Raymond Williams 'The Analysis of Culture' applied to Christina Aguilera's 'Beautiful'

THE CATEGORIES AND LEVELS OF CULTURE

According to Raymond Williams in his essay 'The Analysis of Culture' there is a specific framework which one must comprehend in order to understand the workings of culture. A keyword, he states, is pattern. Though in a sense, understanding will always be naturally abstracted because we remain mostly removed from the referenced period, Williams affirms that we must make an effort to examine the relationships between certain historical elements in order to cultivate and discern meaning from a past society or time. Thus, three categories of culture: Ideal, Documentary and Social, and three levels of culture: Selected, Recorded and Lived have been negotiated from his analysis.


Lived
In 2001 at the turn of the 21st centuary where social tolerance should be improving Aguilera beautiful represents the hegemonic struggle of the outcast and the concept of beauty. Williams observations still apply today in our image conscious society when he wrote “I find it very difficult, after the many comparative studies now on record to identify the process of human perfection with the discovery of ‘absolute’ values” ( p33,Williams.R. 1961) Culturally and socially every ones value of human perfection differs depending on their traditions and values, The lived experience taps into the listener’s deep emotional insecurities, this appeals to audiences of all ages who feel the media’s pressure of an ideal body image. There are many representations of youth, key themes being anorexia, homosexuality and bullying which highlight aspects of culture which are still seen as taboo.


Selected
Judging by the awards the song beautiful has received there could seem to be a contradictory element in view of the selected according to mixed reviews. One reviewer said “It was a bold break from the teeny bopper persona she was desperate to shed, but it was over corrective steering, taking her a little bit too far down the road toward a grotesque caricature”
(http://shop.mtv.com/Back-to-Basics-Video-Music%20Awards_stcVVproductId5314489VVcatId421132VVviewprod.htm) It is a apparent that Aguilera wants to gain a reputation as a musician of high culture and art, and wants the public to move on from her popular culture status as a teen sensation, by doing a song like Beautiful. Christina comments at the "The song 'Beautiful' is about being or feeling unaccepted for merely being your self, yet knowing through any hardships, we are all beautiful despite the differences or insecurities. My video captures the reality that gay and transgender people are beautiful, even though prejudice and discrimination against them still exists." (Christina Aguilera, February 2003 wikipedia.org/wiki/Christina_Aguleria) Beautiful earned Aguilera the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 2004 and The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) presented a special award for inclusion to her in February 2003 for the positive images of gay and transgender people. Aguilera popularity increased as her music was seen to have taken a serious turn by a wider audience.

Social
With regards to Williams “We find here a particular sense of life, a particular sense of community hardly needing expression…we are usually more aware of this when we read an account of our lives by someone from outside the community” (p36, Williams R. 1961) Aguilera represents lifestyles and communities who experience discrimination through a music video. Aguilera as the agent has popular media status she is an outsider with power, by singing ”we are beautiful, no matter what they say, no words can’t bring us down” this allows her to speak to a wider community. By telling their stories visually others can relate to these experiences: an example is of a gay couple kissing as people stare with disgust on the street or of a school girl being bullied in the playground.


Recorded
Beautiful has had over 986 hits on You Tube and over a dozen re enactments of the video. One video features Two teenage girls called Beautiful dedicated to mean girls, where they the ‘discriminated’ express through the song how they feel to the mean girls at their school. Aguilera has broadened her profile and had become more high culture since her ‘stripped’ album. Critics and others saw a dirtier, dark edge to her character and look. Aguilera was the face of cutting edge make up MAC which also feature Mary J blige and Elton John. Christina is renowned for her extravagant make up and Diva ways but as she became the face of Versace in March 2003, she appeared bare faced without wearing any make up. This is in addition to the millions of Albums and CD’s she has sold, concert tours and music downloads.


