“You’re not here for the right reasons!” From The Bachelorette to Instagram Influencer

Abstract

ABSTRACT Despite vast research on reality television (RTV) and The Bachelor (2002) franchise specifically, most scholarship focuses on its appeal or negative impact on viewers. The inclusion of social media analysis is under-used in research on the series or any of its offshoots. Our work, however, analyzes how the women of The Bachelorette make the transition to influencer status on Instagram. Through critical visual analysis, we build on the theoretical concept of postfeminist nirvana, and show how this idealized, gendered state manifests across platforms. Our findings indicate that postfeminist nirvana has evolved in its aesthetic output and the women’s digital labor practices. This research demonstrates how postfeminist ideas are perpetuated across media platforms and intersects with studies of RTV, social media influencers, and postfeminist media texts.