The Tyra Banks Show and Diversity in the Media

Among the most popular among current TV programs is the Tyra Banks Show which is taped live in front of a live audience in New York. The show, which lasts for an hour and is aired in syndication by Warner Bros., debuted in September 2005. Currently running in its third season, the Emmy Award-winning show has aired over 357 episodes and is set to run for at least two more seasons.(www.wikipedia.com)

The Tyra Banks Show is a talk-show fashioned after Oprah Winfrey’s Oprah, which banks on its anchor/creator’s celebrity and fame to draw viewers. The show itself is named after the celebrity who lends credibility and ensures a captive audience from the ranks of millions of adoring fans. The show’s main target, however, are women or specifically, young African-American women who can easily identify with or who wish to emulate its host, Tyra Banks.

As a talk-show, the Tyra Banks Show is packaged by its producers to provide an equal dose of information and entertainment to its audience, covering a wide variety of topics from beauty to women’s issues and concerns. Among the notable episodes, however, are the ones where the former supermodel goes on undercover missions to reveal to the viewers the experiences of women in vulnerable situations from Tyra’s own first hand accounts (e.g. women who suffer from weight discrimination, women in prison, and women working in strip clubs).

The show also tackles the issue of racial discrimination.(www.tyrashow.com) Interestingly, the Tyra Banks’ success is resoundingly similar to Oprah Winfrey’s own success as a celebrity-host due to the fact that each episode of her TV show puts her in unique situations. For instance, Tyra is made to put on heaps of prosthetics to become a 350-pound woman so she can feel how it feels to be discriminated against because of her weight. She also spent a day in prison to better understand the reasons of women’s incarceration.

Clearly, the Tyra Banks Show is an attempt at addressing the diversity in American culture and identity. It was created to provide women, especially African-American women, in response to the growth of the African American population which was seen by advertisers as a “profitable base for sustaining minority media.” (Dickson 2) Consequently, there has been an observable increase not only in the number of African-American actors, actresses, and TV hosts as the demand for African American-oriented television programs have risen. Undeniably, Tyra’s success in breaking through the male-dominated Hollywood talk show industry is a feat in itself and her being African-American at the same time makes it even more tempting to view her as the epitome of empowerment.

Her success in The Tyra Banks Show parallels her success as a runway model at a time when White was the ultimate symbol of beauty and the public was reluctant to widen its standards. Tyra Banks is therefore the perfect representation of a woman who broke through stereotypes, which adds gravity to her capacity and credibility to discuss issues and problems that women and African-American populations confront. However, Tyra’s own identity as a media-invented stereotype of beauty for African-Americans (waif-thin, tall, flawless skin, perfect white teeth) has the ability to contradict the causes she supports.  Tyra’s background as a supermodel, coupled with segments in the show featuring beauty tips and “Tailored by Tyra makeovers” also negate her advocacy for a beauty ideal that goes beyond physical appearance.

Nevertheless, the Tyra Banks show fosters a better understanding of diversity and multi-culturalism. Despite its limitations, its success is a revealing indication that African-American representation is slowly but surely gaining ground in the mainstream media. The show is also a reflection on the lives and culture of African-American communities, which makes it an important source of knowledge for understanding and appreciating the diversity in American society.

Works Cited:

• Dickson, J. (2006). The representation of African-American women in television advertisements. McNair Scholars’ Journal, 1: 1-12.
• The Tyra Banks Show website accessed on 03/15/2008 from <www.tyrashow.com>
• Wikipedia.com accessed on 03/15/2008 from <www.wikipedia.com>