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Network television today is reality show mad. Actresses willingly appear on
repugnant "Fear Factor" to perform repugnant feats. Would Miss American do that!
Probably not.
Reality television is full of racy reparte between nubile singles. The focus of shows are frequently about what couple will pair off. Certainly not on camera. -- But that is about as far from Miss America as you can get.
The emphasis in reality television is for spontaneity. Even if some events are staged, contestants reactions to them are not. People cry. People fight. People plot against one another. People reveal their innermost emotions. In comparison, Miss America beauty "contest" seems from another century.
And speaking of Vanessa Williams. Her "artful" photographs did not prevent her from becoming a successful recording artist. But her reputation remained tarnished for years. Unlike Vanessa, scandal has actually helped reality star Paris Hilton of internet sex-tape fame. { was that whole deal a publicity stunt? } Paris and her equally bubble-brained co-star, Nichole Richie, give viewer everything that haughty Miss America pageant cannot.
That is, strikingly beautiful young babes just being themselves, and not afraid to be seen as less than perfect { or anywhere near... } in front of entire nation. Racy photographs and sex tapes on internet are just part of new landscape. Such intimacies in public domain might discourage certain potential viewers from tuning in. But they won't stop show, so to speak. This is a wholesale change in culture. Just as slap-stick comedy passed into television history with Lucille Ball. Quaint beauty pageants just don't connect with modern audience, as they once did.
Does anybody care any more about elegant, well-spoken young women in bathing suits? Have we lost regard for their commendable aspirations to become next generation of doctors, lawyers, school teachers, industrialists, and other contributing members of society?
The rating numbers do not lie.
Miss America may not be dead. But she's certainly on life support.
Vance Cureton is the Managing Editor of ReadingPost.Com. A topical website featuring politics, news, and social commentary from a liberal point-of-view.
