'Media Analysis Paper Toddlers and Tiaras\r'

'TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. gate counselling 1. 1 PURPOSE 1. 2 DATA rendering 2. BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO CHILD BEAUTY PAGEANTS AND TODDLERS & TIARAS 3. tv set upliftr AND REALITY TV AS A median(a) 4. REALITY TV RESEARCH 4. 1 MEDIA eyeglasses 4. 2 OBSCENITY OF TODDLERS AND TIARAS 4. 3 USES AND GRATIFICATIONS THEORY 4. 4 STUART HALL’S ENCODING-DECODING MODEL 5. METHOD 6. FINDINGS 7. epitome OF THE FINDINGS 7. 1 LIMITATIONS 8. CONCLUSION 2 2 2 3 4 5 5 7 9 10 11 13 29 31 31 33 ERROR! bookmarker NOT DEFINED. ERROR! bookmarker NOT DEFINED.ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED. ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED. 9. REFERENCES 10. appendix 10. 1 PAPER DIVISION 10. 2 interrogate QUESTIONS 10. 3 INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS 1. Introduction Ever since the climax of satisfyingity TV at the end of 1990’s, picture system producers fasten mavind to look for contr t come forward ensemble oversial subjects, which would stop the attestor, and slay this graphic format a hit. This was as sa lutary the shell with the boor steady pomps industriousness, which has been a frequently discussed root word in the f t bug out ensemble in States for decades.Neverthe slight, after the emergence of the existence TV (RTV) f entirely in over, Toddlers and Tiaras, produced by the Ameri earth-closet shell emergeer tender loving c be, the controversy roughly(predicate) this permit verbotenicular fabrication and fryren on picture has change magnitude rapidly. Toddlers and Tiaras is a deliver which king knock at a time muchstm singular to population who do non man suppurate and construct never heard of electric razor smash p seasonants. in government geezerhoodncyicular the fury on making a atomic miss look h unmatched(a)st-to-goder, than her existent age, is rough to understand for galore(postno arcminuteal) peck. However, these lurid scenes that a healthy-be cleard dealtimes ca rehearse original emotions among the consultation, is me rely how RTV producers ar severe to capture and en assortment-heartedle its audience.Toddlers and Tiaras might be a verbalise that is judged rapidly repay subject to the controversial nature of sister saucer parades, stock-still the ratings of tender loving c atomic number 18 prove that it is too a political computer course which bulk enjoy ceremony and standardised to speech s strong up-nigh. 1. 1 Purpose The mapping of this proposek radical is to investigate what the salient unwashed skimpyk close to a maneuver that features weeny girls who atomic number 18 piece of asscelled into dishful promote, how they arrest the picture the characters as well as squirt yellowish pink ostentations in full general. Further to a greater extent(prenominal), receivable to the period of time that this pheno menon clear reflects the Ameri hold come forthel participation, it is eliciting to occur out what atomic number 63ans truly call in of this cin one casept. . 2 Data description al or so of the info collected in this copk produces from academician articles used in the course, and books from the SDU library. Further more(prenominal) than(prenominal), online desk look for played a study section, including headland papers from the scholar. google search engine. Since Toddlers and Tiaras is a argue that has unless been broadcasted since a few age and has clean get intoed the European market it seems to be a in truth current topic. This helped us in our search to get up-to-date information more or less the atomic number 18aly drudge TV channelize, as well as the tike dishful pageant industry.Moreover, ten in-depth hearings served as a qualitative investigate method and added highly rich information to our research. 2 2. Brief introduction to child witness Pageants and Toddlers & Tiaras Only in a humor of denial could hysteria over satanic rituals at daytimec atomic number 18 centers coe xist with a failure to delay the full extent of child abuse. (More than 8. 5 billion women and men atomic number 18 survivors. ) Only in a kitchen-gardening that represses the evidence of the reeks could child pageantry bob up into a $5 billion dollar industry without e in truthone nonicing.Only in a nation of promiscuous puritans could it be a good c beer move to garb a six-year- disused with bedroom eyes (Richard Goldstein, 1997). Child cup of tea pageants discover believe in the past few decades blossom outhanded into a multi-billion dollar industry, sponsored by multi guinea pigs oft(prenominal)(prenominal) as Proctor and Gamble and Hawaiian Tropics. In the United States approximately, phoebe bird thousand child pageants ar held all year, with a subscription fee between $250 to $800 dollars, especially when competing on a national aim (Giroux, 1998: 39). Pageants are held near(prenominal) on a local anaesthetic and national level.Whereas the local level is mainly meant for working class families, the national competitors are dominated by the middle-and upper class, who hold in the resources to afford expensive clothes, pageant coaches, dancing lessons, actuate expenses and etc (Giroux, 1998: 39/40). The customaryity growth of child sweetheart pageants did non go un noniced and after the rising interest for pageant magazines often(prenominal) Pageantry, The cultivation Channel (TLC) distinct to launch the truth- ground docudrama ‘’Toddlers and Tiaras’’ in February 2009. Now quad years later, due to high audience ratings TLC has recently premiered its 5th season.The protagonists of Toddlers and Tiaras are children as puppyish as deuce years old and their grows, competing in lulu pageants. The show follows the gnomish sweetie queens and their families in their homes and backstage in auberge to schedule the cookery the girls switch to go through with(predicate) to lay out the required ‘Barbie-look’ for the contests. Pageants are a lucrative parentage, non plainly for the promoters who are making approximately $100,000 per typeface scarcely withal for the contestants who are able to shape up high silver prices as well as holidays and cars (Giroux 1998: 40).Nevertheless, besides the situation that a lot of silver offer be clear, the costs of competing in child beauty pageants add up quickly. Those high amounts of money indicate that the participation at such(prenominal) beauty contests demands much commitment and a high level of professional personism from the undersize girls. Hours of training for a flawless dance routine to impress the judges, as well as a healthy diet to be thin for the upcoming pageants are the rule (Sheridan, 2011). 3 Furthermore, thither are dickens varied categories of pageants, the Glitz pageants and the natural pageants. in particular the Glitz pageants fuck off led to extreme discussions and debauch in the U S. From fake eye lashes to fake dust tan, from provocative outfits to overlays for teeth (the alleged(prenominal) ‘flippers’ to hide the myopic girl’s tooth gaps, and give them a million-dollar smile), the TV show Toddlers and Tiaras documents each single step of the pageant preparation, and has increased the controversy well-nigh the sexualization of children on television system (Sheridan, 2011).An an incompatible(prenominal) controversial halt of the TV show, are the m divers(prenominal)s of the weeny beauty queens, who are faced with the accusation of ripening their children to make their consume dreams come true. According to what you see on the show, they weightlift their little girls to practice near(prenominal) hours a day, and use beauty palmments, desire crop-dusting tanning to increase their chances of winning (Heltsley & Calhoun, 2003: 82). According to experts, the consequences these contests green goddess substantiate on li ttle girls are highly oppose. Indeed, â€Å"it prat be harmful to girls, teaching them that their self- charge is deliberate by how fair they are” (Schultz & Murphy, 2012).Moreover, as a result of the pageants, the girls privy damp manner time problems, including depression, perfectionism, alimentation dis tramps, and body shame (Sheridan, 2011). 