In today's media climate, finding diverse representations of women of color on television is still difficult and reality shows like Flavor of Love are a huge step forward. back. Flavor of Love is an American reality television game show starring Flavor Flav, rapper from the group Public Enemy. The show contains the same basic format as the TV show "The Bachelor." In the series, Flav even introduces himself as the “Blachelor,” which means black bachelor. In the series, Flav gives each contestant a nickname because he doesn't remember their real names. Contestants who are not eliminated during the clock ceremony receive a gold clock to wear around their neck with their photo and nickname. When a contestant is eliminated, their real name is displayed on the screen and their final farewells are followed by a champagne toast. During the season, contestants participate in various challenges to win dates. Flav. The so-called reality show hinges on her search for true love, but it ends up playing into stereotypes of black women while degrading them. I define reality as the true state of the world without illusion or ideology and as a reality TV show. , FOL does not exactly fit this definition. I think this shows a reality that reinforces stereotypes about black women and sends the wrong message to viewers. In my analysis, reality shows are based on the premise that what you are watching is real. ; therefore, the negative images of black women that are constructed translate into actual interpretations for viewers of the series, which is problematic. Incorporating Mark Orbe's arguments in "Constructions of Reality on MTV's The Real World: An Analysis of the Restrictive Coding of Black Masculinity" regarding African American images in the media and Rachel Dubrofsky's views in "Fallen Women in Reality TV: A Pornography of Emotion. regarding the fiction constructed in reality television, I was able to determine that reality television shows like FOL create a false sense of reality through the negative representation of women of color. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essay When I was younger, I loved watching Flavor of Love for its utter ridiculousness and even thought it was hilarious at times, but I did. I only realized as I got older that this kind of show is an attack on the image of black women. Images of Black women in the media have historically “remained largely invisible, marginalized to the point of insignificance, or limited to specific stereotypes” (Orbe, 2006, p. 314). On the reality TV show FOL, contestants are limited to specific stereotypes that negatively portray women of color as loud, violent, uneducated whores and gold diggers. According to Orbe (2006), reality television shows are made up of people who are not mere actors following a script produced by others and viewers should apparently have the opportunity to see real people in the context of the real world. Unfortunately, this is not the case because not all elements depicted in reality television are “real” and the perspective of reality is subjective. Similar to Orbe's (2006) position on reality television, Dubrosky (2009) believes that reality television shows are meant to be unscripted, "but most have a specific structure" (Dubrofsky, 2009, p. 354). Thus, the narrative that reaches viewers has been constructed, manipulated, manufactured and editedto develop the viewers and the storyteller's ideologies. As a result, reality television shows like FOL construct narratives that shape how viewers interpret images of black women and, given that most of these images are negative, "the immediacy of television and its ability to reach so many viewers so quickly, “It is easy to suggest that what happens on reality TV shows like FOL is a true representation of the world (Orbe, 2006, p.314). The depictions of black women on FOL do not accurately represent black women as a whole. The women of FOL are representations of the most degrading stereotypes that black women refer to. Shows like this help dispel people's negative assumptions that black women are all notoriously loud, aggressive, and angry. I think the problem in today's times is that everyone assumes things and because this show only presents the worst stereotypes about black women, the assumptions about them are usually negative. For example, this show makes others believe that because black women talk loudly they are uneducated or because they wear certain clothes they are a whore, or a hood rat, which is absurd. It is not fair or right to assume that you are relying on the little information you know about a person or race to judge them. Fans of the series call CRAZY a harmless guilty pleasure, but it depicts a reality that further reinforces stereotypes. Shows like FOL not only limit representations of black women, but they also embrace a reality that exploits black women to increase revenue and viewership. Even though the show contained several black women, the only ones who remained until the end were the ones who “knew their place,” served him, and slept with him. Intelligent, educated black women who had minds of their own and those who remained chaste until marriage were usually eliminated early in the season. As a result, viewers spend more time looking at promiscuous women of color on the show, making the depiction of black women as whores and prostitutes acceptable. Flavor Flav seems to portray the stereotypical image of a pimp, with his canes, Mack-Daddy outfit, and the show's general premise of using women and disposing of them when he's done with them until that he finds his “true love”. The black pimp is an image that emerges from the actual prostitution of female bodies that occurs in oppressed communities. Currently, the pimp is a misogynistic figure who doesn't like women, and because the women he hates and exploits are black women, America as a whole seems to accept this. Flav, for the most part, seems to enjoy the attention women give him even if they humiliate themselves to get his. In addition to sending the women on ridiculous missions, he spends individual time establishing sexual relationships with each woman while remaining relatively inactive. In the second season, in an episode titled "She Works Hard for Her Honey", Flav takes the girls to one of his favorite restaurants, M&M Soul Food. Rather than having dinner with the women, he tells them that their job is to work at the restaurant as waitresses and cooks. The lady who does the best job wins a date for the night with him. In this challenge, Flavor Flav is supposed to be trying to determine which woman will support him, as if cooking and cleaning are the only attributes women can bring to a relationship..