KAT'S SUPER SWEET SIXTEEN
I chose to watch the show My Super Sweet Sixteen which is on MTV and produced by . This show focuses on rich girls turning sixteen who force their parents into giving them the birthday party of their dreams. The show is aimed at young girls within their teenage years. It is all about looking fabulous and having the biggest and the best of everything. The show creates this atmosphere by using quick shots and fast music to keep their viewers attention. Also I noticed anytime Kat was to beg for something the show would become more quite and slow down, as to keep the viewer in suspense, waiting for her Father’s answer. When her Father said “yes” as he always would, a shiny star would bling in Kat’s teeth showing everyone that she had won and who had the power.
Although Kat has power over her Father she does not have the power to control the Gaze in this show. The camera moves up and down her body freely and without her knowledge. This turns her audience into voyeres. She becomes nothing more than a shiny and enthusiastic thing to look at. She is only sixteen but with the help of MTV’s editing team she is looked at like she is twenty five. There are even certain parts where her body is fragmented and cut so that it almost dehumanizes her. Mulvey explains what this can do to a woman’s body, “One part of a fragmented body destroys the renaissance space, the illusion of depth demanded by the narrative; it gives flatness, the quality of a cut-out or iccon, rather than verisimilitude, to the screen” (Mulvey 40). This girl is only 16. Her body is being edited and taken apart without her permission or input. She is being looked at like she is nothing but entertainment. What gives MTV the right to objectify and take apart a minor.
In some of the articles about reality TV it talked about what a major role editing has in these shows. I couldn’t agree more. Kat is seen as a spoiled brat who can get anything she wants if she just whines to her Daddy. She is made out to be a seductive dresser, party girl, and a person who cares only about what her friends think and say. Every time we see Kat she is put into one of these categories. MTV could have chosen to display and show Kat while she is having a normal conversation with her father, hanging out with her friends instead of her dancing and saying, “let’s get crunk,” or even just a shot without her cleavage in it. Although Kat may be some of these things I am sure she does not act like this every moment of her life. MTV paints a picture of Kat that fits into the image they want to display. This is so sad, considering that this show is one of MTV’s most popular and thousands of young teenage girls watch this and think that this is what they are supposed to act and think like.