Los Angeles, CA (News4usonline) – The early 2000s was an era most people look back fondly with a gripping feel of nostalgia. Through the picture frame of our television screens, the entertainment industry soon brewed a concoction America would soon fall hard for.
Reality television – the creation born in pursuit of exploiting peoples and industries, planted the cultural root that redefined entertainment permanently. America’s Next Top Model holds an undisputed title in this evolution.
The four episode Netflix docu-series Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model was an unexpected release that reignited conversations long awaited. Former contestants shared their perspectives on the experiences they lived behind the guise of a carefully edited franchise.
At close angles, viewers were allowed a window into the show beyond the camera, especially that of Tyra Banks herself, and the possible monster she created.
During a discussion with part time East coast based fashion model, Melissa Moreno, we talked about the docu-series’ contents and whether Banks understood the assignment.
“I don’t think she thought her actions were wrong, ” Moreno stated. “Because she continuously said that we’re in different times, and back then, they were one way, and we don’t understand how life was back then.” “But I feel she failed to take full accountability for her wrongdoings.”
America’s Next Top Model, created by the supermodel turned businesswoman, Tyra Banks and television producer, Ken Mok, was a show like no other. Emerging during the ages of the now hyperpopularized Y2K era, America’s Next Top Model (or ANTM), grew to establish itself as a staple penchant of the early 2000s.
The show offered its audience a dramatized insight into the fashion industry, with young women across the nation competing for the opportunity of a lifetime to become the titular “Top Model.”
Tyra Banks, one of the quiet few mainstream Black fashion models who reigned the runways during the 1990s, pursued the mission of bringing a close view of the fashion industry to the masses.
Crossing through barriers by starting off in the high fashion/couture market, then soon gaining notoriety as a Victoria Secrets Angel, Tyra’s stature as a supermodel served as the focal point of ANTM.
The show being the conception of her own idea – and thus her offspring – became synonymous with her brand as a celebrity. Moreno, who is 24 years old, remembered the days she used to once watch ANTM.
“I was first introduced to the show when I was younger,” Moreno reminisced. “I always watched it because growing up, I always knew I wanted to be a model, so it was kinda nice to immerse myself into that world by watching it. Because as a child, I thought it was fun, but growing up and having a different mindset, I feel like that’s when I really dived into it.”
Given her current experiences in the industry herself, motivated by her childhood dreams much like the contestants of the show, Moreno has had her fair share of triumphs in an industry notorious for being unapologetically cutthroat.
“My experiences as a model started off very independent. Going into the industry, I knew that I had to search for my own opportunities, and make sure that I’m learning as I grow in the industry. And I knew it was important not to rely on other people to get me to where I wanted to be.”
As quiet as it’s kept, the fashion industry is a realm of vices challenged by valid critiques, most of which Moreno herself knows all too well. From the Eurocentric beauty standards to the pressure to maintain a certain weight qualified for differing markets, ANTM’s agenda to turn the industry around was an audacious attempt.
However, the show only revealed the surface level procedures of what it takes to become a fashion model. The stories are chronicled through multiple different accounts by former contestants and judges alike revisiting nostalgia.
A lot of the stories highlighted during the series were few of many, such as Cycle 6 title winner Danielle “Dani” Evans’ tale of how compromising herself costed her self image, to Cycle 2’s Shandi Sullivan’s shocking revelation recounting a sexual assault that was strategically edited out before the final airing.
ANTM has long been challenged with social commentary aiming to deconstruct the toxic narratives spewed by the judges at the expense of its contestants.
Observing ANTM’s history of not having the best reputation of contestants going on to have lucrative modeling careers – whether they one the title or not – never quite measured the unjustifiable treatment the contestants were subjugated to.
From the absurd photoshoots and challenges combined, to the often misguided critiques from Tyra and her panel of judges (which included patrons such as fashion photographer Nigel Parker, to veteran supermodel Janice Dikinson), the intention of creating “Top Model” began to lose its sense of purpose.
Former contestants expressed their grievances, reflecting on lack of empathy, empty promises, and traumas ANTM imprinted on them.
“I feel that the contestants didn’t understand they have to do a lot of searching on their own.” Moreno explained, after sharing some of her own personal experiences. “Because when you’re on a show like that, you have judges like Tyra, you expect to be guided through the industry. Especially because they were new to it. A lot of the contestants were modeling for the first time.”
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