America's Next Top Model: Cycle 11
Airs on The CW on Wednesdays 8pm ET
Reviewed by Dany Sloan
Tyra Banks is one scary bitch, as illustrated by the premiere of the 11th cycle of America's Next Top Model Wednesday night. The cult of personality that grows with each season seems to have hit a fever pitch and it is
downright frightening the way some of the potential models turn into jelly around her.
Banks, a respected and talented woman in her own right, has completely jumped the shark. Not only was the faux-futurism of last night's episode hokey, but it's obvious that she views herself more as a brand than an actual human being. The funny thing is that Banks has actually become a brand, but it's scary that it's her propagating this image rather than a group of advisors.
Each season of ANTM is like a dubbed cassette tape -- the first few times,
it looks and sounds fine, but the further down the line it is, the worse it
gets. Besides the corniness of a lot of the episodes, the thing that irks
me the most is the quashing of any kind of unique personality on the show.
So often they are told that as models they have to be whomever the
photographer wants them to be, so they should be sure to reel in that
sarcasm, but aren't the judges just telling them to look pretty and be
subservient little girls?
I think Banks just wants to be center of attention. And rightly so -- it's
her show.
To be honest, I fell asleep for the last half of the show last night, so I
missed the challenge and elimination. ShaRaun B got the boot (I think she
was one of the Brittany's that "changed" her name), which was a good choice
as I don't remember her standing out. Perhaps she reined in her
personality, so it looks like you're damned if you do and damned if you don't.
I was further annoyed at a few things. Elina, who hails from Seattle via
Ukraine, was automatically branded as "weird." Why? It seems that she is
bisexual. The same goes for Isis, the transgender (ie - this season's
gimmick) from suburban DC.
In a way, each season of ANTM is a social experiment, and time and time
again it shows that many of these models from Small Town America really have
no clue about the world outside of their little piece of rural America. To
them, modeling is about being pretty, and really that is about it. It's
all about the surface and anything different from that is to be written off.
Tyra Banks is totally out of control and this looks like it might be the
worst season yet, but am I going to stop watching? Of course not.
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