My Super Sweet Sixteen (Alex)
The show I picked was My Super Sweet Sixteen regularly broadcast on MTV and produced by them as well. I do not have cable so I saw this via MTV.com. I was looking for a show to watch that I have never seen before, versus a reality show that I love, in order to be as objective as I could be. Before I watched the show, I knew the premise: young girls approaching their sixteenth birthday are planning a huge, lavish party thanks to their parents’ money to celebrate. This show is aimed at young girls from pre-teen years to teen years. The pace of the show is fast and flashy, with lots of quick shots as Alex and her posse of girlfriends goes from “fabulous” place to “fabulous” place. The episode is also accompanied by upbeat music, mostly hip-hop sounding. Even the intro to the show is flashy and displays wealthy lifestyle in a short period.
The particular episode features Alex, a young girl from Boston. As she is showing the viewer how “great” her life is she admits that she has done nothing to earn it, nor does she do anything on her own. She just loves her bed and thinks it is so wonderful, but then she stops to tell us that the cleaners make it. It is also important for us to know that all her friends are rich too, so that is why it is important for her to have a great party. During the episode, Alex also has her mom take her to the BMW dealership to pick out her birthday present. Alex felt it was important to “look good” in her car. She wanted the car to complement her. The car she wanted was $120,000. Alex did not think that was too expensive. Her mother asked her to look at something else.
A running theme though this show was “looking good” to her peers, and she wanted to be looked at. She had 100+ “friends” to her birthday party. Ultimately, Alex appeared to only wanted for these “friends” to judge her in a positive way. She also wanted to display her wealth, which really isn’t hers, but her parents. She comes off to be surrounded by people who value not who you are but what you have (or can get others to give you with nothing in return). I feel this can be related to the Humiliation, Subjectivity, and Reality TV essay. While Alex was not intentionally trying to humiliate herself, she did put herself on display and made a spectacle of herself. This left her wide open to humiliation. And while she does embarrass herself mildly I think (saying something dumb or her attempt at break dancing), she doesn’t seem fazed by the awkward glances strangers or friends give her. Schick argues, “that gloating involves
thinking oneself somehow superior to another; it is a judgment of "relative standing” (Mendible 337). Alex has what is important to her and her social circle (money and stuff) so to be embarrassed by those who she does not perceive to be her peers, their judgments do not matter. While I think most of us remember and understand being 15 or 16 years old and that need for acceptance, My Super Sweet Sixteen takes it to the next disturbing and annoying level.