Popular Culture Weekly Written Analysis 3

Erenne Coleman
HUMN 341 – F3WW
Popular Culture
Weekly Written Analysis 3

Flavor of Love
This week, we have spent a lot of time focusing on stereotypes in our assignments. While I was trying to decide on an article to reflect what we have learned this week about stereotypes, the first thing that came to mind was “The Flavor of Love”. In the article ‘Love Him or Leave Him?” the author Teresa Wiltz, focuses on how this type of show affects audiences and how views of the show are important to popular culture today.
The show focuses on Hip Hop Rapper Flava Flav and how is seeking to find love by bringing contestants on the show to compete in trying to win Flav’s heart. The concept is the same as reality television has brought of the bachelor, I love New York, Tila Tequila and probably many other celebrities searching for love as well. The issues surrounding the public opinion of the show is how these women are treated. Is it a stereotype to put women together in a house to compete against each other for one man? What ever happened to the sanctity of falling in love the old fashioned way? Boy meets girl, they fall in love and so on. Now our society has television shows for the celebrities who want to prey down on average citizens, bring them on television to basically make a mockery of how women are eager to put themselves out there for this type of public scrutiny.
The flavor of love is still attracting millions of audiences each week and has become one of VH1’s top shows. It is clear that our society wants to see this type of situation where this man brings these women on his show, give them a name that he feels reflects their character, but really circumferences around how they look and then place them in a house with about 20 other women to fight all for him. Wow. Is this a fine line between fame, male egotism or does it just focus on how men stereotype women today? The debate can be left wide open on this one, but again it is clear that over 6 million viewers are giving the show their ratings each week and therefore sending a message to television writers that it is okay basically.
Citations

Wiltz, Teresa. (2006). Love Him, or Leave Him? The Washington Post.com. Retrieved March 9, 2008, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/01/AR2006110103414.html