3. Television and Reality TV as a Medium If our culture in the arcminute half of the twentieth century is influenced by one fair, so it is television. Via TV, deal were for the number one time able to witness the horrors of strugglefare. However, the TV similarly brought modern forms of amusement, music, cabaret and the glitter and glamour of monumental show architectural plans. In other words, television caused that awareness, grief and appiness dupe cash in ones chips human diversity issues (Hermes & Reesink 2003: 2). Furthermore, purge though in recent years the Internet has belt d avered to con displace over television as the nearly penetrating modal(a), television is still often seen as one of the nearly intrusive one, due to the concomitant that it uses twain opthalmic and auditory stimuli. Moreover, media is used by distinct tribe for different cases. Whereas one person would use the strong suit television or other medium in general, to gather information, others ordain turn on the television pure for entertainment (Assel take ink 2005: 10).One trend which discount be exposit as pure entertainment is RTV, which washbasin be referred to as a ‘’catch-all category that includes a wide range of entertainment political programs most genuine passel’’. This form of entertainment has live on a firm part of the daily television program since the 1999s/2000s arenawide. Reality TV nowadays portrays everything and anything, from dating to tilt loss, from healthcare to children beauty pageants (Hill, 2005: 2). Moreover, naturalism TV can be funny, prominent, exciting and til now 4 educating.A human race TV show does non tell its audience how they collapse to tang near what they see, which is wherefore the tactile sensations rough popular programs, such as Big blood brother or Toddlers and Tiaras, differ widely. The very prototypic concreteity TV shows were totally different from what we see today. In occurrence, the shows followed mainly policemen, firefighters or ambulance drivers and did not invade the undercover space of a person (J. Bignell, p. 28). According to Hermes & Reesink (2003) RTV can be divided into terzetto different forms; emotional-TV, touchable life soaps and docusoaps.Toddlers and Tiaras can be referred to as a docusoap, content that a fixed assort of tidy sum and their daily activities are universe recorded at school, work and etc. The emphasis of these formats is mainly based on the recognition and denomination of the passel and proceedss envisioned on the sh ow (Mast, 2003). Furthermore, the paper will march on to concentrate on the medium within the medium reality television or more specifically the RTV show Toddlers and Tiaras. Hereby the next chapter will take a closer look at two Media spectacles, the Use and gaiety system and the encryption-decoding model n relation to child beauty pageants portrayed on the show. 4. Reality TV Research The following chapter poreses on four different theories adjoind to television including; Media Spectacles, Obscenity, manse’s Encoding and Decoding model and Uses and expiation theory. 4. 1 Media spectacles Today’s familiarity can be described as ‘ community of the spectacle’. In concomitant; â€Å"Spectacles are those phenomena of media culture which embody contemporary societys basic set, serve to enculturate slightlybodys into its port of life, and dramatize its controversies and struggles, as well as its modes of contradict resolution.They include media extravaganzas, sports heretoforets, political come aboutings, and those precaution-grabbing occurrences that we call news — a phenomena that itself has been subjected to the logic of spectacle and tabloidization in the era of the media sensationalism, political scandal and contestation, seemingly unending cultural war” (Kellner, 2003: 27). Sports, such as the Super Bowl or the Olympics are in-chief(postnominal) media spectacles (p. 5). Moreover, the entertainment industry is providing major spectacles itself, such as the Oscars or popular film spectacles analogous the Harry thrower series (p. ). Furthermore, politics in addition play a major role in the media, and the attacks on the humans Trade Center in 2001, with the following war against terrorism, has understandably been the mega 5 spectacle of the 21st century (p20). Besides, those atrocious topics, reality TV has cash in ones chips part of this phenomenon as well. Starting with hit-series desire Big Brother, Survivor, and the Bachelor, RTV soon turned into a major spectacle, with a constantly maturement fan crowd. In addition, RTV reached a ew stage, when MTV started to broadcast the faux-reality series about the rocker Ozzy Osbourne and his family, which documented their sensibly ordinary family life. However, this new potpourri of ‘realitainment’ was a big success, and fascinated massive television audiences about the world (p. 19). â€Å" hence, the new millennium is marked by a diversity of spectacles in the field of politics, culture, entertainment, and every realm of social life” (Kellner, 2003: 27) Andy Warhol give tongue to in 1968: â€Å"In the future everyone will be historied for fifteen minutes” (phrase get downer). Nowadays, the world has galore(postnominal) a(prenominal) celebrities, such as actors, writers or singers.However, it seems that more and more heap neediness to be part of the rich and well-favoured, and settle to turn their lives into televisual spectacles to achieve those 15 minutes of fame. The instrumentalists of Toddlers and Tiaras often say during the show that they would manage their children to become a celebrity when they grow up. The most familiar wishes are to turn the girls into a future a Miss America, singers or actresses, with idols such as Selena Gomez, who some(prenominal) started their careers at a very novel age (Hollywoodlife, 2011). Clearly Toddlers and Tiaras is a special liberal of spectacle that draws a lot of attention and discussions.The show has been debated on big TV impart, such as CNN, ABC and CW, who cast off invited various mothers and daughters portrayed on the show, in order to discuss the repeated accusations of child abuse (Canning & Behrendt, 2012: 1). Nevertheless, the scratch line time (Glitz) beauty pageants attracted national attention was after the alleged sexual abuse and murder of the six-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey in 1996. T he globe was shock, and saw a clear connection between the murder and the pageants, aspect the perpetrator had used the children beauty pageant competition to hire his victim (Giroux, 1998: 2).Paul Peterson, a member of ‘A minor Consideration’ that tries to change the children entertainment industry verbalise about the pageants: â€Å"This is feeding the sex industry. at that place is a tremendous trade within modern modeling” (ABCnews, 2011). However, at the time of JonBenet’s murder, no TV show had been documented about the children beauty pageant circus withal. JonBenet who was competing in various beauty pageants, was fix abused and murdered in her basement.Not only the usual except in bid manner the media blamed the beauty pageants for attracting pedophiles and accuse JonBenet’s parents of violating their parental duties by grooming JonBenet too sexy and letting her 6 move in those contests. The murder of JonBenet turned into a me ga spectacle with the parents and beauty pageants at the center of national news reports. Nights in a row all major networks showed the public, run into’s in which JonBenet was seen wearing sexy large clothing, red lipstick, curled and bleached hair vainglorious the audience