Documentary
What has been well documented post 2002 since the release of her album ‘stripped’ her sound has become more classical with “real” instruments as opposed to the pop synth sounds. Technically Christina has a powerful voice, and with beautiful ahs chosen to sing a traditional ballad. With regards to the video she had gone for a contemporary look with piercing signifying that she is both agent and audience, therefore she is perceived as one of “them”.
Whether this is just another costume, as Aguilera does like to emulate different personas and icons, can be left to further discourse. What is evident is that the appeal of beautiful both lyrically and visually for it’s time has allowed Aguilera to experiment with high cultural and historical music media while still appealing to a mass popular cultural audience with socially aware contemporary issues.


Ideal
Whether the concept of Beautiful has touched and influenced many to be kinder and accept one another in society is open to debate. But what is evident is that the lyrics do portray the daily struggle of various people who feel like misfits in society and how one copes with the pressure of image perfection and acceptance from others. Ultimately one must question to what extent these representations are a true reflection of the common man considering the author and the media? As William suggests “It is then not a question of relating the art to the society, but of studying all the activities and their interrelations, without any concession of priority to any one of them we any choose to abstract” (Williams,R, 1961, The long Revolution p 35) Aguilera has went from being a mediocre teeny bopper popular cultural icon to a recognized high cultural one examples like Williams definition suggests “well liked by many people, inferior kinds of work, work deliberately setting out to win the favour of the people” (Williams, 1961, The long Revolution p 4) or in Levis terms mass culture is a residual of high culture. However one looks at it Aguilera was often ridiculed for her dress, sense hello magazine points out “The fact that Christina has won several "worst dressed" awards seems to be no obstacle” (http://www.hellomagazine.com/fashion/2003/03/05/aguileraversace/)
Bourdiueu 1984 defines this shift in cultural status by staying “The position of culture is predisposed, consciously and deliberately or not, to fulfill a social function and legitimating social differences” (Storey J. 1998 popular theory and popular culture, p 1)

Christine Geraghty; Soap Opera and Utopia

The relationship between the text and the reader: Fiction and Escapism

It is Women who are the subjects in Geraghty’s argument and it is through their actions in prime time soaps as the’ central protagonist’ that the audience view the relationships between men and women, not in the ideal way of ‘values traditionally associated with women’ but rather the portrayal of how a women could help the relationship if she was allowed to do things differently. Soap operas are about building and maintaining relationships between their characters, and conveying these ideal utopian values to the audience, therefore the story and narrative comes secondary. The audience are more interested in the events that take place rather than the activity itself.

Geraghty moves away from a psychoanalytical model of the utopian ideal and alternatives offered in women’s fiction and from a U.S feminist critic’s analysis. By studying Richard Dyer article ‘Entertainment and Utopia’ Geraghty investigates the correlation between these utopian ideals in soap operas and how fictional entertainment provides escapism and fantasy for the viewer from their mundane day to day lives . (Geraghty: 247)

Dyer offers categories of utopian possibilities in women’s fiction and within it there are five ‘utopian solutions’
According to Dyers entertainment is an escapism which he provides five categories evaluating the utopian factors within soap operas and their characters as ENERGY, ABUBNDANCE, INTENSITY, TRANSPARANCY and COMMUNITY .within each category Dyer provides ‘utopian solutions’ of escapism for the viewer which are ‘related to the specific inadequacies in society’.

For example “The experience of scarcity and unequal distribution of wealth is set against the utopian satisfaction of ABUNDANCE and material equality.” (Geraghty: 247)

In the category of abundance U.S Soaps compared to the U.K soaps particularly operates as though poverty does not exist. In Dallas and dynast poverty and deprivation are completely ignored ‘the audience is invited to enjoy the spectacle of abundance through the emphasis on sensuous luxury’ and ‘however unhappy the characters, they have at their disposal the abundant fruits of western capitalism” (Geraghty: 250). This is the ‘utopian solution’ watched on these soaps offer the viewer “A feeling of what it would be like to have all material needs met, to conquer scarcity and enjoy abundance.” (Geraghty: 250)

