This project combines elements of textual analysis, feminist criticism, and media reception studies to examine wedding-themed reality television programming. Drawing on feminist media studies, television studies, and new media studies, this project investigates identity construction through wedding-themed reality television in three case studies: the renegotiation of icons of traditional femininity on Say Yes to the Dress, the policing of female behavior and perceived unruliness through Bridezillas, and the depiction of female labor in celebrity culture through three weddings featured on Keeping Up with the Kardashians. These three case studies deal with unique yet ultimately interconnected themes of gender identity construction and management. I argue that post-feminist ideologies are instrumental in shaping the way that identity is constructed through advocating specific behaviors and shaming others in three key areas: hyper-consumerism, the pursuit of pseudo-celebrity status, and the reinforcement of traditional gender norms. These themes appear in varied forms and function in different ways across the three case studies. In addition, shaming is enacted in the programs and displayed in the audience response to those programs via social media in three ways: subtle discouragement, containment, and pseudo-resistance. This study begins with a close reading of the three television programs, followed by a reception study of the related conversations taking place on the social media platform Twitter to examine how the textual themes are being understood and discussed by viewers.

Studien använder sig av en Multimodal Kritisk Diskursanalys (MCDA) för att analysera vanliga människor i reality-TV ur ett klassperspektiv. Syftet är att undersöka huruvida programmet Ullared reproducerar idéer om klass och hur detta gör sig synligt genom konstruktionen av karaktären Morgan. Studien använder sig av ett teoretiskt ramverk bestående av vanlighet, klass, diskurs och skratt. I analysen undersöks utvalda sekvenser där semiotiska resurser granskas för att se hur de arbetar för att konstruera Morgan. Resultatet visar på att musik och videoredigering är två viktiga resurser i konstruktionen av Morgan, dock har allt som ses och hörs i bild en komplex samverkan med varandra som bidrar till slutkonstruktionen. Konstruktionen kommunicerar idéer om klass och gör det framförallt genom ett avvikande från normer som standardiserats av medelklassen.

Zweite Studienarbeit Hochschule für Angewandte Psychologie Zürich, 2005.

This thesis examines how gender norms are (re)produced in the series Hotell Romantik. The Swedish series Hotell Romantik portrays a new age group in reality TV, people over 65. According to previous research, ageism has permeated the media and affected the ways in which society views elders – by creating stereotypes and misconceptions about them. Gender and age are seldom studied together and therefore an interest emerged to investigate gender norms in a series about elders. The purpose of this thesis is therefore to understand how Hotell Romantik contributes to the (re)production of gender norms as well as to understand how the intersectional category age might be connected to gender (re)production. The research questions aim to deepen our understanding of older people and gender in order to avoid ageism and gender norms. To perform the analysis, a model – based on Yvonne Hirdman’s theories The Gender System and Making Gender, Roland Barthes’ theory on semiotics, Norman Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis, and ageism – was created. The steps included in the model are: (1) Goal-oriented sampling, (2) Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis, (3) Identifying discourses, and (4) Discourses in relation to theory. The result indicates that two discourses (connected to two gender theories) were prominent in sequences highlighting both the participants and the hosts: the dominant male (the male as norm) and differences between men and women (separation between gender roles). This was made clear from the ways in which the participants spoke and acted. Neither the participants nor the hosts questioned when gender norms were clearly (re)produced. The result also indicated that an intersectional connection between the (re)production of gender norms and ageism (stereotypes) was present. Positive and negative stereotypes (about elders in media) were found in 6 out of 10 discourses (5 highlighting the participants and 1 highlighting the hosts). The positive stereotypes were:  active and leisure-oriented, and “the adventurous golden ager”. The negative stereotypes were: fragile and vulnerable, as well as difficult.

Syftet är att ur ett socialpsykologiskt perspektiv identifiera och analysera bilden av kärlek som förmedlas i svenska dejtingprogram Bachelorette Sverige, Love Island Sverige och Hotell Romantik, samt belysa skildringen av det manliga respektive kvinnliga i programmen. För att undersöka detta har kvalitativ innehållsanalys applicerats på sammanlagt tolv avsnitt ur programmen. En översikt av tidigare forskning visar att det finns lite sociologisk forskning kring kärlek på tv, och dejtingprogram mer specifikt. Studier inom angränsande discipliner har däremot visat att det finns olika sätt att definiera och porträttera kärlek på och ett socialkonstruktivistiskt synsätt kan vara behjälplig för att tolka dessa konstruktioner. Parter i en kärleksrelation kan även tänkas skapa en gemensam identitet och individernas egna identiteter påverkas av parrelationen. Vidare har sambandet mellan konstruktioner rörande kärlek och relationer på tv och verkligheten utanför framgått. Dejtingprogram kan spegla och normalisera olika samhälleliga strukturer, som exempelvis maktförhållanden mellan könen,samt påverka tittarnas framställningar och attityder. Detta studentarbete pekar på att de olika programmens konstruktioner, gällande kärlek och könsroller, har stora likheter. Kärleken framställs som en process som ska få ta tid och ömsesidigt engagemang i dejtingen är av stor vikt. Samtidigt innehåller könskonstruktionerna bland annat kvinnors kritik mot passiva män, vilket kan förstås som ett uttryck för mer traditionella könsroller. Vidare har analysen visat olika aspekter som upplevs som viktiga i valet av partner. Ett återkommande inslag är hur väl partnern tänks passa in i den egna familjen och vardagslivet. Likheter mellan individerna och deras partners är också något som framkommer uppskattas högt.

