194 | nº 27, pp. 193-211 | doxa.comunicación
July-December of 2018
ISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978
1. Introduction
TV programmes which centre on the search for love have proliferated in recent years, both at an international level and in Spain. The programme that could be considered as the paradigm of the format in our country is Mujeres y Hombres y Viceversa1 due to its number of years on TV, success, and representativeness. It is produced by Magnolia TV and has been broadcasted uninterruptedly on Telecinco since June 2008. MYHYV is based on the supposed search for love between young people of different sexes, who have voluntarily entered the program in order to find a partner. In the format, adapted from the original Italian one Uomini e donne, the programme’s participants are divided into two main profiles, the so-called tronistas, and the suitors. The former –tronista– is known as this because he/she occupies a metaphoric throne, which grants them full decision-making power.
The programme revolves around the tronista, who has a group of suitors of the opposite sex at his/her disposal. The tronista must choose from the suitors after getting to know them on dates on and off camera, challenges, and encounters on the set; the suitors aim is to win his/her heart. The ultimate goal of the program is the search for love, this is accomplished when the tronista chooses one of the suitors as his/her partner, together they leave the program to begin a relationship off the TV set, and another throne takes over. It is usual for the new couple to appear on the following programmes to discuss how their relationship is going off the programme, creating a massive following for former tronistas and suitors and as a result their subsequent trajectories, which usually serves to feed the contents of the channel.
On the other hand, the throne can be finalized hastily if (a) the tronista is left without suitors due to expulsion or abandonment; or (b) the tronista decides to abandon or is sent off the program for breaking the rules. These rules are the same both for tronistas and suitors and are based on the prohibition of having physical contact with each other off camera and the inability to have a partner or sporadic relationships while they remain on the programme. The failure to fulfil these basic rules results in the direct expulsion of the offender, although this can be pardoned by the tronista or the programme’s direction.
1 In the text, from now on, MYHYV.
of Mujeres y Hombres y Viceversa. The results demonstrate that although both men and women are widely criticized, especially regarding their behaviour and personality, men are judged simultaneously more positively than women. The program shows a double discourse, which despite being articulated by the direction in a way that seems politically correct, is based on humiliation and masks an articulation fraught with microsexism.
Keywords:
Dating show; Reality show; Media Humiliation; Media discourse; Gender discourse.
del discurso sobre el amor, la conquista y la sexualidad. Los resulta-dos muestran que, si bien tanto hombres como mujeres son amplia-mente criticados, especialmente sobre su conducta y personalidad, a los hombres se le valora de forma simultánea con más comentarios positivos que a las mujeres. El programa adolece de un doble discur-so que pese a articularse por parte de la dirección del programa bajo la corrección política, tiene como base la humillación y enmascara una articulación plagada de micromachismos.
Palabras clave:
Dating Show; Reality Show; Humillación mediática; Discurso me-diático; Discurso de género
