Last night I watched two of three episodes of the documentary on America’s Next Top Model reality show of the early 2000s and the stark presentation of society at that time is amazing. This is obviously before #MeToo, before body positivity, when eating disorders were rife, ladette drinking culture and sexual promiscuity were more common, and was recorded at the same time as the likes of Epstein and Andrew and Harvey Weinstein were carrying on.
The documentary lays bare, literally, the way women were treated as disposable items by the tv, beauty and fashion industries (and as we know music and film industries were just as bad).
These brave women in their early 20s seeking a career in fashion were put together in a house and had to do challenges to “succeed” at modelling, with one sent home each week. They were thrust into the limelight, every move recorded, every mouthful monitored, every physical detail scrutinised, every personality trait analysed, and all of it wrapped up as “reality” entertainment and sold to the world. It is horrific viewing because it illustrates that this was acceptable at the time, where just two decades later this would be seen as an abuse of their privacy, irresponsibly building up their hopes of a career, failing at duty of care etc.
I used to think that era was so positive and hopeful and we were a generation that had it so good, before 911 and before the climate worries and wars that we have today, but this documentary really shows that what was claimed as equality and female empowerment was also, or was really, a way of objectifying women for mostly men’s benefit, and systems and expectations were created that women had to fit in with so as not to be seen to be difficult.
I don’t blame Tyra Banks for her role in this because she was trying to do something good and to promote diversity and body positivity before these were really widely recognised, but ANTM inadvertently highlighted the worst aspects of these industries and as the documentary illustrates, for many contestants and viewers it helped perpetuate body shaming and excessive focus on women’s appearance. Some of the other judges also seemed to be mostly benign such as Jay Manuel and the English photographer however as bystanders they let it all happen, “just doing their job”, while Janice Dickinson took on the role of the bad cop judge and was basically just a spiteful bully. The producer Ken Mok in one clip states, the more “drama” as he put it the better for TV - he’s talking about what we would now call rape, a very drunk girl taken advantage of, no one looking out for her (including the other girls and the tv crew), all filmed but not aired at least due to hasty editing following the outcry from Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction.
I think Tyra Banks got caught up in its success and the damage done to some of the individuals on the show was lost, particularly when you see the thousands of young women pushing and shoving their way into auditions to get on the show which must’ve proved how good the show was right? It’s only been reevaluated since it was all re-aired over the pandemic, with people fascinated and horrified when seeing it through a new lens.
I’ll watch the last episode today but found it so illuminating particularly as it is positive to think of where society is heading now in terms of women’s looks, protection and having eyes wide open to male dominated systems that facilitate the use and abuse of women. The brilliant efforts of women like Gisèle Pelicot, Virginia Giuffre, and survivors of #metoo and the taxi driver abuse networks have absolutely changed society. We still have so far to go, but things are improving rapidly I think.
YANBU= things are getting better
YABU= it’s still just as bad for women and girls