The purpose of this essay is to investigate whether the audience's views on ethics and moralitytend to change after watching the TV program "Förrädarna" (The Traitors). By analyzing and exploring this program, we aim to understand how viewers perceive the content. The essay examines how this entertainment program might possibly influence an individual's perception of ethical and moral issues, using qualitative methods. By employing the qualitative method off focus groups, this study explores how the audience experiences the program and how their ethics and morals have changed. The participants in the focus groups were selected from students aged 20-25. The results subsequently showed that despite the actions of the celebrities in the program, the audience's fundamental ethical and moral values did not change. The focus group discussions reveal that the audience was contradictory in their opinions about which actions were ethical and moral. They believed it is morally right to follow the rules of the game, which may involve lying, but still perceived the celebrities actions as immoral when they lied, creating a contradictory statement.

Den här studien använder sig av en Multimodal Kritisk Diskursanalys (MCDA) för att undersöka hur reality-showen Biggest Loser Sverige 2018 framställer överviktiga. Syftet med studien är att analysera hur seriens finalister framställs när dem är överviktiga respektive när dem är normalviktiga, samt undersöka ifall viktstigmatiserade attityder kommer till uttryck i programmet. Studiens teoretiska ramverk utgår från fältet hälsokommunikation, med fokus på stigmatiseringsteorin och stigmatiseringsprocessen. I analysen undersöks utvalda delar av Biggest Loser Sverige 2018 utifrån olika analysbegrepp hämtade från MCDA. Analysresultatet visar att programmet innehåller viktstigmatiserade attityder genom att finalisterna som överviktiga framställs som olyckliga och lata, iklädda för tighta kläder och ätandes ohälsosam mat. Dessutom filmas de utifrån kameravinklar som gör att deras kroppar ser större ut, samtidigt som ljussättningen är mörk och dyster. När finalisterna är normalviktiga framställs dem som lyckliga, självsäkra och iklädda figursydda kläder. De filmas dessutom utifrån kameravinklar som gör att deras kroppar ser mindre ut, tillsammans med en ljus ljussättning som framhäver deras kroppar på ett exklusivt sätt. Avslutningsvis i studien diskuteras hur den stora skillnaden i framställandet av finalisterna skapar viktstigmatiserade attityder genom att ge en diskriminerande bild av överviktiga människor. / This study uses a Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis (MCDA) to investigate how the reality-show Biggest Loser Sweden 2018 presents obesity. The purpose of the study is to analyze how the finalists of the series are presented as obese and non-obese, as well as investigate if weight-stigmatized attitudes are being expressed in the program. The theoretical framework of the study is based on the field of health communication, focusing on the stigmatization theory and the stigmatization process. The analysis examines selected parts of Biggest Loser Sweden 2018 based on various analytical concepts. The analysis results shows that the program contains weith stigmatized attitudes, by portaying the finalists as miserable and lazy, dressed in inappropriately fitting clothing and eating unhealthy food. Additionally, they are being filmed from unflattering wiews that makes their bodys look bigger, with a dark lightning. When the finalists are normalweighted, they are being presented as happy, confident and with close-fitting clothes. They are also being filmed from angles that make their bodys look smaller, and with a lightning that emphasizes their bodies in an exclusive way. In conclusion, the study discusses how the big difference in the presentation of the finalists may promote weight-stigmatized attitudes by giving a discriminatory picture of overweight people.

