The Tyra Banks Show and Diversity in the Media

Among the most popular among current TV programs is the Tyra Banks direct which is taped have it away in front of a live audience in New York. The fork up, 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 destine has aired over 357 episodes and is set to run for at to the lowest degree two more seasons.(www.wikipedia.com)The Tyra Banks Show is a talk- represent fashioned after Oprah Winfreys Oprah, which banks on its anchor/creators 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 affectionate fans. The shows main target, however, are women or specifically, young Afro-Ameri sack 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 venereal infect ion of information and entertainment to its audience, covering a wide variety of topics from stunner to womens issues and concerns. Among the notable episodes, however, are the ones where the former supermodel goes on undercover missions to get around to the viewers the experiences of women in vulnerable situations from Tyras own first apply 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 supremacy is resoundingly similar to Oprah Winfreys own success as a celebrity-host due to the fact that individually episode of her TV show go unders 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 unwrap understand the reasons of womens incarceratio n.Clearly, the Tyra Banks Show is an attempt at addressing the diversity in American culture and identity. It was created to provide women, especially Afro-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 unmistakable increase not only in the number of black actors, actresses, and TV hosts as the demand for African American-oriented television programs have risen. Undeniably, Tyras success in breaking through the male-dominated Hollywood talk show industry is a feat in itself and her being African-American at the like time makes it even more tempting to view her as the mental image of empowerment.Her success in The Tyra Banks Show parallels her success as a runway model at a time when White was the ultimate symbolization of beauty and the public was reluctant to widen its standards. Tyra Banks is therefore the perfect repr esentation 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, Tyras own identity as a media-invented stereotype of beauty for African-Americans (waif-thin, tall, flawless skin, perfect white teeth) has the ability to match the causes she supports. Tyras 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 property 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 understan ding and appreciating the diversity in American society.Works CitedDickson, 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 Wikipedia.com accessed on 03/15/2008 from