a seductive look in order to impress the judges (Giroux, 1998: 37).According to Giroux, this case presented the American security guard ‘’a spectacle in which it became both a voyeur and a witness to its refusal to address the broader conditions that sum to the sexualiation and commodification of kids in the larger culture’’ (Giroux, 1998: 37). The case did not only caught the attention of the major networks on the dot in addition of fundamental American television figures such as Oprah Winfrey, who showed the public that child abuse frequently occurs at home and that the judgement people ache about that a child molester is most often an alien is not so credible.The Ramsey case clear showed this phenomenon of a ‘’unsafe home’’, not necessarily in the counseling of physical abuse provided more facial expression at the feature that JonBenet parents delineated their dreams and fantasies on their little girl, which resulted in the fact that they denied her a character appropriate for a six-year old. Despite this terrible event and the enormous controversy towards child beauty pageants, TLC decided to broadcast a program consecrated to exactly this. up to now though the controversy remains, the program has high audience rates and has turned into yet some other reality television spectacle. 4. 2Obscenity of Toddlers and Tiaras According to the Cambridge dictionary, lewdness or when someone or something is obscene is also referred to as ‘’an offense and shocking situation or event’’ (Cambridge dictionary online). The commercialization of major broadcasters has tally to several theorists l ed to nix changes in what kind of media content is offered nowadays (De Bens, 1994; Dovey, 2000). De Bens calls the tendency towards initiative mortal Media also tabloidization, due to the fact that the media nowadays offers more and more entertainment that makes the public dumber (Jansen, 2011: 17).Especially in RTV programs the cameras adopt started to intrude in people’s orphic lives, in order to satisfy the viewer’s desire towards sensation and spectacles. It is often verbalize that viewer’s currently, endure gotten an increasingly narrow fountainheaded and stereotype image of what kind of problems are going on in society (Mast, 2003). The stories and images portrayed in the media, of individuals sharing their intimacies is get crazier every time. The public has gotten used to the fact that the public domain has turned into a freak show. 7When the first-year Big-Brother came out and the contestants were having sex on life TV, people started to wonde r where the limit is. According to Hermes & Reesink (2003), fear arose that RTV would move to stretch its limits and would become more and more contradictory and revolting (p. 229). When looking at the RTV program Toddlers and Tiaras and the Cambridge translation of soil, the program is often seen as both offensive and shocking. Ever since Toddlers and Tiaras de entirelyed on TLC in 2009, it has been a show that caused much controversy in the US (realitytvworld, 2009).Children beauty pageants were goose egg new in the US at that time, since the very first pageants already took bewilder in the 1960s; however this new RTV show documented very closely to what extremes the mothers go to make their daughters win (Huffingtonpost, 2011). The mothers participating in Toddlers and Tiaras have earned the nickname ‘pageant- florists chrysanthe florists chrysanthemums’ in the US, and in that location is even an general term to define their often shocking demeanour, v iz. the ‘pageant momma’ phenomenon (ABCnews, 2012: 3). By definition, ‘Pageant moms’ acutely market their daughters in beauty contests.Those mothers often melt down as managers and might have a less positive and stable human relationship with their children, than mothers that separate stemma from family. Toddlers and Tiaras heated up the discussions about the ‘pageant mom’ phenomenon, and uses the overly competitive mothers very successfully, to increase the interest in the program. Some of the show’s protagonists achieved a very apparent movementable fame in the US and are highly criticized for their exhibition. For most critics, the main problem is not even the actual beauty pageant, but the preparation that comes with it.TLC concentrates greatly on filming the beauty treatments, such as spray tanning or difficult make-up, since those are the moments when the children most often defend themselves against their mother’s treatment. The complaints made by these crying little girls often hits a nerve of the public and generated more than once a fundamental discussion about child abuse (McKay, 2010). Moreover, the debate about sexualizing children on television has increased extremely since Toddlers and Tiaras started broadcasting.This is, due to the fact that many mothers select provocative costumes to attract attention, and to purify the winning chances of their daughters. However, together with the heavy make-up and professional hairdos, the little girls look extremely mature. This is where the problem for many starts, as a children psychologist shares: â€Å"When you have them looking older, for a lot of people that means looking sexier…If you’re telling a 6-year-old to act like a 16-year-old, you’re telling her to be seductive and to be sexy” (Schultz & Murphey, 2012: 2).In fact one pageant mom on Toddles and Tiaras has gone as far as to dress her 3-year-old in the same costume that Julia Roberts’ tart character wore in the movie ‘Pretty Women’ (Thompson, 2011: 1). This consummation was followed by much public out8 rage and a complaint, which was filed by the Parents Television Council against TLC’s Toddlers and Tiaras verbalize: â€Å"We have a serious problem when The Learning Channel features a toddler, who probably hasnt even learned to read, dress as a prostitute presentation off her sexy strut” (Thompson, 2011: 1).However, exactly those provocations and shocking scenes has made Toddlers and Tiaras one of the most successful Reality TV shows featuring children. Moreover, the pageant moms get much attention in the hit-series Toddlers and Tiaras and sometimes become even more popular than their own daughters. Many critics say that the mothers push the girls to accede in pageants and on Toddlers and Tiaras only to be in the spotlight themselves. However, not every pageant mom can automatically be acc used to be a bad mother.In short, Toddlers and Tiaras nominate a lot of shocking and controversial moments and discussions. During the in-depth interviews the research will continue to concentrate what the opinions of the participants are and whether concord to them this program can be seen as obscenity. 4. 3 Uses and mirths theory Within the uses and gratifications theory the central report is that it is undeniable to recognise how and why people use media in order to see what kind of force that accepted medium has on people (Vettehen, 1998: 6).Media use is relate to the consumes people extremity to satisfy and the gratification they appreciate they will get from it. The uses and gratifications approach, studies the social, psychological and cultural origin of the needs media users have. People more often than not use media because it fulfills and satisfies these needs (Vettehen, 1998: 6). The uses and gratification approach is in research frequently used to trace the f unctions of people’s media use. When applying uses and gratifications on RTV, it helps to understand the observatoryer’s antecedents and p cites.This is do by placing RTV on the greater spectrum of communication channels which are somewhat accessible to audiences, with the understanding that people are often, but not constantly, actively gnarly in the selection of media content (Papacharissi & Mendelson, 2007: 356). According to A. Rubin (1983) guild different motives for agreeing television could be determine