America’s Next Top Model
Created by Tyra Banks
22 Seasons (2003-present)
CBS Television Distribution

ANTM

I, long time feminist and staunch hater of reality television, enjoy watching America’s Next Top Model. That’s not a sentence I ever thought I would type.

I spent a very long time both avoiding this show, and being extremely judgemental towards it. I guess it’s easy to be judgemental of something you know only by face value. The concept sounded ridiculous and I wrote it off as being so whilst knowing exactly zero about it. What more could it be than stupid bitchy people posing and playing dress-ups, and exposure for an industry that’s the driving force behind consumer culture and mindless capitalist excess? Not to mention that incredible degree of vanity and narcissism, or the questionable ethics of positing such narcissism at centre stage during a time when anxiety about personal aesthetic has never been rifer. These are all threads of intellectual superiority and snobbery that I held onto for a long time.  But now, I’ve watched the show. I watched it, and then I watched some more, and then I binge watched my way through three seasons. I couldn’t get enough. And yes, part of that is the mindless entertainment that is reality television. It’s easy to soak up, digest, and forget. Which is why I was confused by how I couldn’t stop thinking about it. There was something about this show, beyond the pomp and silliness, beyond the glittering photo shoots and dramatic eliminations, that spoke to me.

Finally, I figured it out.

ANTM is, as expected, utterly ridiculous. Ostentatious and dramatic to boot. But it’s also intensely self-aware and utterly unglamorous. The contestants are diverse and surprising. Yes, there are the ditzy, the privileged, the vain, and the bitchy. But then there are the Harvard graduates, mothers, fathers, and a huge range of socio-economic backgrounds. There are huge loud personalities, and those that are crippled mute by shyness until they step in front of the camera. The show engages with social issues in unexpected ways. I didn’t know, for example, that male models are typically paid 10% of what their female counterparts make. Plus, while there has been endless exposure for diversity of female models (and the show makes a point to include contestants who are plus sizes, taller or shorter than average, and people with disabilities), male models haven’t nearly the same mainstream leeway when it comes to the ‘ideal’ body type.

ANTM doesn’t conform to stereotypes, and puts these issues front and centre.

There’s another interesting aspect of the show which I very briefly mentioned, and that is how utterly unglamorous the modelling industry looks. The kind of work required is… well, it’s bizarre. It’s not enough to stand in front of the camera and pose, and it’s not enough to just look pretty. Some of the stuff they do is, quite frankly, hilarious, but somehow produces incredible photographs. On the topic of prettiness, perhaps my favourite aspect of the show has been the concept that fashion and aesthetic isn’t about being beautiful. To paraphrase a message by the shows host Tyra Banks from season 15, “a girl watching at home might think, ‘hey’ that girls funny looking and she’s beautiful. I’m funny looking, so maybe I’m beautiful too’”. The majority of the contestants, honestly, aren’t that attractive. But they are interesting.

Part of me wonders if I avoided the show for so long because I suspected it would make me feel bad about myself. I’m not a stupid person. I have spent my whole life being told again and again the same things about Photoshop, about realistic standards, about everyone being beautiful in different ways, the same messages over and over. But- and here’s the point I want to make- never have they hit home with as much clarity until I started watching ANTM. Beauty is totally subjective and what counts for more is your attitude, your confidence, and your ability to be comfortable in your skin. I have no desire to be a model- especially after watching contestants be painted white, suspended upside down and told to look possessed, “but also look sexy!”- but what I like about this show is the honest and unflinching approach it takes towards its own industry.