"Flavor of Love Coon!" Day2Day

I agree with the Coon Picnic statement in that blogpost linked to above. That nas song is definitely applicable. "Let's give it up for the coons/On UPN 9 and WB who yes mass on TV". Add VH1 to the list. And add just about each one of those wild a$$ girls from that episode last night. What makes me feel good is that I sent a text message to BHill when the show was about 20 minutes in and told him I was gonna go with Beautiful (I'm using proper spelling, unlike Flav) and Eyez. Turns out Eyez was a mole and it (so far) appears that Beautiful at least respects herself enough not to jump out there and give Flaz sex like Tyson would do just to get "ahead". So I picked one girl was there just to spy for her friend's benefit and another who seems like she might have some sense. Mom, you'd be proud of me. Before I rant, don't get me wrong! I think the show is VERY entertaining. But at the same time, I think it is embarassing for black folks. And I am not even talking about Flav (yet). People of other races *may* watch this and get the wrong idea about black women. Spunkee's instigating everything, "Something" is just nasty (the girl shat herself...on TV), numerous girls on there are not only wearing a ho's uniform, but speaking a ho's language...I could go on. But the worst part of the show is that it makes black women look like unintelligent, "loose", money/fame chasing NI99ERettes!

I appreciate your analysis of Flavor of Love within the constricts of race and gender, but to further analyze the show, one must refer not to the show as a matter of “celebreality” (like anyone had ever really heard of Flavor Flav before his stint on VH1) but into the societal constricts of racial stereotypes. Flav represents the age old Jim Crow character, he dances around for the entertainment of his white audience, going as far as wearing ludicrous jester-like outfits and declaring himself royalty, all the while being a clown to the American public (eg., the awe-inspiring spelling of the nicknames of the women).

The women of the household do embrace a rather “ghetto” styling, regardless of race, as well as the age-old idea that women are catty, ruthless bitches who will undercut each other in any means necessary to get what they want. As this post is in reference to the first episode of the second season, and now society has moved its worship to I Love New York (with Flav still pulling the strings as executive producer), we can still see the binary of male/female sexuality, as Flav was generally on screen only when “sexually exploring” the ladies of his show (as well as his hysterical commentary in the Viking hat), New York, when in a house with her men of choice, does not take a different one to bed with her every night, nor are her interactions with the contestants based solely on sexuality. Is New York’s sexuality less acceptable than Flav’s? And speaking of sexuality, what was the matter with Nibblz embracing hers?

Just a few thoughts in retrospect, considering you wrote this post at the beginning of Season 2, and New York’s already down to her “Fantastic 4” on I Love New York.
Thanks for reading my comment,
Melissa

“Ladies, Crowd Around Your Man”: An Analysis of Femininity in Flavor of Love

As mentioned in the previous post the main focal point of Flavor of Love is the competition between the girls. When New York is reintroduced to the show, the girls seemingly stop battling each other and unite against the common threat. New York in herself is a character, walking onto the set and immediately engaging in “signs of affection” with Flav saying “your eyes ain’t playing tricks, this is mad love right here.” The show then rolls a montage of the previous season in which New York is fighting with every girl in the house, waving weapons around and knocking a girl down after being spit on. Flav says he brought New York back into the house to help him choose his eliminations, which she describes as “weeding out the crazies and the uglies.”

An important interaction with the girls happens when Krazy confronts Beatuful about having a cold sore, which in a house with seven women (now eight) all engaging in intimate acts with the same man, is a big health concern, however not the epidemic the show made it appear to be. Beatuful said herself, “its not like I have AIDS or anything.” Meanwhile, New York is doing her best to help Flav decide by climbing into bed with him and spending the night.

All of the girls in the house are under 30 years old, making them at least 17 years Flav’s junior, showing our society’s obsession with youth as a prerequisite for beauty, at least for women. This episode put beauty in the eye of the beholder: New York. New York was in charge of dressing the girls for a photo shoot for URB magazine. Some phrases she used to describe the girls were “gutter-butt,” “a fairy princess… that resides at the gates of hell,” and that she was unimpressed with all of the girls because they were “scared, intimidated, and just lacked true femininity.”

The best example of bias between masculinity and femininity in the show were the attacks on Nibblz. Nibblz honestly told Flav that she was an adult entertainer and he said he didn’t know how to work her into his family. Nibblz replied, “People seem to think that just because I’m sexual I’m sleeping with everybody.” So while Flav tries to think of how to explain dating an erotic dancer to his family, uncomfortable by her overt sexuality, he busies himself by being sexual with six other girls at the same time.

At the photo shoot, New York manages to get into fights with 3 of the girls referring to one of the only white cast members as “white trash” and tells her she looks like she works at a soup kitchen, and then runs from the room crying because of her still present feelings for Flav. She manages to calm down long enough to critique each girl, meanwhile the girls inside return to attacking each other. Flav seems to be the mediator of each and every fight because his mere presence seems to subdue the girls in an almost paternal manner.

In eliminations Flav removed Nibblz for her sexuality and Beatuful for her shyness (“but the cold sore might’ve has something to do with it”). Nibblz commented on her own elimination saying, “I didn’t sign up to be a role model, I signed up to be a lover. Flav missed out on a good f*ck.” Flav then reinstated New York into the competition which caused Buckwild to quit saying “if someone touches my body I’m going to lay them out and I’m on parole so I can’t be around that b*tch.” Essentially the ideologies championed by the show are submissive women who are sexual but not admittedly so, devoted solely to their man, Flav.