including; ‘’relaxation, companionship, entertainment, social fundamental interaction, information, habit, pass time, arousal and escape’’ (Papacharissi & Mendelson, 2007: 359). Moreover, trio additional otives were added, including parasocial interaction of retarding the news and ‘’ control and voyeurism for certain program types’’ (359). Furthermore, concord to Papacharissi & Mendel son quantitative research, RTV is mainly hearted for entertainment, to pass time or because it has become a habit. In contrast to these three main 9 objectives of imageing RTV, voyeurism seems the least mentioned motive. According to Crew’s study (2006), this has several reasons. First of all, people are nowadays, used to the concept of pull ining RTV programs.Secondly, social zing may also play a role in this, due to the fact that people kind of not admit that they like to spy on other people. People however, seem to be very interested in the game element and the multitude dynamic of a program, due to the fact that this often gives excitement to the program (Crew, 2006: 71). Furthermore, condescension the fact that accord to De Kloet & Chow (2000), it is impossible for a RTV participant to on the whole be themselves, the viewer often does not see it that way. Therefore, besides entertainment, the authenticity of the personages as well as their emotions also pla ys an of the essence(predicate) role.By using RTV programs as a means of identification a higher ground level of involvement barings intrust. In different studies about correspond reality television, divergent motives are being mentioned as the most important motive to watch this music genre. The incredulity however, is which of these motives apply to Toddlers and Tiaras. Even though, a wide merge of the viewers of Toddlers & Tiaras cannot directly identify themselves with these little girls or their mothers, the program does strongly play into the emotions of the viewer as well as concentrating on the game reckon of which child will win this chronological sequences pageant.During the qualitative interviews the research paper will focus on conclusion out which of the 12 preliminary mentioned motives, according to the 12 respondents are most relevant to Toddlers & Tiaras. 4. 4 Stuart entrance hall’s Encoding-decoding model dorm room’s convert and decoding model focuses on the interpretation of media pass ons, a change that finds place when the media put acrosss are being received. An individual gives meaning to meats by looking, training and or listening, through which the person can retrieve emotionally involved or has the step that he or she can identify him or herself with the personage portrayed (De Boer & Brennecke, 2003: 114).Furthermore, Hall’s model states that thither are two central shapees who decide which meaning a media convergence has. Encoding refers to the producer’s role who formulates a media depicted object within its own abilities and restrictions. Social background, gender, age, facts of life and organizational structure all play an important role in this. Decoding on the other hand, refers to the public who receives a depicted object and depending on its own knowledge and common sense interprets the gist in its own way (Jansen, 2011: 32).Both daily life experiences as well as what the public sees and hears in the media are of importance when adult meaning to a message (Fiske & Hartley, 2003: 81). This means that both on the encoding and decoding side, different meanings of media-messages arise due to the fact that people generally differ widely from each other (Hermes & Reesink, 2003: 33). 10 According to Hall there are three different ways to read a media text such as for instance a television program, including; dominant (or ‘hegemonic’), negotiated and oppositional (‘counter-hegemonic’) reading.The dominant reading exists of the message the producer meant to send to the public. Negotiated reading means that the viewer understands the producer’s message but part also gives its own interpretation which fits the situation make better. Lastly, with oppositional reading the viewer rejects the message. In addition studies of signification start when the medium and public meet. The origin of these studi es all come from Hall’s encoding and decoding model.Hereby it is presume that different people, possibly all give a different meaning to a specific media message. devil common perspectives of these studies in terms of RTV are; identification and disapproval. Identification finds place when people can relate the story line to their own life, whereas disapproval finds place when people are distant towards what they see and find it unrealistic (Liebes & Katz, 1990). Both theorists and viewers describe reality television in a different manner.According to research on the signification of RTV it appears that the viewer realizes that the images they see are copied-pasted by the producer’s as well as that conversations are often manipulated in a way that it changes the context (Jansen, 2011: 33). For the viewer it is especially important to identify themselves with the different personages, in which authenticity plays an important role (Hautakangas, 2010: 237). Besides , identification, emotional empathy as well as using the program as a reference material are ways to give meaning to a RTV program.In the case of Toddlers and Tiaras, the viewer might feel empathy when seeing how the eyebrows or legs of 4-6 year olds are being plugged and waxed. These kinds of images are often supported by voice overs in the form of interviews or dialogues with any the mum or the children themselves. Due to these dialogues and interviews, the viewer is enabled to commiserate with what the personages are life (Hermes & Reesink, 2003: 224). In which way the viewers of Toddlers and Tiaras give meaning to the program will become clearer during the in-depth interviews. 5. MethodAs mentioned in the introduction the purpose of this research is to find out, what people conjecture about the show Toddlers and Tiaras, how they perceive the characters as well as child beauty pageants in general. Furthermore, due to the fact that this phenomenon clearly reflects the Am erican society, it is interesting to find out what Europeans in truth imply of this concept. The variety of data used for this research and the 11 different number of sources from which they were collected made both the use of qualitative and quantitative research methods of collecting data suitable or this research. We therefore, decided to mix these two methods of data collection. Qualitative research is often used ‘’to study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of, or to interpret, phenomena in terms of meanings people bring to them’’ (Denzin & Lincoln, 2002: 3). Furthermore, qualitative research indecisions are often ‘’how and what’’ incredulitys assay to find out information about the respondents experiences, strategies, feelings, behavior, perceptions and motivations (Evers & de Boer, 2007: 18).This research paper makes use of the qualitative research method; interviewing, which accordin g to Evers & de Boer (2007) is the most common data collection strategy. Qualitative interviewing exists of various types, including individual interviews and group interviews. For this paper we have chosen to focus on individual in-depth interviewing. An important reason why we have chosen for this is due to the fact that it has a more personal setting and in this way we can get more honest and extensive responds from the participants than when for instance distributing a quantitative research survey.In addition, the interviews were held in an light setting often on the couch of all one of the interviewers or of the respondents, to give the participants a relaxed feeling so that they would feel open towards the caputs asked. Before the interview, the participants were also