Dyer stresses that “what entertainment offers is not a representation of what an ideal world might be like but what it would feel like; the utopianism is contained in the feeling it embodies”. (Geraghty: 247)

Reading Christine Geraghty, ‘Soap opera and utopia’ what struck me was the special relationship the viewer has on a private level that only the viewer can experience with the character from the INTENSITY category. An example of how emotional and expressive female characters who also contribute to the COMMUNITY category “ there is some evidence that families use soaps as a way of raising awkward issues and easing discussion on them” (Geraghty: 250) Females are the main focus within the soap opera as they provide the heightened basis of drama. Within the public sphere a strong female character like Angie Watts from the U.K soap EastEnders puts on a brave face in the Queen Vic pub in front of her customers and especially in front of her husband who is the a cause of her problems. Where as in private the viewer is the only one exposed to the characters pain, ‘the authenticity of her emotions’. These intense characters are often women and can be seen in soap operas in the U.K other characters are in Coronation Street Bet lynch. (Geraghty: 252) The viewer feels like they know theses characters better than the others because of the grief and despair the audience goes through with them and the are a ‘source of particular interest and pleasure (Geraghty: 252) . Characters like Angie are key and very popular especially to a female viewer because they can relate to them but it is also entertainment ‘thus offers the experience of a different utopian world and, one which is escapist precisely because it is based on the inadequacies experienced in day-to-day-life. (Geraghty: 247)


Dyers categories and Geraghty’s analysis seems to follow the same type of structural approach as Saussure’s binary system. Although there are utopian signifiers in the example of abundance in Dallas this does not mean that the viewer accepts the character to only signify one particular meaning. It may be that the reader negotiates the abundance category and the ‘utopian solution’ of materialism, glamour and luxury as ugly, greedy and crass. Therefore the viewer continues making meaning from meaning according to Derrida’s post-structuralism analysis where the signifier (fluid and not fixed) creates more signifiers to the viewer.


Watching an episode of the U.K soap Hollyoaks I felt like I was watching a show at the circus it’s female characters are identified more with the Dyers category of abundance reflecting the ‘utopian solutions’ closer to the values of the U.S soaps than that of the U.K explained by Geraghty. The relationship between Max and Claire is the main dramatic story, The energy ‘evil’ Claire who is trying to take max for all of his money by lying and deceiving him, Claires character displays strong emotions from the intense category which are deceiving to Max she cries to get what she want and her main aim is making Max feel sorry for her through her motional stories that he will give her whatever money she wants. Here Claire manages to make the viewer hate her because the utopian possibility of transparency is missing with her character; her dishonesty has made Max the male character look like the ideal husband because of his honest and sincerity, therefore the viewer would sympathise more with him than her. This also maybe an encoded message from the producers that the traditions and values between men and women in relationships are disappearing, Max and Claire’s relationship does seem to be constructed on materialism and abundance from the day they met it was a physical thing from Max’s perspective , gifts, the house, travelling and business is all their lives contain. The producers have encoded a message that ‘evil ’women who once would have married for love are now only interested in money and power I don’t think this is the utopian solution Geraghty meant when she wrote that women should be given the space and expression to organise ‘particularly’ relationships between men and women on women’s terms. (Geraghty: 247) But I believe that the portrayal of Claire is a negative stereotype and Max is as much to blame for his utopian ideals as she is. Now here is where Stuart Halls (1980) encoding and decoding positions: dominant, negotiated and oppositional help determine how the viewer reads the utopian solutions presented and if while the viewer is watching the soap opera does the relationship between them and the character mean that the viewer is experiencing escapism ‘what it would feel like to be them the utopianism is contained in the feeling it embodies” (Geraghty: 247)

