Models of the Runway - 2x06 "Role Models"

Models of the Runway may be the most useless show I watch because the usual competitive reality tropes hardly apply to it; although the designers clearly aim to pick models whom they consider strong, the ultimate winner of MOTR depends far more on the designer she's attached to than on her own modeling skills. If a designer throws gank up on the runway at Bryant Park, the model won't win no matter her fierceness. (Admittedly, the models do progress through the regular, pre-Bryant Park portion of the show based on their perceived skills, though Sophia was eliminated in the third episode -- despite being deemed one of the strongest walkers -- because of her reputation for being difficult to work with.)

All that said, in the relative competitive vacuum, MOTR demonstrates the impulses that are almost pathological to reality programs, especially with how MOTR is compelled to construct an internal moral system. In this episode, Brandise, my favorite contestant in the season (because she is kind of punk, and she is actually older than I am), talks about how another model, Brittany, is in danger of going home because Brittany seems to be ok with being eliminated from the show, which in reality tv speak means that she doesn't want it enough. Brittany does have a close call -- she's the last person picked by a designer, just barely avoiding elimination -- but the way the episode foreshadowed her ouster actually foregrounds the reality preoccupation with telegraphing how badly they want to be on the show, which in a way tries to reinforce and/or justify the program's own importance, and at the same time tries to convince us viewers of the show's relevance to the industry it represents.

I should note that Brandise probably isn't familiar with reality tv conventions -- she had never seen Project Runway before becoming a part of it -- which I can read in one of two ways. First, reality competitions "naturally" pull out the "prove your worth by showing how much you want to be on the show" desperation from its contestants so much that it can take someone who might not even be familiar with reality tv and turn her into an unmistakable reality talking head. Second, the modeling industry itself promotes this same impulse, and Brandise is just transferring her instincts from one field to another.

Indie rating: Fever Ray - "Coconut"

The Return of Models of the Runway

Me: Heavens, there's going to be a second season of Models of the Runway
Anthony: :-(
Anthony: what do you make of the new show about fashion
Anthony: like make my line or something like that
Me: Sounds like it could use more conveyor belts

Indie rating: The Microphones – "The Pull"

Models of the Runway - 1x03 "Frenemies"

Some observers are inclined to dismiss Models of the Runway as conceptually DOA, and if they look at the show solely as a reality competition, they'd be justified. After all, the eliminations of the models are something of an afterthought on Project Runway, and the format for this season hasn't helped: When all designers can pick any model after a challenge, the model of the winning designer could conceivably go home, so Models has an added layer of arbitrary fatalism on top of the usual reality arbitrariness.

This very fatalism, though, ought to signal to viewers that we should watch Models of the Runway differently, something that's more documentary than competition. I like seeing the girls in their time away from Project Runway, either in moments of free leisure or when we see them going off to other modeling gigs/auditions (something we won't ever see on ANTM, har har) (which seems also to be the reason why so many designers are stuck without models -- they book other jobs). Actually, allowing for the external world to surround the boundaries of the show helps to situate it in a much less absurdist reality tv context.

Strangely enough, though, this same fatalism gives Models an ethnographic flavor. On this show, the designers are these remote entities that seldom interact with the goings on depicted on Models, but given the reverent tone with which the girls speak of the Designers (well, most of them speak about most of the designers in hushed voices), you almost get the sense that the girls see them as a pantheon of gods whose whims they serve, hoping that they'd done nothing to anger that remote bunch of sewers. Which is funny and where we get the ethnography, because we see what goes on with that entirely fallible pantheon and their own insecurities. It's like watching an unfamiliar culture worshiping its set of deities that turn out to be cast-off cargo, or else, we're watching contemporary Greek epic poetry in 21-minute installments.

Indie rating: Kylie Minogue - "Can't Get You Out Of My Head"