Research Investigation Draft So Far

How Stereotypical is the representation of class in ‘The Only Way Is Essex’ and ‘Made In Chelsea’?

For my research investigation, I will be analysing the representation of class and how it is stereotyped within TV, in particular I will be investigating two Reality TV programs, ITV’s ‘The Only Way Is Essex’ and Channel 4’s ‘Made In Chelsea’. My aims will be to firstly, to investigate these two texts to determine how class is represented within this particular genre. Secondly, to determine if my texts conform to stereotypes to represent class within reality TV. Lastly, I will investigate what effects these so called reality texts can have upon an audience. The theories I will apply to my investigation will be The Postmodernist Theory in particular hyper-reality to outline how a false reality is created through television and projected as the real and The Socio-Economic Model when defining the different class types within these two programs and The Uses and Gratifications Theory to investigate how reality TV creates a hyper-real universe for it’s audience.

In recent years, reality TV has become a bad representation of our society in modern day. The realism of different classes within our society have now become ‘hyper-real’ and false. Reality TV has become structured and bends the truth to suit the entertainment of the viewing public. “What you see on screen looks like drama but it is, the producers claim, based on the real lives of their subjects. "Story producers" plot out what they are going to film in advance after discussion with the cast – they prime their subjects to discuss certain topics, with an outcome in mind, although they cannot always predict that outcome.” (1) The construction of reality TV is now represented to it’s audience as “a cross-pollination of soap opera and documentary”, (2) making the texts a postmodern hybrid. The two constructed reality TV shows The Only Way is Essex and Made In Chelsea are “limiting girls' career ambitions” due to a “lack of positive female role models for young women, according to the Girl Guides”. (3) This false representation of ‘celebrities’ is being created and is having a negative effect on a young passive audience. Reality TV is meant to represent the lives of the people within the TV show and is currently being represented to young people as fake-tanned amateurs making their claim to fame through backstabbing their other cast members, influencing their passive audience and making it seem okay for the audience to imitate this and relate it to their own lives.

Reality TV has become contrived in new reality shows including The Only Way Is Essex and Made In Chelsea, The Only Way is Essex’s Title Sequence contains the main characters making themselves look smart and getting ready for the show with clips of expensive cars and toned bodies in the background. For example, when the character Jess is getting ready we see her flick her hair making her look glamorous, Mark has his toned body and a flash car giving us the image of the ideal male in his title background clip, the rest of the males are tidying up their suits and most of the females are playing with their hair. (4) This gives the idea that you have to look good to be on TV, fulfilling the Essex stereotype of fake tanned glamorous wannabe celebrities. The title sequence gives us an introduction as to who the characters are where as Made In Chelsea does not have a title sequence, but as each episode starts, there is a quote from the episode. This is an enigma code as it makes the audience question when and how the quote will appear in the episode.

Reality TV has become constructed in the way that every situation in the program is fake and all the characters become subjects to the conformity of what our society likes to call ‘Reality TV’. “The producers put us in some situations we might not usually be in, and prompt us to talk about things we wouldn’t necessarily discuss. But we never act; our reactions to those situations are real” (5).  Another cause of reality TV becoming constructed is the fact that it provokes major public outcry, abuse and reaction due to the effects of de-individuation, “a loss of individual identity and a gaining of the social identity of the group”. (6) This was originally observed in Big Brother with death threats and abuse sent to contestants, “reality TV star said she was told she’d be stabbed to death just like her dad who bled to death after being knifed in the leg when she was younger.” (7)  Although highly unethical and cruel, this provides publicity and attention for the said programs. The more constructed and outrageous the scenarios are, the greater the public reaction-which is exactly what producers want.

Essex is well known for it’s common stereotypes of the Essex girl. The Essex girl is classified between the age of 18 and 30 and finds herself categorized in the working classes, “variations of the dumb blonde persona, white stiletto heels, peroxide blonde hair, the silicone augmented breasts, over-indulgent use of fake tan (lending an orange appearance), promiscuity and loud verbal vulgarity” (8) and this is represented clearly in the text The Only Way Is Essex. The character Amy Childs, one of the main females in the text, fits in with this stereotypical image, having the typical ‘dumb blonde’ persona even though she has red hair, the silicone augmented breasts, the use of fake tan making her skin a tinted orange and her loud verbal vulgarity making her seem less intelligent. In The Only Way Is Essex Series 1 Episode 5, the Zoo Scene, Amy is on a date with co-star Kirk and fulfills the viewer’s needs when representing the Essex girl role. At 6 minutes 55 seconds into the episode, Amy claims that she “is so blonde babe” satisfying how the viewers perceive Essex girls as dumb and unintelligent blonde girls. Amy carries this persona on throughout the scene claiming that a rhinoceros is a ‘rhinosauras’ at 7 minutes 43 seconds. This character has a simplistic view on life and uses common slang to establish the sort of character she is, this establishes that she is from a working/lower class background according to the Socio-Economic Model because she is and unskilled manual worker who isn’t very intelligent, representing that she has a lower class education. The effect this has on representing the Essex girl is that they want beauty over brains as they play up to being stupid, making themselves seem more attractive to men.

Chelsea on the other hand has a completely opposite stereotypical view. The Chelsea stereotype are seen as socialites who are the heir’s to their parents hard work. A socialite is ‘a person who is or seeks to be prominent in fashionable society’, (9) these socialites are always discussing their connections as to who knows who. The Middle Class family tends to be patriarchal or run by whichever parent has the most money. These socialites aren’t afraid to show off how much money they have, and the text Made In Chelsea shows it’s audience prime examples of this. In Season 2, Episode 3 at 14 minutes into the episode, the viewer see’s the character Amber walking to co-star Mark Francis’ House, using mise-en-scene to represent their class. Amber is then being escorted in to the house by Mark Francis’ maid Jana. Mark Francis is sat in a lightly coloured room filled with antiques and expensive furniture, wearing smart clothes with his hair blow dried back broadcasting that he is from a well-off background and providing information to the audience on how wealthy he is. This conforms to the stereotypical view of people from Chelsea as they are all represented as posh young adults with fancy names discussing their connections and attending dinner parties. At 14 minutes 15 seconds, Jana and Mark Francis speak to each other using another language, this demonstrates that he has been brought up with a good education as he can speak another language fluently. When Mark Francis and Amber greet each other at 14 minutes 21 seconds they kiss each other on both cheeks, proving information that they socialize well within their society as they are close enough to the other person to kiss them on both cheeks. The two characters sit down and start discussing Mark Francis’ ideas for their jewelry business. At 14 minutes 44 seconds, Jana gives Amber and Mark Francis glasses of champagne, both are well mannered and can be seen as the middle class as champagne is seen as an expensive drink. At 4 minutes 51 seconds, the pair toast to ‘floatiness’ when toasting to their idea. The pair discuss a business date with another co-star at 15 minutes 13 seconds which then leads to them discussing the co-star’s casino book preview or ‘soirée’. When the pair come to finish their conversation at 15 24 seconds, they toast again to celebrate possible business ventures.  This scene from the text Made in Chelsea justifies the representation of the middle class as these characters are entrepreneurs who have people work for them, this is represented in the text through the entrepreneur (Mark Francis) and his maid (Jana).