As the viewer my decoding of this soap does depend on my cultural and social experience, my life, my friends and my values, I actually only ever watch Hollyoaks because I am interested in the way it is structured. Although it is more for a viewer, maybe this is why I am so cynical or weary of the constructions especially of females in the soap. I am an oppositional viewer and I felt really angry at how yes a character like Claire does exist but that all the other female characters are very similar to her. The energy is mainly the girls but they are not strong in a positive way, their strength over boys is through manipulating them, the events around the female character revolves around trying to get a bloke to sleep with them, being up for it, getting drunk and straightening their hair and are more important than their actual activity I do not as a viewer watch Claire and escape into how I wish my life was less like mine and more like her ‘ideal’ utopian one. What I do feel as a viewer is that she is no more than a prostitute, she does not represent me, Claire is being represented as a negative female stereotype by the producers who are all male; the rhetoric is that she is young, blonde, attractive; slim therefore loves money and all things glamorous. Unfortunately Claire’s character may be a reflection of the status quo and for some viewers, Hollyoaks is the an example of entertainment is utopianism, but I hope that young girls are negotiating her position as degrading, that their thoughts would be that Claire should make her own money, get a career and empower 'HERSELF' and stop depending on a man to give her the things she wants as that would seem more entertaining and utopian to me.

Great Expectations

How far does Pudovkin’s approach support the sound used in Great Expectations?

Pudovkin subtly uses editing to suggest psychological states, His intention is to provoke the viewers thought and create emotional effects throughout his imagery. Pudvokin‘s approach supports the use of sound in the film Great Expectations written by Charles Dickens but later filmed in 1998 by Alfonso Cuaron. This is a twisted tale of Finn’s unrequited love for Estelle dominated by an affecting soundtrack that compliments the complicated journey between the characters. The connection between Pudovkin and Cuaron is a lyrical approach to editing through cross-cuts, while dramatic, do not break up but enhance the narrative. Cuaron’s similarities to Podvkin’s approach are reflected in the cut up of the title sequence. The sound of an eerie flutes constant whistling at the beginning of the film indicates a mysterious prophecy and sets the mood. The Director uses expressive sounds of footsteps, water, heavy breathing and heartbeats throughout to sexually provoke the viewer and highlight the frustrating intense passion between Finn and Estelle. Cuaron like Pudvokin improves the perception of the image on the film by montaging and re-arranging to improve meaning and emotion around the piece. Pudovkin theorised that actors on screen do not really act; it's their context that moves us - something established, through montage, by their relationship to exterior objects. Curaron to an extent displays this theory through the scenery, movements and sounds between the characters. Emotional hard sound of footsteps and heavy breathing, contrast the soft gentle actions of kissing and dancing. Altogether these actions explain, compliment and enhance the sensual and erotic theme between the characters, continuous feelings of pleasure and pain.

Teletubbies - A Textual Analysis

Introduction

Teletubbies was created and produced by Ragdoll productions 1997 to 2001 and was broadcast on the BBC channel. From 2001 to the present day the BBC has continued to produce and distribute the Teletubbies through its CBBC channel and PBS America, which are channels especially created to target children’s viewing. Teletubbies has been so successful that it is shown in over 111 countries and translated in 41 languages.

Representations and childhood constructions: A sexual, Colours and Antennas

There are four Teletubbies who at first seem like A sexual childhood constructions, as there is no physical genre identity, they do not wear clothes, but their bodies are covered in terry cloth. Each Teletubby is differentiated primarily by colour, size and the shape of their antennas on their heads. They all speak as a very young child would, gurggling and babbling ‘uh oh’ baby speak and repeating words. There are four character’s Tinky Winky is Purple, Dipsy is green, Laa Laa yellow and Po is red. Analyzing all the colours, the most controversial purple is the darkest shade which could be syntagmic for strength and power, other interpretations have been speculated including Reverend Jerry Falwell wrote an article for The National liberty journal in February 1999 warning parents that Tinky winky was a hidden homosexual sign because purple is the gay pride colour and the triangle is a gay pride symbol. (http://www.rightgrrl.com/carolyn/teletubbies.html).
Also the name Dipsy, who consequently has a dipstick coming from his head: Dipstick in British slang is used to describe someone who is intellectually inferior. Dipsy’s character is constructed as male, who enjoys role playing and likes dancing, who has a darker colored face than the rest who is stubborn and often disagrees with the rest of the teletubbies (Babes n the hood, Davies:16). One example is the episode where Laa-Laa played the guitar. Both Tinky Winky and Po ran away, but Dipsy thought her playing was lovely. Some may argue that there are gender and race constructions which may be politically incorrect or have hidden connotations (Mary Jane Kehily 2004:50). Each Teletubby also has a square T.V on their stomachs which signifies technology and communication; this is also a sign of post-modernism which children can relate to. The Teletubbies intertextuality including audio/visual sequences from their abdominal TV’s is designed to allow children to become interactive viewers and not just passive consumers.