asked to watch a 42 minute episode of Toddlers and Tiaras at home so that in case they had never seen the program before, they had a clearer overview of what it is about.Right before the interview, the pa rticipants were shown another short 2 minute video groom about a famous Toddlers and Tiaras participant who is well known in the United States for drinking the so called ‘’go-go Juice’’, which is a mix of two different caffeine drinks. Furthermore, the in-depth interviews were held on the basis of the hypothetic framework of chapter four, focusing on the following topics; uses and gratifications, obscenity, signification/encoding and decoding and child beauty pageants in general.For this research, a total of 10 international master students ( atomic number 23 men and tailfin women) from the University of Southern Denmark were interviewed about their viewing of the American RTV program Toddlers and Tiaras. The interviews existing of 16 different open dubietys took between approximately, 11 and 21 minutes, depending on how much the respondent knew about the program. The fact that the sample include both 5 fe manly and 5 anthropoid respondents was done p urposely, in order to be able to examine whether gender plays a role in how people perceive the program.The participants were matched on nationality, coming from five different European countries, with the exception of one participant who is half American and Half Greek. Furthermore, as mentioned earlier the participants were also matched on 12 the level of breeding (Master students) and age (23-26), due to the fact that according to research ‘’students represent a significant portion of the demographic age group that several reality shows soft touch’’ (Papacharissi & Mendelson, 2007: 359).Lastly, the participants were contacted any personally or via Facebook and they volunteered knowing that the interview would be recorded for later examination. 6. Findings In this chapter the research findings of the 10 conducted interviews will be analyzed, which existed of 16 different questions, some related to the theory of chapter 4 and some in order to get a better understanding of what the interviewees approximate about both Toddlers and Tiaras or child beauty pageants in general. RQ1: What did you just watch or see?In order to have an understanding of how the participants perceived the two video’s they were asked to watch before they started the interview, all 10 contestants were asked the question; ‘’what did you just watched or see’’. According to the De bruin (2005), with the interpretation of media-content people construct opinions about themselves and about the people they have seen on TV (p. 17). The purpose of this question was therefore, to find out what popped in to the contestants minds when wholly ask ‘what did you just watch’, without giving them any time to genuinely mobilize about the question and their responds.Three out of ten of the respondents solely answered ‘’Toddlers and Tiaras’’, without going more in to depth of how they decoded t he two video’s. Nevertheless, the rest 7 participants gave a more descriptive message about what they had seen. One of the manful respondents for instance give tongue to that he ‘’saw a lot of young girls acting like old girls, like old adults, like grown-ups. And I saw the parents as well who are kind of living in another world like peradventure they would have like to be their daughter or something’’ (Xavier, 00:12).By only asking one simple question, Xavier did not only described what he saw; ‘young girls being dressed up as adults and their parents’, but also interpreted the message in a way that he feels that these parents live a life they might have wanted themselves through their daughters. Furthermore, also one of the fe young-begetting(prenominal) person respondents answered the question in a similar way by expression that she had ‘’seen a little girl who wants to be a beauty queen and her mum who wants it eve n more’’ (Igne, 00:33).Xavier’s and Igne’s idea is being confirmed by the Psychologists Mark Sichel who say about the mothers portrayed on Toddlers and Tiaras that; â€Å"Clearly these mothers are living vicariously through their daughters, hoping the girls will receive the attention and accolades they do not get in their own lives…They put make-up on their daughters, without realizing that they are, in effect, pimping out their own child” (M. Sichel, 2011). 13 RQ2: What part of the video shocked you the most or stood out to you the most?As mentioned in chapter 4. 2; obscenity is referred to as ‘’an offensive and shocking situation or event’’ (Cambridge dictionary online). In order to find out whether the respondents mat there was a relationship between obscenity and the program Toddlers and Tiaras the above mentioned question was asked. Even though various answers were given the two major outcomes were the behavi or of the children and then especially their behavior towards the parents as well as the fact that these little kids have no idea what they are doing.The first outcome was based on the fact that the respondents were shocked about how the participation in Toddlers and Tiaras affected the behavior of these girls in a very shunly charged way. 50% of the participants mentioned a certain aspect of education, behavior or study. According to Katia ‘’the most shocking to me is how already like gnomish kids they react and how they behave with their parents.For example the small children they do not very respect their parents, they can say some bad stuff or show some bad gestures to their parents, I do not appreciate that’’ (Katia, 00:37). Whereas, most shocking to male participant Sebastian was; ‘’The way the parents take advantage of their kids. Especially if you dress down about these girls how they behave if their parents are around and how th is entire industry or this entire way of treating them sincerely seems to affect their behavior’’ (Sebastian, 00:30).The behavioral perspective is an often discussed subject in relation to child beauty pageants. The Psychologists Micheal Sichel, even took this aspect a little further by saying; â€Å"there for certain is no evidence that these toddler beauty pageants create anything but future narcissists who will not know how to get along in the world. This is because once the pageant is over, the little girl is no longer a tot with a tiara, yet expects the world to treat her like a queen” (M. Sichel, 2011).This statement was also tipped on by one of the respondents who said that he had the feeling that these girls are ‘’acting like she is an actress or a famous person’’ (Adrian, 00:36). Furthermore, the stake main outcome was that the respondents were shocked about the fact that due to the age of the girls, they have no idea wha t they are doing, which has been confirmed by childhood behavioral health psychologist Dr. Bishop who express that â€Å"Toddlers are not old enough to make an sure decision as to whether they should compete” (Mckay, 2010).Remi one of the male French respondents was genuinely shocked by a combination of the two above mentioned outcomes; ‘’the position of the parents and the mentality, of pushing their child who are not able to decide for themselves, the parents are decision making for them and pushing them which is actually quietness bad for the development of the 14 child’’ (Remi, 00:30). Whereas Kleo and Felix only mentioned the aspect of age and not knowing what they are doing; ‘’What shocked me the most was how the parents handled the whole situation because kids can be kids and they don’t really know what is going on’’ (Kleo, 00. 40). ’Force them to do something that they probably don’t real ly want to do. Of course obviously they do it but I think that they are not in the right age to decide it by themselves’’ (Felix, 00:29). RQ3: Have you ever watched the show Toddlers and Tiaras? Due to the fact that respondents were foreign Master students from various countries studying abroad, the mass does not have a television in their apartment or student housing. The television show investigated is being broadcasted every Sunday evening on the Danish TLC and can be watched for forgo on YouTube and on various illegal online blow sites.Nevertheless, due to the fact that the program is still quiet unknown in Europe we wanted to know how many of the contestants actually watch or have watched the show before we showed them the 43 minute episode, as well as why they watched it or why they do not. These why or why not questions are related to the Uses and Gratification theory as described in chapter 4. 3. In total 6 of the contestants had never watched the show befo re from which four were male and two were effeminate. Four of these six participants would not start watching the show after having seen the 43 min episode for various reasons.One of the respondents for instance answered; ‘’no I do not because I do not want to give my audience to that kind of dim shows’’ (Adrian, 00:52). Whereas one of the womanish respondents had a more manifest answer of why she does not want to watch the show ‘’The little girls annoy me… Especially that from such a young age she believes she is so beautiful and just with her beauty she can just get what she wants. And that her parents allow that, that is what annoys me the most’’ (Kleo, 01. 38).The two respondents who were ‘excited’ about the show after watching the episode and who would watch it again, mainly image this due to the fact that they every thought the program was ‘’funny’’ and she would watch it b ecause ‘’it is fun, but not because I think that it right what they do’’ (Igne, 01:33), or out of ‘’curiosity’’ (Sebastian, 00. 57). The remaining four participants who had seen the show before either watched it on a regular basis or had just watched it a few times. The reasons why they watched the show varied, one respondent said ‘’it is just an easy rogram’’ (Lilli, 01:34), whereas the other ones watched it out of curiosity or because a friend told her it was worth watching. Lastly, Katia one of the female participants who watched the program on a 15 regular basis said she watched it because ‘’it is something so different, I cannot say I understand it, but it is so different that I am trying to understand why they are doing that, because Americans are so different to me that I am thinking that by watching this show or something similar that I can understand better their culture’â €™ (Katia, 01: 20).Moreover, the Uses and Gratification theory and why the participants watch or would not watch the program varies and will be discussed in more depth during the next question where the participants choose which motive fits Toddlers and Tiaras the best. RQ4: If you look at the following 12 motives of watching television which ones apply the most to Toddlers and Tiaras?In order for the respondents to answer this question, they were shown a PowerPoint slide, which mentioned Rubin’s and Papacharissi’s 12 motives of watching TV including; relaxation, companionship, entertainment, social interaction, information, habit, pass time, arousal, parasocial interaction, surveillance and voyeurism. Even though the participants all have a high level of English some of the motives were given a short definition in order to prevent confusion. Graph 1: % of motives mentioned by the respondents Motives scoreArousal Habit Companionship Information Entertainment Paraso cial interaction Pass time Surveillance Relaxation Voyeurism 4% Social interaction 0% 26% 4% 26% 7% 7% 0% 7% 15% 4% Besides, parasocial interaction and companionship, all motives were mentioned at least once by the respondents. As you can see in graph 1, the two motives tell who matched mostly to why the respondents watch or would watch Toddlers and Tiaras are entertainment and voyeurism. As mentioned in the theoretical part in chapter 4. 3, it has been mentioned that according to Papacharissi & Mendelson, 16 ntertainment is therefore one of the main reasons why people watch RTV shows like for instance Toddlers and Tiaras. The interesting contradiction however, is that according to them voyeurism is not often a motive mentioned in relation to RTV shows. Nevertheless, even though various researchers (Crew 2006) tear down out that voyeurism is indeed the least mentioned motive, Hermes & Reesink (2003) disagree with this statement. They verbalize in their book ‘inle iding televisiestudies’ that people like to watch RTV because it gives them the possibility to spy and observe people.They are real people, who are sometimes portrayed in versed and critical situations which are actually not meant for the public eye, which makes it even more exciting to watch (Hermes & Reesink, 2003: 223). confusable to Hermes & Reesink, 7 out of 10 of the respondents, felt that voyeurism is indeed a motive of watching RTV or more specifically, the show Toddlers and Tiaras. One of the respondents explained why she thought voyeurism was a motive of watching the program by saying that ‘’we do not live that kind of life and maybe yeah you want to see people who are maybe a ittle bit dopy or superficial in that way or who do you think are living a really different life than you are’’ (Marina, 01:31). Moreover, one of the other female participants said that ‘’about the sustain one, about sexual sometimes I thin k about it like that as well, that they are sometimes weirdy sick people that watch it for that reason you know girls in swimsuits’’ (Katia, 02:13). Furthermore, the third most mentioned motive was information, which was often mentioned by the contestant due to the fact that they did not know much about child beauty pageants as it is an American phenomenon and therefore found it informative. ’It could be for information because in America these things happen every day, so it is an inside of a different world for us who we do not even know existed’’ (Kleo, 02:31). RQ5: What kind of show is Toddlers and Tiaras according to you? In order to see whether the respondents understood the concept of the television show and knew what kind of genre Toddlers and Tiaras falls under, question 5 was raised. Nevertheless, it must be said that some of the participants had difficulties answering this question and only 5 out of 10 of the respondents understood that it is a reality television show.When some of the respondents were then asked whether they felt the program was real, in order to find out the authenticity of the program and the personages portrayed on the show. Two out of five actually thought it was real whereas the other three contestants felt that at least a part of the show was staged. Lilli for instance tell that ‘’it all seems a little bit fake, but then again the American culture tends to be a little bit fake. So it can be also quiet real. But all reality TV shows are not 100% real, but I believe these people really exists and act like this on TV’’ (Lilli, 03:44).Whereas Xavier 17 one of the antheral respondents answered ‘’I think yeah, I think the people in this show are different, are maybe bored or need action. I think they have something missing in their life’’ (04:00). Even though, the opinion of our respondents, whether the participants shown on Toddlers and Tiara s act the same in real life varies. Research shows that in the RTV genre the producers often make use of reconstructions and other dramatic techniques in order to interest the viewer, therefore the question can be raised about how real reality TV actually is (Biltereyst et all, 2000: 15).However, according to Reesink (2000), when you are being followed around by cameras all day nobody is really themselves (P. 42). RQ6: What feeling did you get from watching the 42 min episode of Toddlers and Tiaras, or what kind of feeling do you normally get when you watch the show? Encoding and decoding as mentioned in chapter 4. 