They do consume and display they genuflect to the American Dream. (In his book The Housewives, Brian Moylan reports that there is now a “Bethenny Clause” in all Housewife contracts, stipulating that Bravo will receive 10 percent if any company launched on the show sells for more than $1 million.) 1 Many critics of the franchise have been disgusted by the Housewives’ conspicuous consumption and decadent displays of wealth. In Season 2 of the show, she launched Skinnygirl Margarita, a low-calorie liquor brand that she sold in 2011 for $100 million. The pioneer of the Housewife economy was Bethenny Frankel, who, in 2008, debuted on Season 1 of The Real Housewives of New York City, selling low-calorie cupcakes in supermarkets. Having sold their labor to Bravo, the Real Housewives can harness other women’s spending power once they make it into the Housewife economy, they can capitalize on the greater content-creator economy. They have their own podcasts and millions of Instagram and Twitter followers, trawling for off-the-clock drama. Housewives almost always use the show to promote or launch product lines: Ramona Singer’s pinot grigio, Karen Huger’s La’Dame perfume, Kandi Burruss’s Bedroom lube, to say nothing of the book deals (thirteen New York Times bestsellers to date), Broadway performances, spin-offs, paid promotions, and meet-and-greets that Housewives can turn for a profit. Tamra Judge’s (alleged) $1.2 million per season, Teresa Giudice’s (alleged) $1.1 million per season, Lisa Vanderpump’s (alleged) $1 million per season-this is only their base pay. It’s a lot of money for projecting an image of independent wealth. NeNe Leakes, longtime Real Housewife of Atlanta, reportedly earned $2.85 million dollars in her last season. “There’s one thing money can’t buy,” he’s said: “fame.” We might guess that they are also in it for the money. Andy Cohen, an executive producer of the franchise who is now also “the talent,” performing the on-screen role of the Housewives’ employer, has suggested that the women are motivated by celebrity-by the platform that Bravo affords them. This is a job they want-it’s a buyer’s market for Bravo. The rest are either currently filming, or they’ve been fired. It’s rumored that of the 154 women who have been hired as Real Housewives, only seven have ever quit. Or they can fall on their swords, take accountability for their bad behavior, and “own it”-as if their televised conduct were just another commodity for sale. In response, Housewives can defend their on-screen actions, sometimes supplying text messages, DMs, and other “receipts” to vindicate themselves. Reunions are hosted after a season has aired, giving Housewives the opportunity to assess their performances alongside their castmates (whose editorializing interviews have been spliced between the lunches and dinners) and their fans (who turn to social media to weigh in on disputes). The arbitration of these modern-day moralia will necessarily extend over multiple episodes-digested over lunches and dinners, settled in the belly for an episode or two, as loyalties shift and reconciliation seems nigh, only to reemerge like so much bile on one of the season’s many “girls’ trips” or multi-episode reunion specials. Conflict can emerge from petty slights of decorum (Can champagne be served in a red wine glass? Is it ever appropriate to tell someone she’s gotten a bad nose job?) or concerns more grievous (infidelity, alcoholism, tax fraud, Munchausen’s syndrome). ![]() Their work is the production of drama, and they must be prolific to stay on the job. The Real Housewives franchise has since metastasized, expanding beyond the gates of Coto de Caza to include eleven cities and 154 women-some unmarried, some childless, many divorced. And then, presumably, they filed Schedule Cs. They gave Bravo viewers unmitigated access to their lives. ![]() They tottered, top-heavy, around Coto de Caza, their gated community, got Botox and went to Pilates, sent their daughters to prom and their sons to baseball practice. That is until 2006, when five women in Orange County were reportedly each given a few thousand dollars to be Housewives, Real Housewives, on cable television. Housewifery is hard work: taxing, by all accounts isolating, by default unwaged, by design.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |