bachelor or bachelorette was black or Asian or another race. I think that most of the viewers are white and they find more in common with the white bachelor or bachelorette. There have been other shows that have tried to show that race does not matter in dating situations such as dating in the dark. Where contestants are put in a pitch-black room and get to know one another before they can see what the other person looks like. However after eliminating race and image as a factor people usually chose to date someone who is there same race. This would prove that the bachelor is not being racist and is just being realistic that people are likely to find more in common with someone who is their same race. It could be said that the bachelor discriminates against other things like weight religion and economic status but in reality I think that we all yout enjoy the show and take in for what it is a reality TV show where much of it is probably stages and ABC is just trying to make money.
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I consider myself a reality tv junkie, however bad that may be I am intrigued with these shows and why they put themselves in the lime light to be scrutinized. I always wondered the same thing while watching these shows and there is another show that comes to mind for a similar reason. Momma’s Boys was an NBC show where mothers helped their sons find a girlfriend. It was similar to the Bachelor but 3 boys picked from the same pool of girls with the help of their mothers. To get to the point a woman of color made it as one of the final two girls for one of the contestants and I vividly remember the mother not wanting her son to pick her because she was not white and did not share the same religion as their family even though the son liked her better than the other contestant. He ended up picking the mother’s choice and I was shocked, as I’m sure the rest of viewers were. Ultimately, it is the media in general and not just this specific show that is keeping the cycle of racism going.
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Actually I never finished this show with full episodes, but I ve watched this show partially several times since my roommate is a crazy fan of the show. Most times it is so lame to keep watching this show at least to me. Whoever the one who tries to find his/ or her soulmate to get married comes up and has so many dates. I get more embarrased and disgusted when the one actually chose his/her soulmate at final episode. \\when \\i watched the show, I never realized that how all the people in show are whites. Maybe I didnt pay attention. but \\i dont think it matters anyways. maybe the reason why there are only whites in this show is because other race people like black, asian or hispanic didn't apply to be on the show. Personally It would be interesting that if there was a final couple who are mixed races like white man and asian woman.
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Actually I never finished this show with full episodes, but I ve watched this show partially several times since my roommate is a crazy fan of the show. Most times it is so lame to keep watching this show at least to me. Whoever the one who tries to find his/ or her soulmate to get married comes up and has so many dates. I get more embarrased and disgusted when the one actually chose his/her soulmate at final episode. \\when \\i watched the show, I never realized that how all the people in show are whites. Maybe I didnt pay attention. but \\i dont think it matters anyways. maybe the reason why there are only whites in this show is because other race people like black, asian or hispanic didn't apply to be on the show. Personally It would be interesting that if there was a final couple who are mixed races like white man and asian woman.
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The Bachelor and Bachelorette is probably one of my favorite shows. Now I know it is very corny and cheesy but for some reason I always get so consumed in this show. It really just amazes me the way the girls and guys act and the things they will do in order to find what they call “true love”. I am actually pretty infatuated with watching reality TV and seeing how people behave and interact when in certain situations. Through the years of watching the show, The Bachelor, I have notice that there are rarely any minorities on this show. There has never been a black or brown bachelor or bachelorette ever on this show. Then I began to wonder if the network, ABC was a diverse network. Considering the shows that appear on this station, I concluded that it is mainly a “white” station. You rarely see any blacks or browns on this network, let alone a whole TV show with blacks or browns.
I really do believe that the bachelor and bachelorette should offer more diverse people on their shows. They would get a lot more viewings, considering that more black and brown people would start to watch the show too. The whole concept of this show is to find your one true love. All of the bachelors come into the show saying that they are open to dating anyone and most of the time they end up with people that they never thought that would end up dating. So why not offer more diversity if these bachelors don’t even know what they are looking for? Typically, when there is a black or brown girl or boy on the show, they are eliminated within the first two rounds. It always makes me mad when this happens because they do not even give them a chance. They automatically eliminate them because they know they do not want to date someone of color. Which makes me think that most black or brown people do not sign up for a show like this unless they were attracted to people of a different skin color then them. If you think about it, most people do not outwardly put themselves in situations where they are the minority. For example, I could say that I would probably never sign up for the show “Flava of Love” or “The Love of Ray J” because I am not attracted to that type, nor would I want to put myself in a situation where I would be the minority. It is just a continuous cycle that will probably never end. There will always be some predominantly white shows and some predominantly black or brown shows. I think it all depends on the person’s personality and interests and if their interests pertain to shows like The Bachelor, then they should go on The Bachelor. Or if they pertain to shows like Flava of Love, then they should be allowed to go on that show, no matter their race.