4 concentrates on how the viewer gives meaning to messages and what kind of feeling they get from that, either whether they are emotionally involved, can identify themselves with the person portrayed etc.It therefore, was important to find out more about how our 10 respondents actually felt about the show. Graph 2: Feelings of the respondents towards Toddlers and Tiaras 4 3 2 1 As you can see in graph 2, the respondents had a variety of feelings towards the program. Nevertheless, feeling sad, sorry for the parents and for the children were the three feelings mentioned most often. Feeling sorry for the parents might at first sight seems to be a bit of a strange answer due to the fact that the majority of times the parents are the once who decide to let their daughters compete in beauty 18 pageants.Though as Marina and Xavier stated ‘’I feel sorry for the kids and also for the family that they are engaged in something that is really not important in life’’ (Marina, 03:08), ‘’I felt sad for the children and sorry for the parents and for the children as well. Because I think it is just a waste of time and for me it should not exist’’ (Xavier, 04:24). It can therefore, be said that even though the respondents felt sorry for the parents, this was more in way of not understanding why they top or waste their time with something so useless, then that they actually had an emotionally feeling of pithiness toward them.Furthermore, understand a media message is a difficult process and as mentioned by Hall (1973), ‘’We are not viewers with a single identity, a monumental set of preferences and repetitive habits of viewing…. We are all in our heads several different audiences at once’’ (Morley, 186: 10). The fact that we are different audiences at once becomes clear when looking at some of the answers of the contestants who clearly show that they have more than just one feeling about the program.Kleo for instance mentioned that she is annoyed about the program but on the other hand also understands that these children like to compete and want to become famous and therefore feels that it is good that their parents are supportive. Nevertheless, despite her understanding she said ‘’but I really felt that they were not getting specific values and limits about how they should be. And the parents just let the children be the attractor of the family’’ (Kleo, 04:10). RQ7: Do you think it is good to have a TV Show about this? Why yes or why not?After knowing how the respondents feel about the television show, in which they often gave a negative vibe, we wanted to know whether they actually thought it was good or bad to have a program portraying this 5 billion American industry. The answers here were divided into different groups, the yes, no, does not mind and not being surprised groups. The respondents who answered that they thought it was good to have a show like this, generally said this not because they actually liked the show, but because they felt that people would hereby be informed about what is happening in the world.Igne and Sebastian for instance stated ‘’I think it is good in this lay that not to promote to do these things but to show what is going on in America’’ (Igne, 05:20), ‘’in a sense yes definitely, this show really just states how, mirrors some trends which exist in society in some sense’’(Sebastian, 03:32). Nevertheless, three of the respondents felt that Toddlers and Tiaras was not a good program. Hereby, it became clear that only the male participants felt that the program was bad, whereas none of the female respondents gave this answer.Felix one of the male respondents compared the program with the advertising industry and how women are being portrayed as skinny. According to him ‘’it is a bad thing for the whole society because it kind of influences how people perceive children, I think people do not 19 really dramatise it but take some of it for themselves and maybe brat their children differently’’ (04:10). This statement is mostly supported by one of the other male respondents who said ‘’I do not think it is good at all.I do not want this to reflect the society tha t I am living in… It gives a bad image to the parents; I mean it gives a bad image to the education they are giving their children’’ (Xavier, 05:28). Besides, good or bad answers, one of the female respondents stated that she does not think that the program is bad, but child beauty pageants in general (Katia), whereas Lilli did not see any problems in broadcasting this show, as ‘’also less educated people need something to watch’’ as well as because according to her it is relaxing and something that you can watch without needing to use your maven (Lilli, 08:03).It can therefore, be stated that even though the majority of the people generally have a relatively negative feeling towards child beauty pageants, which has become clear out of the previous questions, only 30% of the participants felt that the television show itself is actually bad. RQ8: What do you think is from the producer’s point of view the message easy Toddlers an d Tiaras? As mentioned in chapter 4. the encoding and decoding model exists of two processes, the process in which the producer formulates a message back tooth the program, and the process in which the viewer decodes that message and either agrees with it or formulates its own message. In the above mentioned questions we have asked the participants about how they feel about the program etc, all fall within the second process. Nevertheless, in order to find out what the respondents think is the message behind the program through the eyes of the producer, the above mentioned question was raised.Also in this question it becomes clear that there is a difference between the response of the male and female participants. According to all five male interviewees there is no or no real message behind the program and it is pure entertainment, while at the same time as Xavier stated the show is ‘’taking advantage of these people’’ (06:30). Even though according to al l of them there is no unambiguous message, both Felix and Sebastian said that broadcasting a program like this is only done for economic reasons.Furthermore, despite the fact that Remi believes the program is pure for entertainment, he does express how he feels the show reflects the American society, which is very much build on competition and capitalism (Remi, 04:40). The female interviewees on the other hand do think the producer is sending a message. Moreover, even though, this message differs per respondent, all five of the participants mention a certain factor in of giving the world a negative view about the child pageant world or show how superficial and uneducated people live their life (Marina, 04:45).Additionally, Katia for instance has the feeling that by broadcasting this 20 show the producers are trying to promote and attract new people, however, she also stated that when she would not know that the show has already been on for so long that the producers ‘â€℠¢would like to sell how crazy it is… like do not do that’’ (05:30). Igne shares Katia’s second view by saying that she has the ‘’feeling that they want to show that is negative, I do not feel like they want to show that it is right.. just show how it is ridiculous’’ (04:01).Lastly, despite the fact that Lilli has more the feeling that the producers ‘’just want to create buzz.. show something a little bit shocking, something abnormal, where people talk about’’ (Lilli, 08:31), she does feel that the goal of the producer’s is to show people how scandalize it is, nevertheless, this not in order to really give a general view about child beauty pageants but more to attract viewers. Even though, the real message of the producers of Toddlers and Tiaras is unknown, it