MTV’s Leading Ladies: Feminist Luminaries for the New Generation?

With the fourth season finale bringing in 2.6 million viewers in December, two spin-off shows, and the constant tabloid coverage, The Hills has proven to be the venerable reality show for the MTV target audience. Last week, People Magazine reported that the upcoming season would be the last, passing the reality/drama/fashion format to The City, a spinoff starring Whitney Port. While both shows have been criticized for walking dangerously close to the line that separates the scripted and reality genres, the fact that they are presented as reality is satisfactory for the purposes of this post. Both The Hills and The City center on a young, beautiful blonde attempting to find a balance between career and personal life. Despite the possible good intentions of the cast and producers for portraying characters that are smart and career-minded, both shows are damaging in their portrayal of women. They seem to place high focus on the aggression between the female characters, glamorizing petty and trivial tiffs. While this type of drama and conniving behavior is commonly portrayed on reality television, the fact that they have become firmly associated with Port and the protagonist of The Hills, Lauren Conrad, is troublesome. The men on the show, for the most part, seem to get by as rational observers of the histrionics, while the women are defined as irrational, emotional beings.

On The Hills, Lauren Conrad (see right) is the narrator and center of most conflicts. Throughout the four seasons that have aired, she has managed to “break up” with several of her girlfriends, including Heidi Montag, Audrina Patridge, and Jen Bunney. The narrative of the earlier seasons focused on Conrad and Montag’s rocky relationship, one that seemed to run into continuing issues surrounding boyfriends. Later seasons saw Conrad getting into he said/ she said spats with her roommates. Gossip and betrayal seem to be major themes in Conrad’s reality life, penetrating into the relationships she has with all of the female characters on the show. Seemingly unaware of what audiences were seeing on her show, she said “It's about empowering girls. You're gonna have bad boyfriends and best friends-turned-enemies. You need to be yourself, you need to work hard, and you'll get there. And if you can get someone to give you a reality show along the way, it can't hurt.” when asked about how she viewed herself as a brand in an article with Entertainment Weekly. Unfortunately, Conrad is delusional as to what the show seems to promote. Producers of the show have steered away from focusing on the career aspect of the show, deciding instead that concentrating on drama would be more fitting. As to the comment regarding how her show “can’t hurt,” I have to interject that viewers are ultimately the ones that are hurt. The show, in selling itself as reality, is coding Conrad’s irrationality and pettiness as legitimate behavior for women.

Montag is another character on The Hills who is just as irrational and does nothing positive for the portrayal of women. Ginia Bellafante of The New York Times, however, does not agree with me and felt it necessary to call Heidi Montag a “feminist hero” last year. She supports this statement by citing a few examples of Montag standing up to her boyfriend and putting her career first. While this did happen, the occasion was drawn out for dramatic purposes and portrayed Montag as a victim. In the next season, Montag eloped with said boyfriend, and continued to gossip with the other female characters about Conrad. These actions completely diminish any credibility she may have had as a feminist, and exemplifies the conduct that is characterized on the show. An additional character on The Hills, Whitney Port (see left), did not have any of her personal life filmed. She was always shown at work with Conrad, dishing about whatever circumstances she got into the night before. Port was reliably professional and visibly career-driven, but everything changed when she was placed front and center as the narrator and main character of The City. The show, currently airing its first season, documents Port’s life as she adjusts moving from The Hills’ Los Angeles to New York City. Based around the premise that she moved to pursue bigger professional opportunities in the fashion industry, the producers seem hell-bent on creating another Conrad-type character around Port. In the sixth episode of The City, the story revolves around one of Port’s friends, Allie, and her obsession over whether her boyfriend kissed another girl or not. The speculation, over-dramatization, and gossip paints Allie and Port as desperate and emotionally indigent. A confrontation between Allie and her boyfriend provide the climax of the episode, and at some point in their argument, her boyfriend asks, “Why are you gonna cry about this?” Of course, the boyfriend remains the rational one, while his female counterpart is senseless.

With the New York Times critiquing Montag and Us Weekly placing Conrad on its cover, it is clear that MTV has has in its hands a cultural phenomenon that comes with the unique opportunity to reach out to its large, young audience who is faithful to shows such as The Hills and The City. Both shows reinforce the dominance of aggression in relationships among young women. While these shows glamorize tensions in relationships to attract viewers, it is important to note that since they are being promoted as “reality,” they are reinforcing the cultural messages that are coded in the shows themselves. Eventually, these negative cultural messages can possibly become the norm and become accepted as mainstream. I hope MTV will realize that the messages communicated through its shows expose audiences to stereotypical images, which can reinforce gender expectations. I understand that viewer pleasure and ratings have priority in the business of television, but the network is missing opportunities to make small yet consequential changes in the production that can go a long way in breaking down portrayal barriers for all underrepresented genders.