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If the producer of this show made up to be in this way (only white people in this show), i think there is a little bit of understandable reason. Most couples who get married are the same race. I don't want to say this because i might sound like a racist. But when i see the couple with different race to each other, I give them second look (even i didn't mean it though) I am a female asian and I don't mind about being or becoming a mixed couple but I just automatically look at them again because i am not used to see them.
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I actually never noticed the disproportionate percentage of white contestants on the Bachelor. I don’t make a big deal of it. I don’t think racism is as big a reason for this as much as social acceptance would be. Directors and producers think of everything before putting together a show like “The Bachelor”. I’m sure a disproportionate percentage of the people who watch “The Bachelor” are white as well. Obviously not all the audience of the show are white, but I think a bigger percentage of the audience is white compared to the percentage of white people in America.
When I watch shows like “the Flavor of love” (which is another show very similar to the “bachelor”, but with mostly black contestants), I don’t wonder why so many of the contestants are black. The bachelor in “Flavor of Love” (Flavor Flav) is black, and it is common for people to be attracted to their own race. There were a couple of contestants on the show that were different races, but that is because the show was on VH1. The show’s primary target audience was African-American and putting African-Americans on the show would help intrigue that target audience. Therefore it would make sense that a disproportionate percentage of the contestants are of the same race as the bachelor of the show. On BET, almost every person is black. Whether it is music videos, TV shows, game shows, reality TV shows etc… That isn’t racism at all. A huge percentage of the audience that watches BET is black, so the director and producer of the show would obviously surround their shows with black people.
Another reason I think the shows are designed this way, is to actually avoid racism. What would happen if a minority contestant got eliminated from the show really early, for no apparent reason? What if the white contestants ganged up on a minority contestant? What if the final two contestants were white and another race, and the white contestant won? Wouldn’t the show be seen as slightly racist? Especially by people who look for any reason to call anything racist.
Another thing I’ve noticed is that most actors are white. A disproportionate percentage of the athletes and musicians are African-American, these are people who earn their fame by working hard. Actors/actresses on the other hand are chosen by directors and producers. They find people that fit the description of the characters they want in their production. Athletes and musicians are chosen by pure talent and it doesn’t matter their race. All I’m saying is that, the “white face” is more accepted on television. It is just what we are used to. If they had a choice, most Americans would be more comfortable seeing a white face on television. So when they have a choice, a lot of people who choose casting, tend to choose white people for their shows.
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I found this post interesting because I can see where people would get the impression that it is "white" people who are willing to humiliate themselves on shows such as the Bachelor/Bachelorette, however there are many other shows where people of color are humiliating themselves as well. I suppose that this is just an issue that I never really thought of watching the show, but after watching the posting I realized that she is right that there is on a few non-white people that ever appear on the show.
This to me is no surprising, I think that it all comes down to the producer and the channel which the show is broadcast. The fact that race relations is an issue for some people, channels such as ABC AND CBS I believe have to watch what they are putting on the air because of this. I would think that by now most people would come to realize that the color of someone's skin does not matter, unfortunately this is not the case. So I think the correct response to the post, is the mere fact that not everyone accepts marriage between different races. So to be politically correct every now and then on shows such has the Bachelor they have to throw in people of different races.
I also think that another factor may be what the preference of the individual of the show is, I'm not positive to me though this makes sense I mean the whole point of the show is to find someone to eventually marry. So if someone prefers only whites then that is their choice, I think that if this is the case then I do not have a problem with it at all and ultimately makes the most sense. In addition, factoring in the policy of the network broadcasting. Certain situations call for different types of people, for example there is Survivor that is very diverse and The Amazing Race these shows are totally different than say the Bachelor.
Furthermore, audiences react to this differently because these shows are taking place all over the world and do not have a direct focus on marriage. Eventually, I do no think that this will be an issue I see a colored person being a Bachelor/Bachelorette in an upcoming show because it is slowly but surely become more common and is only fair to other races. I feel that there is just this small group of people who have a huge problem with something like this, and this person is more than likely the one in charge of managing these shows and this is why you see mostly white people. Channels such as VH1 focus on different types of races and have no problem mixing individuals together, and I feel this is how they should all be. So all in all I feel that this is the reason that it is mostly white people that you end up seeing on shows such as the Bachelor.
