America's Next Top Model
I accidentally caught an episode of "America's Next Top Model" and became hooked. The television show, organized by supermodel Tyra Banks, was the story of a competition among a diverse group of young women to gain a modeling contract, magazine feature and Revlon modeling contract. Each episode of the series involved a particular modeling skill, with instruction and a contest. Each week one competitor was eliminated and an eventual winner was selected in the eighth episode. (I don't know if the show will have a second season but I hope so- if it does I'll watch it.) The models lived together in crowded quarters, enjoyed a trip to Paris and experienced the usual personality conflicts one would expect from a group of strangers thrown together for a competition.
I have no idea how the show was edited or what happened that we didn't see. I imagine the conflicts were emphasized to provide drama. Cliques formed and some of the women were friends and others were not. Some of the women seemed to care a lot and others not at all, including one brilliant student who deferred medical school to join the competition. After the she was eliminated, despite a lot of compliments from the judges, she said "ok, I'll become a doctor".
The setting was designed to bring out differences, the competition seemed designed to produce conflict and the cramped living quarters were designed to enhance annoyances and stress. But generally I was impressed by how nice these young women were. With few exceptions the women were kind to their fellow-competitors, were generous in complimenting the others for their strengths and relatively slow to quarrel. Although there were moments of cattiness, they were rare. Even the women to whom this competition was very important, who said that this was everything, were nice. No one tried to sabotage the other contestants, everyone seemed to want the others to do well and the women seemed to focus on exploiting their own strengths rather than others' weaknesses.
I was also impressed by Tyra Banks. I was aware of her reputation and enormous success as a model but, obviously, knew nothing more than that about her. She acknowledged the luck that brought her to where she is, was objective about strengths and weaknesses and, although firm in her advice to the contestants, delivered criticisms in a kind and giving manner. Even when she announced the various eliminations, she showed a genuine spirit of caring and empathy.
I know that some look for conflict, bitterness and extreme unhappiness in shows like this one. But I enjoyed it immensely because of the great attitudes of the contestants. It showed me that kindness continues to exist even among competitors for important prizes, that young women are still able to be nice in face of great stress, that the notion of fellow competitors, as compared to adversaries, prevails in contexts other than golf. I hope the spirit of America's Next Top Model prevails and that we all can learn its lessons.
11-10-03
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