Abstract
This study explores the construction of black hypermasculinity in television talent show competitions through the re-valuing of spectacle as an aesthetic experience. Drawing on a screendance analysis of eighteen duet, trio and group performances featured in ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent (BGT) and Sky1’s Got To Dance (GTD) between 2008-2013, this study explores the circulation of black hypermasculinity and the potentiality for an alternate reading of spectacular displays of athleticism. Building upon Kristen Whissel’s concept of the emblematic nature of the special effect in cinema, the re-valuing of televised spectacles reveals themes regarding the black male experience in these competitions. Rather than dismissing these performances as commercial spectacles that recirculate notions of black hypermasculinity, these corporeal and televisual special effects instead highlight the thematic narrative of the reality television journey through themes of aspiration and transformation. Crews constructs images of superheroes, cartoons, animals and cyborgs, manipulated by camera angles and editing, that operate as both light entertainment and a reflection of the young black male experience in mediascope of reality television. The creation of spectacular and glossy images on screen therefore reveals the potentiality of a fluid gender and racialized representation.
Highlights
This study explores the construction of black hypermasculinity in television talent show competitions through the re-valuing of spectacle as an aesthetic experience
As Thomas DeFrantz observes in his study of hip-hop habitus, “black social dances distributed by the mediaplace veer towards familiar spectacles of excessive activity and hyperkinetic impossibilities.”[3]. Are these performances anything more than mediated representations of black masculine excess to be consumed by the white gaze?
Flawless crew are filmed walking around the streets of London without an explanation of their location, The A Team are depicted rehearsing their choreography outside a block of flats in a concrete open area, while Ruff Diamond are filmed performing gymnastic stunts in a disused factory car park.[22]. Removed from their dance studio environments and placed within a constructed urban aesthetic, the television production continues to associate the black dancing body with “the streets”: the mediated representation of the origins of hip-hop cultural styles.[23]. Do these highly produced and screened crew performances reveal anything more than a regurgitation of fixed notions of black hypermasculine excess? Drawing upon ideas derived from film theory, I argue that the possibility for an alternative reading lies in the notion of spectacle as an aesthetic experience
Summary
As explored in DeFrantz’s and Gonzalez’s timely anthology into black performance theory, “black sensibilities emerge whether there are black bodies present or not.”[8]. Flawless crew are filmed walking around the streets of London without an explanation of their location, The A Team are depicted rehearsing their choreography outside a block of flats in a concrete open area, while Ruff Diamond are filmed performing gymnastic stunts in a disused factory car park.[22] Removed from their dance studio environments and placed within a constructed urban aesthetic, the television production continues to associate the black dancing body with “the streets”: the mediated representation of the origins of hip-hop cultural styles.[23] Following these examples, do these highly produced and screened crew performances reveal anything more than a regurgitation of fixed notions of black hypermasculine excess? Do these highly produced and screened crew performances reveal anything more than a regurgitation of fixed notions of black hypermasculine excess? Drawing upon ideas derived from film theory, I argue that the possibility for an alternative reading lies in the notion of spectacle as an aesthetic experience
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