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The shows like the bachelor and bachelorette are just so ridiculous. I don’t think that white people are the only people willing to humiliate themselves (flavor of love was much trashier than the bachelor) but I do think that there is racial discrimination in the choice of contestants. I'm not sure how the contestants are chosen but if it is nothing more than ABC picking them then there needs to be come changes in the variety of contestants. It would be nice to see at least 5 of the 25 contestants be of non Caucasian race. If the contestants of color win or are successful is solely up to their relationship with the bachelor or bachelorette (not biased because of race).
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I like how this topic was brought up. I actually used to watch the bachelor/bachelorette, until after about the 4th season it began to bore me to no end. I noted how all the bachelors all looked the same and how the bachelorettes all looked the same and so were the men and women that were fighting for their attention. I noticed that minorities were always either absent or extremely underrepresented. This is not to say that there needs to be a lot of minorities for sake of appeasing the people, rather than in selections to even make the show, which I am sure some apply, they just never make the cut. Some of the contestants that actually appear on the show are shocking after they tell you all they are really about and I cannot help but think that out of the thousands of applicants "that one" made it?
The few minorities that make it tend to get cut in the first or second round, and you can tell the bachelor/bachelorette is uncomfortable. The discussions are usually very professional and never personal. In my family, whenever one minority made it in, we would bet each other how long s/he would stay on that show. The bets became redundant because we knew a minority would never make it past the second day. Another point of interest was that the bachelor and bachelorette have always been white themselves, as if there are no other singles in the United States of the Americas other than white people. It’s ridiculous and, I believe, on purpose. Disney Channel is more true to the demographic than some of these “more mature” channels that are in one mild way or another, rather racist. Note I did not say they are hateful racist; they are just that, racist. An interesting point someone made earlier is maybe the selections are restricted by the selections/preferences set forth by the bachelor and bachelorette ahead of time. In which case do we still call it selective racism or personal preference? It’s definitely something to think about.
Although I do not believe that things will change drastically any time soon, I do believe in minute progress even for it is better than none at all; although even that is not as great as immediately righting a wrong. There are white channels and black channels, and I think it is all rather ridiculous really; the discrimination goes both ways. Mix them! So at least the growing generations can see images of the diversified world in which we live. Times are always changing whether we choose to accept it or not, and so the best we can hope for is that we adapt adequately enough to make it as painless as possible.
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I think that these shows are strictly for entertainment purposes. Of course, many people want to be on television and there are plenty of things that people will do in order to have the opportunity. However, I don’t think that white people are the only people willing to humiliate themselves. There are countless times when I have seen people of color doing the same things on television in order to get into the spotlight. I think it seems as though white people put themselves in this position more frequently because the population of whites is much greater than that of blacks and colored people, so it is more common to see whites in these positions.
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I don’t really watch the bachelor that often, but I have also noticed the overwhelming amount of white people on the show. I think that there are more than just a few reasons why too. One may be that more white people try out, or maybe even that the bachelor/bachelorette said that they would prefer to marry someone of their own race. But as far as Sam’s title for the blog post goes, I totally think that many more races other than white are willing to humiliate themselves on television. Think back to the video we watched in class of the Japanese (I think?) men getting hit in the balls with hammers. That may be far more humiliating than the bachelor. Also, half of the humiliating shows that we have in America (that are dominated by whites) stem from another country that had the idea first.
Okay so now that that’s out of my system, I think that the bachelor is an awful, awful show. The entire idea of it is superficial and ridiculous, and until the bachelorette came out, sexist. Having 20 or so women compete for the love of one man, who consequently is handsome and wealthy is crazy. How could true love ever possibly be found? And it demeans the whole idea of marriage (which I would define as the ultimate display of love between a man and a woman, two men, two women, or whoever) It doesn’t matter what the race of the person is, the show is ridiculous all the way around. Some of the episodes literally have physical competitions to win a date with the man. If one of the women makes one mistake, or isn’t pretty enough they’re cut, it’s that easy. And a whole string of horrible “reality” shows have sprung from this one, too (i.e. Flavor of love with flava flav, A shot at love with Tila Teguila, and Rock of Love with Bret Michaels) All of those shows have love in the title, yet every one of them has a second season because the first one didn’t work out. How can we expect children these days (who already grow up learning everything from T.V. and celebrities) to really know what love is when this is what they’re exposed to? Are they going to think that in order to find true love they’ll need to compete and humiliate themselves?