Constructions of Tinky winky and Po

There are so many factors I could choose to focus on with the textual analysis from the landscape, to the language, to their activities and roles, which I have touched on. However I was very interested in the relationships between the characters especially Tinky Winky and Po.

Historically representations of childhood in children’s programming, has focused on the sex of the character, in Teletubbies the role of the character is emphasized more than the sex of the character. But although traditionally the visual aesthetic of the characters seem to be genderless, the roles within their world indicates that hegemonic struggles exist and male domination is apparent. Although all the characters look similar and sexless there are indications as to there gender. Let us take the character Tinky winky, it’s gender points to a masculine stereotype, according to Griffiths (Griffiths:161, pink worlds and blue worlds) gender traits of a male physique, assertiveness and independence and also of the tone and pitch of his voice. The feminine stereotype could be La La who is obedient, nice, gentle, placid and sensitive and she has a softer, higher pitched voice (Griffiths:161, pink worlds and blue worlds). Firstly physically Tinky Winky is much bigger than the rest of the teletubbies, which implies that he may be the dominant figure within the group. Secondly the Tinky winky is always the sensible one and is often the first one to teach or lead what the rest of the Teletubbies will do. Also there is evidence that he is the male patriarch of the ‘family’ as he often frowns or corrects the smallest Teletubbie Po who is a child, constructed as playful, childish, getting into innocent trouble and a bit clumsy. The dominant relationship between Tinky winky and the other teletubbies but in particular to Po can be seen in an episode entitled ‘Teletubbies learn to hold hands’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiaLOzP1lCA). At the beginning Tinky winky appears first and then po, Tinky winky and Po are standing side by side, physically one can see that Tinky winky is much taller and fatter than Po. The narrator begins “one day Tinky winky and po decided to hold hands” Tinky winky is the first to extend his hand This indicates that he knows what to do and has done this before, because Po hesitates and looks up at him for re assurance, seconds pass as Po deliberates as a child would looking up and down, putting his hand at his mouth and saying “Ahh Tinky Tinky” in an excited way yet in a innocent child like manner as if unsure whether the concept of holding hands is a good or bad thing. Po takes Tinky Winky’s hand at that moment then gurgles looking down at their hands joined and says “holding hands”

Conclusion

In this sequence it is apparent that there is a definite childhood construction from an adults view, Po represents an innocent child or the ideal child: pure and full of goodness, vulnerable and in need of care and protection (Mary Jane Kehily 2004:40). Tinky Winky represents the adult in the sequence enforcing his position through the socialization of the child (Mary Jane Kehily 2004:85). This was a child teaching the social and spatial act of holding hands with an adult. This sequence could have been directed and produced from a child's perspective, allowing Po to discover what holding hands is for himself, instead of from a dominant, adult or hegemonic construction.

