Ouellette Response

“On reality television, virtually everyone is expected to be an entrepreneur of the self, incited to envision his or her humanity as the building blocks of a marketable personable enterprise.”

I chose to use images and sound from America’s Next Top Model, a reality television competition Ouellette mentions in the reading in which Tyra Banks judges aspiring models. As a fan of the show I knew that the most recent easton was all about not just being a model but being the “CEO of yourself”. Banks emphasized creating this brand for yourself in which you capitalize on your persona and sell yourself as a whole package. However, Banks is not necessarily encouraging these models to be themselves but instead to adapt to the wants of society and mold themselves into a idealized version that adheres to norms and trends. The sound of my post is taken from an episode of ANTM that focuses on ‘being yourself” just as a competition winner states in my image. In the episode each model is told to choose an adjective to “simply be” and mold their public image and persona around. Banks reminds the models to choose something that they can “sell.”

To create my image I went to the America’s Next Top Model Facebook page and chose an image that represented Ouellette’s reading. I used preview to superimpose text on the image. My sound is a recording I did with the Voice Memo App on my phone.