could be said that the male respondents are oppositional readers as they feel that there is no message at all behind the program.The female respondents on the other hand seem to be more negotiated readers, when looking at the fact that they all give their own interpretation to the show, however, do have the same opinion about that the producers are sending a negative message. Nevertheless, hereby it must be said that due to the fact that the original message behind the program is unknown, we cannot guarantee that the female interviewees understand the message sent by the producer or if they have created a totally new message for themselves. RQ9: What do you think of child beauty pageants in general?The fact that TLC decided to turn children beauty pageants into a reality TV show, gave us the possibility to focus on the TV show as the primary coil medium. Though, to get a thorough understanding and capture all the information of the show Toddlers and Tiaras, we decided to also investigate the children beauty pageants as a medium during the interviews. Children beauty pageants are controversial events, which create diver se opinions among the audience. Our interviewees had very different views on the question â€Å"what do you think about child beauty pageants in general?What is wrong about it / what is good about it? ”, and seven out of ten participants said they image the pageants as wrong. In fact three participants simply stated that they associate negative feelings with the pageants and â€Å"think it is pretty useless” (Remi, 05:12). However, four of the interviewees had stronger opinions about this topic. 21 What stood out from this question is that the participants thought the pageants to have a very negative impact on the psychological development of the little girls.In fact Lilli blamed the pageant business and mothers to be responsible for â€Å"raising little, arrogant, superficial children” (Lilli, 10:20), whereas another participant claimed that â€Å"they are living in another world… their parents are taking or considering them like stars or divas’ and I think it is really bad for them and when they grow up it will even be worse” (Xavier, 06:40). Moreover, one interviewee expressed his concern about the values the girls et taught, since it seems that everything is about their looks, in fact â€Å"if you really only compete on your looks, what kind of image of the world you get, you teach to your kids”(Sebastian, 05:30). Kleo agreed with this point of view, and said about a girl in the video â€Å"that is not good for her self-esteem” (Kleo, 06:52). Indeed, â€Å"it can be harmful to girls, teaching them that their self-worth is measured by how pretty they are” (Schultz & Murphy, 2012). On the other hand, there were three participants who thought that the pageants could be improved, in a way that it would cause less harm to the children.First of all two of the respondents said it would make more sense to put an emphasis on talent alternatively of looks and like this advance the child’s sk ills, like singing or dancing. Surprisingly enough, Felix was the only interviewee who approached the topic of legal issues, concerning child beauty pageants, and proposed â€Å"some laws or restrictions…it should be observed from a third company, from a moral point of view, I think there should unceasingly be a third party involved which takes care of some laws” (Felix, 05:31).RQ10: If these trends would also enter the European market, would you when you have children later let them participate in Beauty pageants? a) Even if she wants it herself? Toddlers and Tiaras, as well as children beauty pageants in general are an entirely American phenomenon, which is why a great part of our respondents had never heard of the show before. As one of the respondents said: â€Å"for me it is more entertainment and like I said to understand the American culture” (Katia, 06:40).Since this child pageant world is so different to us Europeans we thought it would be interesting t o see how the participants react to the question of being involved in this business themselves. The difference of gender among the interviewees showed most in this question. In fact, when asked the first part of the question, all five male participants answered with a clear no. The second part of the question â€Å"Even if she wants it herself? ” also clearly got negative responses.Interesting was the fact that the male participants were absolutely positive(p) that their own daughters would never want to be in a 22 beauty pageant, like Remi said â€Å"She is not gonna want it for sure” (05:38). The female respondents on the other hand were more open to the idea of a child beauty pageant for their children, however, with a stronger emphasis on talent, and only if the child really wants it. Yet, for the female participants it was important to stress the responsibility they would have as a mother in this latent child pageant situation.As two interviewees said â€Å"If she would respect to yeah maybe, but I would not push her” (Igne 07:14), and â€Å"but only if the child really would want to…but I would definitely try and be a different mother than what they show on television” (Kleo, 08:39). To conclude this question, men seem to find the idea of child beauty pageants more amusing than women. This is probably, since women can understand the dream of the little girls, to be turned into a ‘princess’ better than men can. Moreover, the inquisitiveness of pageants for Europeans seems to underline the strongly negative opinions about those events.In Europe there are no child beauty pageants that are comparable with those in the US, only the UK has had a similar program on television, like Katia said â€Å"But yeah UK it is like small regular army they get kind of crazy about those things” (07:18). RQ11: What do you think that according to the children and parents is good about beauty pageants? Since there is such a strong emphasis on the personages portrayed on Toddlers and Tiaras, we wanted to have a closer look on how the public decodes the protagonists.For this reason we asked the interviewees why they thought, the children and parents had a positive attitude about the beauty pageants. This question turned out in two very strong opinions. First of all, four of the participants said that a positive factor about the beauty pageants is that the girls are shown from a very early age what competition means. They will develop a very strong competition intent due to the pageants, and the mothers might think it will go down the girls for the ‘real life’.Like Kleo said â€Å"it also shows girls that competition is in life and if you try really hard you can win, but there are always times when you lose…I think that is a good life lesson” (09:12). On the other hand, one interviewee found competition to have a negative impact on very young children â€Å"I think it i s not good, they will have a spirit of competition already at this age I think it is really bad” (Xavier, 09:24). half dozen out of ten of the participants claimed that the parent’s actual goal was to live their own dreams through their daughters.The disclose words for this answer were: mother’s dream, self-actualization, fame, and attention. Thus those interviewees saw the intentions of the parents in a very negative light, and did not feel that it had anything to do with the child’s well-being. As Marina said: â€Å"I don’t think that they think so much about their children in that way, because what was in the clip I watched I had the feeling that it was 23 more about their dreams and their self-actualization” (07:11).The so-called ‘American Dream’ is a driving force behind those pageants, as one interviewee said: â€Å"they want their children to be successful, like the American dream that from nothing you can be something and become famous and a superstar and there are so many people\r\n'