Essay

What can an investigation of Miami Ink and Big Brother reveal about modern attitudes to representations of class?

           My two chosen texts are, 'Miami Ink' (1) season 3 episode 2 and 'Big Brother' (2) season 11 episode 55. The question I am asking myself is, What can an investigation of 'Miami Ink' (1) and 'Big Brother' (2) reveal about modern attitudes to representations of class?
           Big Brother (2) is based on 12 contestants being put onto a set up house for three months ('Big Brother') (2) and Miami Ink (1) being set in a tattoo shop with people walking in of the streets to get tattooed by one of the famous tattoo artists ('Miami Ink') (1). There are some less obvious differences; 'Miami Ink' (1) is set in Miami, America. 'Big Brother' (2) is set in London, England giving a big cultural difference. Both of these texts are considered to be reality TV although when you look deeper into both of these texts you realise they have been constructed for the target audiences entertainment, social interaction, personal identity and information  to appeal to an audiences idea of uses and gratification.

            Reality TV can be defined by a variety of conventions such as not scripted, normally contains contestants, or none actors, documentaries, actual events and sometimes in a competition (16). 'Big Brother' (2) has a mixture of contestants to try and get the best reactions for them for the audience’s entertainment as a form of Uses and Gratifications. Views of other people say "it's always the working class people that lack intelligence, that do well as they are seen as genuine because viewers believe they don't have the intelligence to play a game etc." (8) They have working class contestants mixed with middle class contestants from a variety of ages as this normally makes great TV seeing them argue over how "unintelligent" the working class contestants are compared to the more "intellectual" middle class contestants and how the older contestants see them selves as more superior then the younger contestants. This always keeps the audience entertained as everyone loves a good argument and a bit of juicy gossip. A quote from Yahoo Answers supports that people watch Reality TV shows because they like the drama from it to be entertained- "Well, stupid people like stupid things. That's one viewpoint to look at. Personally, I think the number one reason as to why people watch it so much is because most people are obsessed with watching drama as long as they aren't involved. Everyone does it, though, so I don't really have a right to complain." (18) The audience is mainly working class people ranging from ages 16-50 years old as again they get good entertainment from watching all the arguments to end their day on a satisfying note. Also there are normally characters the audience can relate to gaining personal identification e.g., older middle class audiences can relate to Steve Gill as he is an older middle class contestant that is what most people consider "normal" he is quiet and only voices his opinion when it is needed or he feels strongly about something. Middle age working class audiences can relate to Josie Gibson as she is middle aged and has been through some life experiences also she is what i think people will consider to be your average normal working class woman. Younger working class audiences can relate to Sam Pepper because his is a stereotypical young adult who plays pranks on others, says what he likes and does what he likes. all of these people are contestants out of Big Brother season 11 episode 55.    
          Views of other people say "it's always the working class people that lack intelligence, that do well as they are seen as genuine because viewers believe they don't have the intelligence to play a game etc." (8). Working class housemates in Big Brother (2) always seem to do better than middle class housemates as I personally feel you can make a connection to them allot more as the majority of audience is working class too. A thread on digital spy shows many views similar to that of mine "Personally I think people feel a connection to the working class!" (6), "class is important because viewers tend to prefer underdogs. There may also be editorial bias towards contestants who are more representative of the viewing public, whereas the more unusual housemates (high upper class/posh) will be figures of fun, because they are a minority" (6) "when the public vote for a winner, they want to spend 50p on a phone vote that will help Cinderella go to the ball. They don't want to give £100,000 to fox-hunting Tory Speechwriters (Derek BB6) or Belgravian cocaine-fuelled escort hires (Jonathan BB8)" (6). I feel this is true as seasons 11 winner was Josie Gibson which i mentioned earlier to be a working class middle ages woman so this supports the idea that the audience votes for someone that they can relate to to win.
          Miami Ink (1) has a mixture of people wanting to get tattooed as well, again meaning you have a range of people you can gain personal identify from. You have the young pretty girls in bikinis getting their first tattoos, the big tough men getting a full sleeve or full back piece, the men and women coming to get a memorial tattoo in remembrance for a loved one who has recently passed away. So there are different people the audience can gain personal identity from. The producers make sure they offer a good range of people on each show- Josie Gibson and Sam Pepper as they have completely different personalities so there are always someone you can gain personal identity from. You can get entertainment from Miami Ink (1) as you enjoy listening to all the stories as to why people are getting that particular tattoo and all about thier reasons. They go into quiet alot of detail on when people come into get memorial tattoos because sad stories hook people and make a better show than if someone was just coming to get a tattoo for no reason at all. Such as scene 5:14 - 6:45, where 2 parents come in the tattoo shop to get a portrait of their little girl who drowned at a young age in a swimming pool. The music changes from rock to soft sad music to suit this type of story. You see a mid shot of the mother of the young child (Brains wife) and she is explaining how that Brain getting a tattoo will help keep the memory alive of there young daughter- Cassidy. This makes the audience feel sorry for them and some people may gain personal identity from them and may consider getting a memorial tattoo to help them deal with a tragic loss. As there is old camera footage of Brain, his wife an family the narration of Brains voice tells you they struggled to have children so chose to adopt, this plays on the heart strings of people watching making them more interested in watching the show to find out if the tattoo turned out how they wanted it to. A mid shot of Brain is shown and he says "she definitely is still daddies little girl" and just as he finishes off that line you can hear in his voice he is holding back the tears. You feel sorry for them and although some people can not relate to the hurt Brain and his wife are feeling “We miss her immensely” (14) the audience feel for them, this is because of how the story of their loss has been told with the sad music and close up shots, old footage and this makes the audience feel as if they knew them (like friends), this is the cultivation theory. As the viewers take on the views and feelings of Brian and his wife as there own.      