I guess I’ve sort of gotten away from the subject of race on this one really, but I think that these shows are slowly eating away at the real meanings that love and marriage should have, while teaching our youth that it’s okay to love someone just for their wealth or beauty. It’s crazy.
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I do not have a solution to this question. Should these types of shows be more diverse, should they represent the population, or is it fair for the shows to be based on their audience? There are shows that have black casts, shows that have white casts, and shows that have diversity cast and I’m not sure which is best. I guess ideally a diverse cast is the best solution and there are certain groups that are not represented on television. TV is a reinforcement of society, all white shows with some diversity are on major networks and primarily black cast shows are on small networks. This is unfortunate, and TV networks goals certainly are not social justice leaving this a difficult situation. I mean what would the solution be? Sure we can have this discussions, but the TV stations will keep airing shows that sell.
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Well this is a very good question Are whites the only ones to humiliate themselves on TV well to me the question is do these show like the baccalaureate and real word and other shows that connect with that show allow to have allot of black people to cast on the shows. Well the same as she said I can probably count on my hand of how many black people end up on these types of shows. I don’t want to jump to say its racist or anything it can be only white willing to get up there and act a fool because it seem as every time I ask a black person would she or he do they say hell no or just no and they sometime crazy I will never make a fool of myself like that. Makes you think like maybe blacks people really do not want to be made a fool of their selves, which is understandable. With me being black I have to say it is true I even tell myself sometime I would never get on that show to at a foot so I can embarrass myself. As you look on these show these white people are really trying to be seen and don’t matter to be put on blast throughout the whole nation. To me I do think some of these show go by the color of the skin but some don’t. Most of these shows go with the people that are crazy and would get millions of homes watching them every week and it seem to be white people that knows how to do that. I think it all boils down to money and who want to put there selves out there with no problem and most of the time it do be white people which is all good. But don’t forget black people have their own shows as well and there are some black people that would do allot for a TV contract money talk in many ways and if those numbers are right yes I think blacks will also take a more go on it but to me money does not have a skin color at the end of the day everybody want to be seen and also make that money. Which I understand but to bring this to an end I really think whites are not the only to act a fool on tv also blacks because I bet if those type of shows give more blacks opportunity to be on those type of shows you will see the number increase.
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I think this is a very interesting point, it is a bit odd that not many black women went on this show but that could be that they just dont try out? I was thinking that there are alot of other reality shows on other channels like VH1 that are predominantly black. So i am not sure if the question was raised because its a lack of black people on a more popular network, or because there just arent black women on those specific shows. i think that it might just be that black women arent attracted to these stuck up white men that they use, or maybe the network crew chooses only the most "attractive people" to be on the shows, and those people happen to be bias towards the looks of white people. But i want to counter this video by saying that its not like black people arent on any of the reality shows they definitely are. all of the real world and real world challenges have black people and the race shows, and game shows always have a large variety of races, and other channels have shows with many black people. For example on the ray j show of the "flavor flav" show it was mostly black people, and the man they were fighting for was black too. So mayb it is just that people on those shows arent looking for an interracial thing and it is not the broadcasting network! I think there are many white people who are attracted to black men and the other way around so im sure there have been a few of the opposite color contestants on these shows in the past. The post above me mentioned that it could be this way because of polls taken where families dont want to see interracial couples, and that may be true, but i find that hard to believe since our society is attempting to be so politically correct and avoid any such maneuvers that would make them seem racially biased in any way. The bachelor in particular is a very stupid show in my opinion the women on them are really just looking for fame. They are looking for fame in that particular zone, so white women looking to be singers or actresses, while the black people on the ray j shows and other reality shows predominantly black, are looking for fame down that avenue in the hip hop area. So that makes sense why colors stick with colors for a lack of a better term , white people arent looking to sell themselves to a black audience and black people aren't looking to sell themselves to a white audience, because after watching a few episodes of any show it always comes out that one woman is an aspiring singer or actress etc. those shows are all fake anyway so who cares!
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