MTV CRIBS

Critique of MTV Cribs

“Subcultures represent noise (as opposed to sound: interference in the orderly sequence which leads from real events and phenomena to their representation in the media. We should therefore not underestimate the signifying power of the spectacular subculture.” Dick Hebdige Subculture the meaning of style (1977)

What is a Crib?
A Crib is American subterranean slang for House.
Thinking of the best way to describe MTV Cribs I can compare it only to (for anyone that is British and remembers) Lloyd Grossman’s Through The Key Hole. Cribs is not exactly a subtle British look through the key hole of a B list celebrity guest’s home then having to guess “Who lives in a house like this” (Grossman). Cribs is a reality T.V show set in America and mainly focuses on celebrity homes in California of the rich and famous, Although there is a narrator, the celebrity is the author of their home and takes the audience through their ‘fabulous’ lifestyle. Celebrity homes that have appeared on the show include The Osbournes, Nelly, Mariah Carey, Pamela Anderson, Moby, Pati La Belle, Fat Boy Slim and the playboy mansion.

Seinfeld creator Larry David parodied Cribs in his comic reality show Curb Your Enthusiasm with humorous scrutiny “….. And this is the floor and here is the ceiling”
Cribs is the answer to the post-modern obsession with the gross public consumption of celebrity private lives. It is a 3 dimensional version of the voyeuristic celebrity magazine Hello or OK. It is the closest the public eye will get to see how the other half live without being asked to leave by security.


The Creator and her Audience
As a teenager me and my friends really enjoyed watching cribs and often sat and gasped at the outrageous taste some of the stars had. Just to be able to own a part of that life style would be like a dream come true. Of course I feel that growing up watching these types of shows created a predisposition that materialism automatically meant success. It does not matter how educated or sensible you were being a teenager in the late 90’s/00’s one was influenced by the reality T.V show magic.

MTV Cribs displays the homes and lifestyles of people who have made it in the Entertainment industry. This show is strategically targeted to a teen audience, with a point of exploiting an element of the rags to riches story in the U.S. Originally created and first aired in 2000 by a young lady named Nina L. Diaz. MTV Cribs had an urban spectacular subculture following at the beginning. The majority of homes and mansions featured in the show from episodes 1 to 12 were aimed at introducing the cribs of R n B hip hop, and rap artists, being on cribs was a statement a symbol of their success. Many came from impoverished and troubled childhoods and they were black, visual and vocal. Usher, Snoop Dog, Busta Rhymes, Lil John, LL Cool J, polarized the primarily white domination of the American dream. Paradoxically this transatlantic image is representative of an extremely spectacular subculture with an Americana Bling Bling Ideology and lifestyle (flashy platinum and diamond jewellery). Emulated and respected by Black British youths and ethnic minorities that come from under privileged backgrounds but watched by British middle class youths for entertainment.

Nina L.Diaz explains:
“It's all about going over the top for lots of the famous money-makers. NBA hero Shaquille O'Neal was the MTV Cribs personality that seemed to prove that for Nina. She estimates his Florida home is about 70,000 square feet and says everything in it is seriously over sized. He's got an enormous bed that fits him, his wife, his kids and still has plenty of room left over. Then there are his two enormous, separate garages to showcase all his vehicles. That's probably the most off beat thing (we saw).”

The Formula
CRIBS has a methodological linear approach to each episode, as the formula is always the same but with a new tour around a different celebrity’s house. Since 2003 a hybrid of celebrities from actors, athletes and celebrities have allowed the viewer a bird’s eye view into their home, causing the programme to seem conformist and fixed in its approach and therefore loosing its edge. Not wanting to sound as if I am romanticising but the celebrity’s that featured in the earlier episodes had more character and were slightly deviated, however this is merely a hypothesis theory.

“It's pretty much at this point standard operating procedure that you at least have a couple of flat screens”, Nina says with a laugh.
“Everyone has TVs in their bathroom so they can take a bath and watch TV.”She continues “Babyface has a custom-made TV that pops out of the foot of his bed. It has a screen on either side so two people can be watching different shows at the same time.”