          Both shows are constructed to give the audience the best out of the show. Quote from Jean Baudrillard states "it is no longer possible to separate the economic or productive realm from the realms of ideology or culture, since cultural artifacts, images, representations, even feelings and psychic structures have become part of the world of the economic" and "the generation by models of a real without origins or reality: a hyper-real" (17). This is postmodernism which can also relate to constructed reality because constructed reality is not entirely real as you only see a small amount of clips constructed into a TV show for the best entertainment. With postmodernism ideas are brought back from the past and are turned into new ideas but loosing and sence of reality behind them so in turn it slowly changes to something that is far from the original idea. Producers/Directors can portray people in any way they want too, for example quote from Ami James "my whole idea was that it was going to be real. But TV makes it not real. If I scream at Yoji [Harada] once a fu*king month, they make it look like its every fu*king week" (13). This is what audiences love, its entertaining although its not actually full reality TV its constructive reality where everything is constructed to gain more audience viewers which the construction gives the audiences gratification
           For example- a short clip from Miami Ink (1)- 2:16 to 5:09 shows how working class women are portrayed in Miami Ink (1) and how the show is constructed to make people think that she is a very flirtatious. Emily is a bartender; I know this as when she was introduced it told you in writing her name and occupation. She is portrayed as very flirtatious, fun and outgoing; the older generation may presume this is how all young women act. She is in her late 20's but still dressing in low cut tops and mini skirts. She uses rude, flirtatious, sexual banter with Chris Nunez's and he responds flirtatious back “I love women in high heels” (14), “Come over here baby” (14), as he is a lady's man- again older generations may presume this about all younger/middle aged women also the younger generation who are maybe watching the text with their parents may thing that this is the way to act and dress when they are older. She talks in a childish tone of voice and does not come across as the best educated. She does not seem very strong minded as she went to the shop with an idea and Chris suggested something else and she changed her mind instantly saying "I trust you with what you come up with" (14) which shows how she acts a lot younger than what she is a she is relying on him to come up with something good. Chris gives his opinions and she agrees. Close up of her foot in heels implies she is a provocative woman this is a stereotype as high heels are associated with provocative. She says, "I can't wait to wear high heels to show of my tattoo" (14) again portraying her self as the type of woman who likes to go out a lot. She gives him a kiss to say thank you, instead of just a thank you or handshake. She puts her hand on his chest and slowly walks off again in a sexual manner. 
          I think she is a negative representation as she is very very flirtatious with someone she has just met. She comes across "easy" which is a negative representation of working class women as people may make the assumption that all working class women are like this and "put it about". She is a bartender which when people read that they might expect her to act and dress the way she does because of her job.. always being surrounded by drunken men, having to flirt, be friendly all the time and having a bit of flesh on show. That is a stereotypical view of a bartender but people in the same/similar jobs may take a negotiated reading from her section on the show as they understand the stereotype but they don't agree with the way she acts or dresses.
          This is the same with Big Brother (2), it can show all the negative bits of a person to make you think that they are not a very nice person when in actual fact they have only been bad a very few times and they are actually a very nice person but because you don’t see the nice bits of that person you assume they are not nice on the bad things you have seen. For example Steve Gill from Big Brother (2) is always kind hearted and portrayed as a father figure to most of the housemates, scene 4:02 shows Steve quit the challenge to get off and help Josie by pushing her around on the round-a-bout to make it easier for her so this shows him putting others before himself. But that is how the TV producers have chosen to construct the clips of him, when he could be a nasty, horrible spiteful person but the TV has chosen not to show them parts. This may be due to the fact that he has disabilities so Channel 4 don’t want to get criticised by showing people with disabilities as negative representations so they nearly always portray them as positive social representations.
         Sam Pepper is a young man aged 19-24 years old, he is woken up by the magic round-a-bout theme tune and instantly says to JJ "JJ your a pri*k."(15) The Big Brother (2) producers have chosen to include Sam Pepper saying that because it is what you would expect young people to act like, swearing all the time and being disrespectful. Josie is talking to Sam about the prank she played on him the night before and Sam says, "Are you not scared for my revenge?"(15) This keeps the audience hooked (Cultivation Theory) as they want to know what his revenge is going to be as this banter makes good TV so that is why the producers have chosen to include this clip. You then see a clip of Sam Pepper sneakily putting garlic inside Josie’s pillow and he says, "This is pay back for the tooth brush." So from 1:03-4:32 of the episode you instantly get a negative representation of him as you come to the conclusion that he is a typical bad teenager who is very immature and swears allot. This may give off the impression to the older generation that all young people/older teenagers are like that now which gives the wrong impression as we are not all like that. A quote from Brendan states “Mostly, I believe youth to be aggressive, cocky, arrogant, self-absorbed, obsessed with technology and driven by popularity. I think society has taken a step backwards with this generation. There are exceptions though, not all youth are like that, just the majority.” (19) Which supports my idea that young people are represented negatively to the older generation.

         When you watch these two texts you get hooked as you (the audience) get to feel like you know the housemates or tattoo artists so you keep watching, this is known as the cultivation theory. You are drawn into the social aspects of TV where you see the housemates/tattoo artists that much you see them more like a friend. You are much more likely to listen to what advise housemates have to give when you feel as though they are your 'friend' this is also the cultivation theory being put in place.