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Notes
1. I have transcribed the show's dialogue and disclosures using standard transcription methods (see Table I, Appendix) because I do not believe that language is a bearer of transparent meanings that exists outside of power relations (Fairclough Citation1992). In so doing, my analysis attempts to recognize and capture the talk's complexities and power relations, and how the talk is sutured to particular kinds of music, camera angles, and so on.
2. Subject positions on the show are fluid. Individuals may be spoken or speak themselves into discourse at an intersection of several discourses, so there is always the possibility for movement, mixing, and so on. By seeing participants on the show as subjects, we can view them in terms of how they are positioned by the editing, or how they position themselves, and not in terms of their intentions (because I think we would be hard-pressed to ever fully get at anyone's intentions).
3. Although viewers are invited to see the show in particular ways, I recognize that the show nevertheless leaves itself open to resistant, oppositional, and negotiated readings. My view of audiences does not see viewers as cultural dupes; rather, like Justin DeRose, Elfriede Fürsich, and Ekaterina Haskins (2003), I propose that there may be limits to the textual polysemy available in a reality TV show. Following the work of Henry Giroux (Citation1999), my reading of Joe Millionaire similarly proposes that Paul's authorial knowledge limits the range of possible meanings available.
4. It is worth clarifying that this Australian Paul Hogan is not the same as the Paul Hogan of the Crocodile Dundee movies.
5. Almost every prime time reality TV show I have watched has a male host, for instance Jeff Probst on Survivor, Chris Harrison on The Bachelor and Bachelorette series, and so on. The exceptions are Mr. Personality, with host Monica Lewinsky, and Tyra Banks, on America's Next Top Model. Yet even on America's Next Top Model, Jay Manuel, the show's photo shoot stylist, make-up artist, and sometimes judge, tends to be with the models more, directing them through their photo shoots, so that he at least shares some of the limelight with Banks. In contrast, Alex McLeod is actually given the title “host” on Joe Millionaire, but her role and her visibility are completely overshadowed by Paul Hogan.
6. In an interview in reality check magazine, The Bachelor host Chris Harrison suggests that he was hired as host in part because he is a "family man," and would not be romantically or sexually interested in the participants on the show (J Di lauro Citation2004, p. 45). In the same way, Paul's gaze is not sexualized because this would overstep an emphasis on the formation of a single heterosexual couple, a point which I argue is critical to many romance reality TV shows.
7. Mojo's gift may be unusual because the words, “I choose you” invert the rules of the game, so that Mojo appropriates the position of choosing reserved for Evan.
8. And yet the notion of separate spheres was not a reality for all, and it was not as clear-cut as it may appear. For large numbers of working-class families, women worked both in the home, and outside of the home for wages.
9. Both John Beynon (Citation2002) and Joane Nagel (Citation1998, pp. 244–245) point to the rise of boys training for physical strength through programs like the Boy Scouts and Boy Scouts of America, respectively, and how these societies are linked to nation-building.
10. Evan's authenticity is further supported by his friend, Stephan's testimonial in episode seven. Stephan says: “When I see Evan on the show, he's not being fake, Evan is being Evan, alright, that's him” and ”You can take him to a five star restaurant, and that knife and fork doosh doosh ((sounds of throwing cutlery away)) he's going to pick up that burger and just drive it down.”
11. Dates in which participants observe production or manufacturing processes and then get to nominally participate are often incorporated into shows like The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. In contrast, The Simple Life explores the contradictions that arise when heiress Paris Hilton and celebrity daughter Nicole Richie are put to work, often in manual workplaces.