Rating the Runway: Project Runway and New York Fashion Week

by: Moya Luckett / New York University
Project Runway is an example of how recent reality television shows rely on viewer responses to help construct the narrative. the show maintains a distinct textual presence while they advocate viewer participation, play with the idea of permeable and non-permeable textual boundaries and highlight the different ways in which we can access ‘the real world.’

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Desperate Citizens

by: John McMurria / DePaul University
Extreme Makeover Home Edition contestants are portrayed as good and deserving citizens who are the victims of misfortunes beyond their control. However, while EMHE helps these deserving citizens, the corporate sponsored show fails to recognize the irony inherent in the fact that it is these very corporations that contribute to these problems in the first place.

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