“New York, Don’t be Mad at Me, I’m Gonna Roll with Hoopz”: An Analysis of Masculinity in Flavor of Love

Episode 6 of the second season of Flavor of Love, a sect of VH1’s “Celebreality” was entitled Photo Shoot to the Death. The basis of the show is a bachelor-esque competition in which 21 women contend to be the best woman for Public Enemy front man William Jonathan "Flavor Flav" Drayton Jr. The show begins with Flav, due to his former drug problem and subsequent memory issues, renaming each of the girls. The women remaining in Episode 6 where “Bootz,” “Krazy,” “Buckeey,” “Buckwild,” “Deelishis,” “Beatuful,” and “Nibblz.” For the record, Flav also determined the spellings of the nicknames; the spell check on this computer is about to explode.

When looking at this practice from a critical view, one must note that Flav is stripping these girls of their own identity and redefining them under his own observations; all within twenty seconds of meeting them. The opening credits to the show involve Flav’s voice in the background yelling “I’m Flavor Flav!” while silhouettes of women in bikinis surround him, dancing for him in slow motion while he is at the center in the limelight.

The focal point of this episode was that Flav decided to bring back a contestant from the first show “New York” to help him with his eliminations. Flav puts New York in charge of dressing and critiquing the girls for a photo shoot because she is always “lookin good and representin her man.” New York succeeds in making all the girls look “Flavtastic” once again defining the girls within himself. New York’s other job in her return is to report to Flav (the king of this harem) who is truly “here for Flav” and who is “an opportunist” trying to get famous.

Throughout the episode there are often cuts to testimonials by Flav in private in which he dances around eating fried chicken from a bucket wearing either an insane crown (usually reserved for elimination) or a Viking hat as well as a large clock around his neck. These scenes contain more of Flav than the rest of the show combined in which he is only good for grunts of understanding or confusion and sexual advances at the women. This portrayal of Flav when taking his race into consideration makes him a “clown… putting on a show for the Others.” (Hall 93) This ideology falls within the construct that people of color are only portrayed on television for the entertainment of others, playing a character of the loyal slave, the noble savage or the bumbling clown. Flav is too preoccupied with his reclaimed fame to notice the correctitude he is portraying of his race. Womanizing, stupid, and eating fried chicken (from a BUCKET, no less).

Although the show is entitled Flavor of Love, Flavor Flav is not the focal character. Yes, he is good for TV and ratings, but merely for his testimonials about the girls he is “feeling” and those that are only there to break his heart like Season 1 winner Hoopz. The focal point of the show is the interactions between the women contestants in their bickering and debasing of each other in order to win the love of their “man” Flav, and to receive a gold grill that matches his own.

Works Cited:
Hall, Stuart. "The Whites of Their Eyes: Racist Ideologies and the Media." Gender, Race, and Class in Media (2003): 89-93.

word to my otha (blogs and such)

http://blogs.sohh.com/videos/2006/03/flavor_of_love_episode_9.html
I chose this blog because it primarily focuses with race over gender especially dealing with the argument between "Pumkin" and "New York"
"Brooke AKA Pumkin is the last of the Mahicans as far as the pigmentally challenged of the show go"
"You just don’t spit on a black woman and think you’re going to make it around the corner."
http://www.yikers.com/video_huge_cat_fight_on_flavor_of_love.html refer here if you've never seen the fight.
The episode showed the animalistic hatred the contestants showed for each other while fighting over Flav, the prize.

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4155/is_20061008/ai_n16772543
This article calls out Flavor Flav for eliminating a contestant because she was a stripper while forcing the girls to prance around in front of his friends in order to prove their "wildness". The author draws the parallel to a rap music video where women are paraded around scantily clad while the men are the center of their attention completely dressed.

http://www.seeingblack.com/article_117.shtml
This article speaks of the disillusion of the women of color on Flavor of Love, notably the parallels of slaves on the auction block and these women parading around their bodies in front of Flavor Flav and his friends hoping that their sex will keep them in the contest for as long as possible. These women are sex symbols, but are mistaking their sexuality for empowerment, while they are simply letting Flav pull the strings.

http://www.afterellen.com/archive/ellen/column/2006/8/quote-guilty.html
Defining Flavor of Love as the "guilty pleasure"
This woman thinks that the women on the show are deserving of the way they are portrayed since they signed up for the show. To get her pity for their exploitation, she says, they'll have to show her the X-rays of the brain tumors.

http://blog.myspace.com/bettiebrown
The blog of Nibblz, the bi-sexual contestant of Flavor of Love 2
I put this up here just because I noticed something when reading through it. The further back you go in her blog entries, the more intelligent she sounds. Nibblz (Dominique Majors) who was eliminated because Flav didn't think she would make a "good role model" for his children. Although Nibblz isn't the poster girl for the GBLT community, at least she was open and honest about her sexuality, and she was only penilized for her bi-sexuality, as no one would call a single other contestant a prude.

Gender and Pop Culture

Blogging in College: The Gender & Pop Culture Blog Experiment

http://genderpopculture.blogspot.com/