After reading this blogpost, I was inspired to write a post about last night's Flavor of Love 2 episode. And I know some of you are probably thinking "it's not that serious, it's just TV".
Yeah, the same TV that has you wanting a lil scruffy dog to throw in your Fendi bag and carry around. Or perhaps has you wanting to work out so you can look like Beyonce. Or perhaps, the same TV that has you wishing deep-down you could buy that new 2007 Escalade. The same TV that has ME walking around reciting GANGSTA rap lyrics all day when I am far from being a gangsta (the shoe fits, so I'll wear it).
I agree with the Coon Picnic statement in that blogpost linked to above. That nas song is definitely applicable. "Let's give it up for the coons/On UPN 9 and WB who yes mass on TV". Add VH1 to the list. And add just about each one of those wild a$$ girls from that episode last night. What makes me feel good is that I sent a text message to BHill when the show was about 20 minutes in and told him I was gonna go with Beautiful (I'm using proper spelling, unlike Flav) and Eyez. Turns out Eyez was a mole and it (so far) appears that Beautiful at least respects herself enough not to jump out there and give Flaz sex like Tyson would do just to get "ahead". So I picked one girl was there just to spy for her friend's benefit and another who seems like she might have some sense. Mom, you'd be proud of me.
Before I rant, don't get me wrong! I think the show is VERY entertaining. But at the same time, I think it is embarassing for black folks. And I am not even talking about Flav (yet). People of other races *may* watch this and get the wrong idea about black women. Spunkee's instigating everything, "Something" is just nasty (the girl shat herself...on TV), numerous girls on there are not only wearing a ho's uniform, but speaking a ho's language...I could go on. But the worst part of the show is that it makes black women look like unintelligent, "loose", money/fame chasing NI99ERettes!
And Buckwild is just trying too d@mn hard to be whatever it is she thinks "black" is. Like Puff said to the girl in that making the band episode, "I don't try and talk like a white girl, you shouldn't talk like a white guy. BE YOU!"
The second worst part of it all is that the guise of this whole thing is that these girls want THIS DUDE!
No offense to Flav because beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder, but come the F*CK on ladies! We're NOT as dumb as YOU LOOK on the show. Is it the so-called fame from being a reality show TV star that has you frontin' like this? Are you actresses? Or does the "hood" fame Hoopz attained from the last season really make you think you're gonna blow up after competing for the affection of a man with 5+ kids already?
Again, I think the show is funny/entertaining and I can separate the images I see from the REAL BLACK WOMEN I KNOW in REAL life (not reality TV). But can the rest of the people watching this show do that? I don't know, but that is the friggin question! If you think about how this show can affect the way people look at you in REAL LIFE, then maybe you'll feel the same way I do, torn between entertainment and reality. Shot out to hip-hop!
To sum it all up, The Flavor of Love is entertainingly WACK!
6 comments:
Wow...your post was so powerful it made me go on VH1.com and look it up and look at the footage from last night...straight HAM...every last ONE of them "sistas" got the game twisted...it looks like 14th & K all day.... and its really sad, its extremely sad on SO many levels...
I did watch last season because it was like you sad "entertaining" but I don't know about this one...maybe...but it just feels like this sets up back HOW many years...
MESS!
It is sad that this is what the execs at these companies think and KNOW that our people will want to watch. Put money on it that its not nearly as many non-black people running home on Sundays to watch this show.
I watched it last season as well (of and on at least) and I will probably watch it this season (tongue-in-cheek of course) because it is very entertaining. I just hope that people are intelligent, educated, and have been exposed enough to know that this is not how all black men or women act.
What's funny is that this is kinda making me go back and re-evaluate how I feel about shows like Martin. At least most episodes of Martin ended in a "good" way in the sense that there was a storyline and the episodes always ended on a good note for whomever was having issues that episode.
Flavor of Coon (this is my new term) though...It just ends with a preview of the next bit of iggnant-ness that's going to take place over the next few episodes. Now I know they'll try and make it seem like these girls are real people and have some moments where these women open up. But at the end of the season those moments will be overshadowed by all the fights, tits, a$$, and ignorant comments and actions.
I could go on for days but I sha'nt (shall not).
so true!! so true Mike!!!! i really pray that people can separate this from the real world like you said. it scares me to think at how many people of other races watch this and think that's how we are. but this type of imagry has been with us for a LOOOOONNNNNNNGGGGGGGG time now. I know I talk a lot about videos, but even the most talented ones are using their sex and money to sell and entertain. I think this show is just more blatant with it. Good post.
Yeah JAC, this is pretty effed up on alot of levels. I mean, I think it's EFFED up that even though I know how this can contribute to ignorance and prejudging, I STILL WATCH! Does that make me a hypocrite or does it just mean I'm entertained by ignorance? Either way I feel torn by all these emotions. "Because I ain't shucking and cuz I ain't jiving, some of these crackers won't stand beside me. And cuz I ain't killin and don't support pimpin, some of these nikkas wanna call me a Cosby"
Man, the depths to which the struggle reaches can't even be put into words...
I appreciate your analysis of Flavor of Love within the constricts of race and gender, but to further analyze the show, one must refer not to the show as a matter of “celebreality” (like anyone had ever really heard of Flavor Flav before his stint on VH1) but into the societal constricts of racial stereotypes. Flav represents the age old Jim Crow character, he dances around for the entertainment of his white audience, going as far as wearing ludicrous jester-like outfits and declaring himself royalty, all the while being a clown to the American public (eg., the awe-inspiring spelling of the nicknames of the women).
The women of the household do embrace a rather “ghetto” styling, regardless of race, as well as the age-old idea that women are catty, ruthless bitches who will undercut each other in any means necessary to get what they want. As this post is in reference to the first episode of the second season, and now society has moved its worship to I Love New York (with Flav still pulling the strings as executive producer), we can still see the binary of male/female sexuality, as Flav was generally on screen only when “sexually exploring” the ladies of his show (as well as his hysterical commentary in the Viking hat), New York, when in a house with her men of choice, does not take a different one to bed with her every night, nor are her interactions with the contestants based solely on sexuality. Is New York’s sexuality less acceptable than Flav’s? And speaking of sexuality, what was the matter with Nibblz embracing hers?
Just a few thoughts in retrospect, considering you wrote this post at the beginning of Season 2, and New York’s already down to her “Fantastic 4” on I Love New York.
Thanks for reading my comment,
Melissa
MARTIIN was not a good show either. The shows always portrayed black men in a negative light. Gina and Pam were "working in the corporate world" rocking mini-skirts and pink pumps(Get real).
While Martin was always begging Gina to accept him or trying to please Gina (when she would "always" disrespect him) for a friend who was obviously a hater.
Gina was also stupid as she fell for numerous ploys orchestrated by manless Pam. I also thought Tommy was a faggot. Cole was protrayed as a bum who lived with his mom. It was NOT a positive show for men possibly due to the fact that it came out during the male bashing 90s.
Any show made during that time--or after--is sure to porttray men as buffoons in some aspect. As far as Flavor of Love; the show is SCRIPTED. The girls are regular run of the mill, starry eyed, street bums that think showing skin on reality tv shows will make them someone.
Plenty of women think the show is real because women watch stuff like this. They love the drama and it keeps their little personal gender war going on.
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