The Appeal
A Semiotic analysis definitely leads me to realise that class and hierarchy are most definitely an issue, Cribs is about 21st Century Nuevo riche celebrities in the media, Teenage society’s fascination with reality T.V shows. Reality T.V shows like to demonstrate how celebrities became successful and that to become successful, rich and famous does not necessarily require an extensive education. This appeals to a teenage heterogeneous audience, a generation who’s role models are ex cons, previous porn stars or have been in rehab discover through multi modal media that becoming rich and famous is not so unattainable. Watching an episode of Cribs with Shaqille O’neal gave me an insight into how teenage boys from ethnic minorities in the U.K with aspirations and goals could be positively channelled. In America a youth who possess a gift, who has talent in Sport but is less able, who is potentially failing in school could be assigned a place at a top Ivy League university if they excel in sports.

Paul Willis interviews a teenage boy in Learning to Labour p 89, through an ethnographic study on working class lads and their defiance to become an ear’ole.

PW “Are they [Middle class people] still ‘they’ or do you already feel you’ve….”
Boy “No I still treat them as ‘they’ (…) you know I sort of talk to them (…)”

“Sport is his way to the top. In a very real sense the ‘killer instinct’ is a class instinct:

Boy “I wanted to prove that somebody without their, you might call it intellectual or financial, well you might say greatness, could be beaten by say somebody years younger and intellectually weaker, and a very much poorer background (…) you have to have a poorer background (…) you have to have a killer instinct (…) when I play I couldn't’t care less who it is against, I’ll try and beat them, I couldn't’t care less if they are paying me and they want a friendly game, I’ll beat ’em (…) it’s the hunger to win, probably a primitive feeling, almost like the hunger for food. You grab out for food and some people will grab out to win, they will try and practice and try and try until they win (…) middle class people don’t have the killer instinct, they don’t have the natural aggressiveness to get out there in the cold and practice.”

Global Domination
There is the question of audience and pleasure, that Cribs engages with teenage boy’s egos and aspiration. As there are significantly more male celebrity’s appearing on the show than females. As this is a show owned by the global phenomenon MTV (Music Television) there are representations of youth culture and music genres, Many celebrities are often young guys (and girls) in Indie, Hip hop or Rock bands and their style is often influenced by their musical taste. Teenage fans relate to their idols and are intrigued to take a glimpse into their home lives almost like as a voyeur. Their language and behaviour is casual and non conformist which appeals to an insubordinate youth market. Sound tracks are played throughout the viewing of the home to create mood and energy between shots and to maintain a contemporary approach. Cribs is an appropriate production made in the 21st century, at a time when reality shows are powerful media that interact with teenagers and their inner desires to become recognised and successful in show business is more suited to the ‘I’ generation than ever before.
Many Cribs are filmed in the sunshine state of L.A California amongst other U.S states, the backdrop is of a high profile celebrity’s residence. The ‘star’ takes the audience through the kitchen fridge which is always suspiciously organised and points nonchalantly over to their Chef. There are constant references to materialism and consumer products from the many ridiculously expensive cars to the 55 inch plasma T.V screens in every room to the extreme bowling allies and Cinemas. There is an excessive hierarchical undercurrent amongst the celebrity homes with suggestion to size and paraphernalia.


Conclusion
I enquired, questioned and researched the reasons behind Nina L. Díaz deciding to produce a show like Cribs and subsequently gone on to produce My Super Sweet Sixteen which is a reality T.V show featuring rich teenagers celebrating their birthdays in extravagance often with celebrities’s invited to perform at their party.
There is not much literature written about Diaz although while searching the web, it was obvious from reading extracts by Diaz and the particular nature of her shows that she is interested in exposing how the rich live and the extravagant and fabulous way they spend their money. As the brain child of Cribs Diaz seems to explore the curiosity of a fan, As producer it is as if she has scripted her voyeuristic fantasises and projected this into reality for the world to see but why?. As her name suggests she comes from an ethnic background it would be interesting to ask her; whether her discourse of cribs is only for entertainment value, satirical or to educate and inform the audience. Is she commenting simply on the privileged lifestyles of the rich and famous? Maybe the complex bricolage of over indulgence in a post modern society? Or perhaps a bit of both.