America's Next Top Model
- Thread starter Megs
- Start date
- Status
I saw her when they interveiwed Janice about her life she was on there. And she tells it like it is- Janice needs someone like that in her life. She's her reality checker (she spilled the beans on her not knowing that lil girls father and everything)!
Just a few episodes into this marathon, and I had to take a break. Maybe it's just menopausal hormones, but the girl whose grandma "let the lights go out" so that her granddaughter could buy a swimsuit to compete in the America's Next Top Model competition upset me as much as it did Tyra.
I wanted to yell at her, too. But since this season happened in 2003, and she's not in front of me, the only thing I could do is put the Tivoid in pause for a minute and come here.
All the girls were illiterate, but Tiffany recognized it as a problem. What she failed to recognize is that it is something that she could easily overcome, and I suppose I must be Pollyanna and hope that she has since not only learned to read, but taken Tyra's shrieked but sound advice that she spend some time looking in the mirror and learn to love herself. This girl whose grandma loves her so much she sat in the dark and washed with cold water so that Tiffany could have a shot at not having to choose between electricity and a swimsuit, between light and a chance.
Not that it is not upsetting that all the girls are illiterate.
That ten girls who aspire to be fashion models would be unable to read the names of currently popular designers who would be among their potential employers is absurd. For a second, I almost tried to say to myself that maybe they would recognize the names if they heard them spoken, but then I realized that they would have SEEN the names, if not in labels, then on signs and billboards, in fashion magazines. Maybe they do know who the designers are, even though not one of them could tell Jay what 'haute couture' is. Because they are not only completely ignorant of the most basic things one would think that even a little girl who wanted to grow up to be a model would have made it her business to find out, but because they are illiterate.
That one could take ANY ten girls who grew up in the United States, spanning the gamut of ethnicities and economic backgrounds and find not one who could recognize a popular crayola crayon color is downright ominous.
As is, when you think about it, the fact that the only one of those girls who at least up to now, appears to recognize that illiteracy could be just a teensy liability in terms of achieving success in one's chosen field, does not recognize that it is a liability that can be overcome. And you do not have to be George Washington Carver, or even Tyra Banks, to overcome it.
Or is what really made me cry the possibility that Tiffany is not entirely wrong. That being literate is simply not enough. That when life has stacked so many cards against you, not even the selfless love of a grandma is enough. That making the effort to tackle just that one thing - making the effort to learn to read would become just another useless sacrifice, another foolish purchase of losing lottery tickets. Unless, of course, one is George or Tyra.
Forget about being a fashion model, even one far from the top. The fact is that even girls to whom life has dealt a far prettier hand than Tiffany ever got, even girls who are not only literate, but get good grades in school, even their brothers who do the same, have less chance of growing up to have any disposable income at all than their parents did. The fact that no matter how great a work ethic they have, or how hard they work, if that hard work is done at a wage insufficient to afford the basics of survival, whatever sacrifices are made by grandmas, or by the kids themselves, do not matter.
I know that business is business, and companies are in business to maximize profits, not to validate the sacrifices of grandmas or teach young people that they have value or that hard work pays off. The fact is that economically speaking, no matter what your job is, or how much you are getting paid for it, the company you work for, or the company that owns the company you work for, will be better served by having your job done for less.
There is no free lunch, the saying goes. And it is also a fact that those maximized profits are no exception. But as with the ANTM challenges, there's a twist. The reason the lunch isn't free is because someone else is treating. And that someone else includes millions of Tiffanies and their grandmas, and you and me.
Sorry for the rant. But only sort of...
I wanted to yell at her, too. But since this season happened in 2003, and she's not in front of me, the only thing I could do is put the Tivoid in pause for a minute and come here.
All the girls were illiterate, but Tiffany recognized it as a problem. What she failed to recognize is that it is something that she could easily overcome, and I suppose I must be Pollyanna and hope that she has since not only learned to read, but taken Tyra's shrieked but sound advice that she spend some time looking in the mirror and learn to love herself. This girl whose grandma loves her so much she sat in the dark and washed with cold water so that Tiffany could have a shot at not having to choose between electricity and a swimsuit, between light and a chance.
Not that it is not upsetting that all the girls are illiterate.
That ten girls who aspire to be fashion models would be unable to read the names of currently popular designers who would be among their potential employers is absurd. For a second, I almost tried to say to myself that maybe they would recognize the names if they heard them spoken, but then I realized that they would have SEEN the names, if not in labels, then on signs and billboards, in fashion magazines. Maybe they do know who the designers are, even though not one of them could tell Jay what 'haute couture' is. Because they are not only completely ignorant of the most basic things one would think that even a little girl who wanted to grow up to be a model would have made it her business to find out, but because they are illiterate.
That one could take ANY ten girls who grew up in the United States, spanning the gamut of ethnicities and economic backgrounds and find not one who could recognize a popular crayola crayon color is downright ominous.
As is, when you think about it, the fact that the only one of those girls who at least up to now, appears to recognize that illiteracy could be just a teensy liability in terms of achieving success in one's chosen field, does not recognize that it is a liability that can be overcome. And you do not have to be George Washington Carver, or even Tyra Banks, to overcome it.
Or is what really made me cry the possibility that Tiffany is not entirely wrong. That being literate is simply not enough. That when life has stacked so many cards against you, not even the selfless love of a grandma is enough. That making the effort to tackle just that one thing - making the effort to learn to read would become just another useless sacrifice, another foolish purchase of losing lottery tickets. Unless, of course, one is George or Tyra.
Forget about being a fashion model, even one far from the top. The fact is that even girls to whom life has dealt a far prettier hand than Tiffany ever got, even girls who are not only literate, but get good grades in school, even their brothers who do the same, have less chance of growing up to have any disposable income at all than their parents did. The fact that no matter how great a work ethic they have, or how hard they work, if that hard work is done at a wage insufficient to afford the basics of survival, whatever sacrifices are made by grandmas, or by the kids themselves, do not matter.
I know that business is business, and companies are in business to maximize profits, not to validate the sacrifices of grandmas or teach young people that they have value or that hard work pays off. The fact is that economically speaking, no matter what your job is, or how much you are getting paid for it, the company you work for, or the company that owns the company you work for, will be better served by having your job done for less.
There is no free lunch, the saying goes. And it is also a fact that those maximized profits are no exception. But as with the ANTM challenges, there's a twist. The reason the lunch isn't free is because someone else is treating. And that someone else includes millions of Tiffanies and their grandmas, and you and me.
Sorry for the rant. But only sort of...
I hope I ranted on the right thread. There is one about the current season, and this seemed to be the one to discuss previous seasons, which are being run in marathons on VH something or other every week or so...
If I should have put it somewhere else, please holler, and I will go post it there, and you can toss this one!
If I should have put it somewhere else, please holler, and I will go post it there, and you can toss this one!
- Status