Essex is a town notorious for fake tan, big hair and mastering the art of the vajazzle; Italian Americans are fist pumping party animals; Geordies are hard drinking, necking loving clubbers while the SW11 postcode consists of posh West Londoners who enjoy regular games of polo and elaborate soirées every other night.
Of course these crude statements are completely false. However they are lazy generalisations used by producers to pull in ratings and extend column inches. Scripted shows based on your neighbourhood have become TV du jour whether its TOWIE, Made In Chelsea or, this month, the two new Liverpudlian shows Mersey Shore and Desperate Scousewives. Chelsea, Essex, Newcastle and now Liverpool have become the subject of some of the most talked about TV this year; however I, like many, feel that the obsession with drawing on the biggest extremes in society is doing more harm than good. The question is, has it become acceptable to allow blatant regional stereotyping all in the name of ‘reality’?
Let’s start with Jersey Shore which is one of the innovators of scripted reality. From the get go, it garnered controversy because of the casts outlandish behaviour, frequent violence and excessive drinking, which was seen as an offensive portrayal of Italian-Americans. As with all thing British, we imitated the same American format with Geordie Shore and upcoming Mersey Shore. Then comes Made in Chelsea. However much you try to push preconceptions aside, the creators want you to perceive this group of wealthy twenty somethings as pretentious snobs.
To be honest, I can’t get enough of the heavily edited conversation and awkward prolonged silence that makes up most of an hour episode. However shameful it may be, these outlandish fully tanned characters are popular, even though they represent only a certain part of society. Though there are lovely people across the UK from Chelsea to Newcastle who enjoy hosting dinner parties, this sadly doesn’t make good reality TV, well, with the exception of Come Dine With Me.
Nowadays, we want to see shows about having a good night out, about stumbling out of a club after ‘necking’ some guy as in MTV’s Geordie Shore. Like any soap, the shows are scripted to create characters that are completely extreme so that we can gossip about them in a boring lecture. Though this completely undermines the whole point of ‘reality’, it’s hard to deny that it makes for good TV viewing. That being said, I know that we shouldn’t watch TOWIE as though we were watching a documentary. There’s a reason why they warn that ‘some scenes have been created for your entertainment’. Therefore the stereotypical references should be taken with a pinch of salt.
On the other hand, these shows have the potential to project regional stereotypes, or as the MP for Liverpool describes it, “regional racism”. His points may be justified as, since TOWIE hit our screens, the Essex stereotype has been projected on our small screens to parts of the UK that have no idea where Romford is on the map. What this small hit has done to the county of Essex will probably be replicated on Desperate Scousewives, which will fill the 10pm slot of its predecessor Made in Chelsea. The type of people that producers requested to for the show- ‘’cunning Liverpudlian ladies’’ – to act as WAGs and bag a footballer husband only emphasises the stereotypical image of Scouse women. The main issue is that show creators don’t want to show a broad type of ‘normal’ people, they’d rather reflect the most outlandish characters to gains more press coverage. Yet there is no justification for branding them solely on their hometown as this will only lead to these sorts of regional prejudices. The only way this racism will occur is if people take TOWIE or Made in Chelsea as an actual preconception of West Londoners and people from Essex, which sadly only apply to those as stupid as Joey Essex and co. on TOWIE.
Going to a university so far from home makes me proud of my hometown. But with these types of reality shows that focus on pride of a particular region, there is a point where pride ends and embarrassment starts and leads to borderline offense. Even though many of the characters will not exist in our real life, it is shame that they have been promoted as representatives of many great towns in the UK. Will the reign of scripted reality TV last? Well, I think not. TV creators and producers will soon exhaust every possible angle to create these same predictable formats. For now, just expect to have more postcode shows. What’s next? Brummie Shore? Well that will be worth a watch.