Medierna är en oerhört viktig del i den rådande sociala och kulturella miljön. De framhäver att det är verkligheten de avspeglar, vilket gör att hur kvinnor framställs i medierna bidrar till föreställningar om hur man bör vara och se ut för att bli en del av den verklighet som värderas som så viktig att den får utrymme i medierna. De kan därmed verka som ett ideologiskt verktyg, då dessa föreställningar bidrar till bibehållandet av sådana könsroller, stereotyper och ideal som samhället ännu inte lyckats frigöra sig från. Det mediala genus som alltså både skapas och upprätthålls här, fann vi högaktuellt och intressant att studera närmare. Vi valde att fokusera på tre kvinnodominerande program, inom den strida ström av reality-TV som produceras och idag ockuperar tablåerna. Vårt syfte med studien har varit att, utifrån en genusteoretisk och socialkonstruktivistisk ansats, semiotiskt analysera och jämföra de könsroller, stereotyper och ideal som vi uppfattade fanns inom svensk respektive amerikansk reality-TV. Vi ämnade, med hjälp av två underliggande teman, undersöka hur ‘kvinnligt genus’ representerades och konstruerades i tal och bild, och även vilka konventioner och stereotypiska motbilder som fanns i skildringen av detta. Med utgångspunkt i dessa analyser, kopplat till vår teoretiska ram, har vi under vår diskussion kommit fram till att det finns både likheter och skillnader mellan svensk respektive amerikansk reality-TV. I båda fallen har kvinnorna samma uppfattning av den kvinnliga idealbilden, och dess tillhörande kropps- och skönhetsideal. Det finns dock skillnader i svensk och amerikansk media och deras sätt att porträttera kvinnan. I amerikansk media främställs kvinnan som enormt mångskicklig då hon bär ansvar för både karriär och familj, medan den svenska kvinnan i amerikanska förhållanden anses obenägen att både arbeta och ansvara för hushållet. Vi har under våra analyser varit medvetna om den påverkan socialkonstruktivismen har på de fördomar vi växt upp med, och alltså de fördomar och stereotyper vi har upptäckt i programavsnitten. / The media plays an extremely important role in the prevailing social and cultural environment. They emphasise that it is the reality they reflect, which converts the medial representation of women into notions of how they should be and look to be a part of the reality that is deemed important enough to appear in the media. They thus act as an ideological tool, as these notions contribute to the maintenance of the gender roles, stereotypes and ideals that society has still to shed. We found the creation and maintenance of this ‘mediagender’ highly topical and interesting for further studying. We chose to focus on three womendominating programs, out of the steady stream of reality-TV that is produced and that occupies today’s TV- listings. Our purpose of this study was to, through a gendertheoretical and socialconstructionistic approach, semiotically analyse and compare the gender roles, stereotypes and ideals that we thought existed in Swedish and American reality-TV. We intended to, with the help of two underlying themes, examine how ‘feminine gender’ was represented and constructed in speech and image, and also conventions and stereotypical counter images that may exist in the depiction of this. Based on our analysis, combined with our theoretical framework, it has in our discussion been revealed that there are both similarities and differences between Swedish and American reality-TV. In both cases, women have the same opinion in regards to the female ideal image, and its associated body and beauty ideals. However, there are differences in Swedish and American media and the way which they portray women. American media showed its women as highly multitalented as she bears responsibility for both career and family, while the Swedish woman in American conditions considered uninclined to both work and be responsible for the household. We have in our analysis been aware of the impact that social constructionism has had on the prejudices we have grown up with, and thus the prejudices and stereotypes we have discovered in our chosen programs.

This thesis examines the reproduction of gender norms and the resistance against them in the Swedish reality TV show Paradise Hotel, using Raewyn Connell's theories Hegemonic Masculinity and Gender Hierarchy together with the method multimodal critical discourse analysis. Previous research has shown a reproduction of traditional gender norms in Reality-TV, along with the presence of a power imbalance between the contestants and the production itself, where the production holds the power. Despite discourses of feminist character taking a greater place in western society after the #MeToo movement, Paradise Hotel is yet today a subject of discussion in Swedish media, accused of presenting a sexist discourse. Discourses of hegemonic gender norms and resistance against them has been the subject of study in eight episodes from season 11 of Paradise Hotel. Through the usage of a theoretical framework focusing on gender, culture making and representation, the results show that typical gender norms can be spotted through the contestants' practices of stereotypical traits connected to the traditional ideas of masculinity and femininity. The study also shows resistance against these norms, primarily by the female contestants and through their practice of typical masculine traits. The maintenance of the stereotypical gender norms is dominant by the production amplifying the contestant’s actions of resistance as comedy through special effects, reducing women to sexual objects intended for male pleasure and reinforcing the image of the man as the omnipotent gender role.

This bachelor thesis examines how terms of heterosexuality are negotiated within the Swedish reality show Gift vid första ögonkastet (Married at first sight), which is presented as a social experiment where strangers marry each other and go on to live together for four weeks. The couples are matched by four experts (two psychologists, one sexologist and one couple’s counsellor), and their roles as professionals and distributors of knowledge are the main focus of this study as it permeates how the terms are negotiated by the six participants. By applying queer theories such as the heterosexual matrix, performativity and temporality, the terms are identified as monogamy, height difference, desire, emotional labour, and equality. These are analysed using the three-dimensional model of critical discourse analysis, while also adopting its framework for ideological power to examine how the experts use their position to give way for their interpretations of relationships, love and gender. The findings conclude that the programme works within a discourse of gender equality to support its own eligibility and does not challenge heterosexual ideals but rather furthers them by offering the heteronormative idea of monogamous love as a solution to a supposed increase of loneliness.