Brittany Cunnien Molly Daniel ENC1145 Rhetorical Appeals in Reality Television If you know anything about reality television, they are typically centered on gossiping about one another in some form or fashion, and the Bravo Network is no stranger to this. In the show the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Bravo makes use of ethos, pathos, and logos throughout the show in an attempt to portray gossip in an entertaining manner and to essentially draw in viewers. In the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ episode “She’s Gone Too Far”, the gossiping becomes the focus of the season at this moment. Lisa and Ken invited Brandi, Kim, Taylor, Kyle, and Mauricio to taste-test their new appetizers at their chic Beverly Hills restaurant “Sur Lounge”. After some talk over Kim’s battle with sobriety, Kyle asks Lisa if Adrienne was invited, which then causes Brandi to begin gossiping about her “supposed” book deal. Later, Kyle asks Brandi what had happened between her and Adrienne to cause such animosity between them. Brandi then starts going on and on about their fight. In Lisa’s interview she summed up the whole ordeal by saying that The Maloofs "wanted Brandi to publicly tweet things in support of them and they intimidated her with a phone call”(Bravo). Brandi then said that Adrienne lies constantly and that one thing in particular really annoys her to no end, so she announces it at the table, sending her fellow housewives into pure shock. But, whatever Brandi said was edited out, so viewers have no idea what she divulged! After the food tasting at Lisa and Ken’s
restaurant came to a close, Kim seemed to be visibly upset about what had happened and asks Taylor what she thought about it. Some time later Mauricio hosted a launch party for his new real estate company, The Agency. Once Adrienne and her husband Paul arrived, Kim darted over to tell them the "bombshell" Brandi dropped (that we still don’t know), which seemed to consequently outrage Paul and Adrienne as promised. Paul called the comments "completely defamatory" and Adrienne threatened a lawsuit. Whatever Brandi said was over the line and “character assassination” in Adrienne’s opinion. Adrienne then goes to say that Brandi lies 24/7, she has too much time on her hand’s, and needs to take care of her own kids. Paul then asks what Lisa, “the trouble maker”, had to say. They were so incensed they decided to leave. But, upon their departure, Paul referred to Brandi as a "bitch" loud enough so she could hear it, and got in her face so they could yell at each other. While Paul, Adrienne, and Brandi screamed over each other about something the viewers still do not know, Kim is in the background justifying her reasons for telling the Maloofs the “bombshell” news. The episode ended as Adrienne and Brandi accused each other's employees of "talking shit," and Adrienne said that Brandi sleeps until 3 p.m. and leaves her kids alone. On her way out of the party she calls Brandi a drug addict. At the end of this episode and the very beginning of the next episode, everyone still at the launch party continues gossiping about everything that just happened, and this instance of gossip consequently fuels the rest of the season thus far. After reading up on this episode, people either think Bravo is trying a new editing technique, or someone's lawyers got the network before it aired. Either way, editing out Brandi’s “bombshell” gossip worked in Bravo’s favor and has acted as a means of
keeping their viewers’ attention. If they don’t know what was said, they will want to keep watching in hopes of hearing the juicy details, because in a lot of reality television shows the viewers habitually think they know more than the characters and in this case, that is just not true. http://www.hulu.com/watch/452158#i0,p0,d0 (Minutes: 16-20 min & 35end) Bravo uses ethos in many instances throughout this episode, as well as the series as a whole, to illustrate a sense of credibility within the characters on the show. Foremost, the network plays on the fact that these women are supposedly the “best of the best” in Beverly Hills, California. They are shown as incredibly wealthy and very affluent people within their community. Adrienne owns part of The Palms in Las Vegas and her husband Paul is an esteemed plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills, Lisa and Ken own multiple restaurants and businesses around the town, Kim and Kyle were a former child celebrities and Kyle’s husband Mauricio is a very prominent figure in the Beverly Hills real estate industry. Their sense of having power and authority due to their careers and the social circles they are apart of give off an essence about them that they are people worth listening to. This “credibility” also transcends to their relationships with one another as well. The women on the show employ ethos through the tones they use and the style of gossip that they are discussing at that time. The way the women refer to each others’ differing views on each topic also plays into how “credible” the other housewives perceive them to be, based on who’s side they may be taking or if they are acting twofaced. Aside from the gossip scenes, Bravo integrates in other “day to day” scenes to try to make the housewives more likable and worthy of respect. It makes the viewer think,
“hey, they’re just like me”, thus making the similarities between the two more appealing, and more persuading. Evoking a sense of the “everyday housewife” within the characters demonstrates that although they may seem like people who might be too caught up in their own lives to worry about others, that many times the typical “housewife” becomes bored with their day to day routine and in turn resorts to gossiping as a form of entertainment for herself aside from the monotonousness of her life. Pathos is the quality of a persuasive presentation, which appeals to the emotions of an audience. In this episode, Bravo employs pathos to evoke feelings of sympathy or anger among the housewives as well as within its viewers. In the sit-down dinner part of the episode, pathos is illustrated through Brandi getting visibly upset over the things she says Paul and Adrienne have done to her in the past. If one follows the show throughout the season, they know Brandi has had many trying times in her life, things such as her husband of many years cheating on her and leaving her to be a single mother, and at this point it is the ‘straw that broke the camels back’. It becomes hard for the viewer not to feel sorry for her and sympathize with her reasons for being upset. She feels attacked by Paul and Adrienne. On the other hand, you feel the wrath of Paul and Adrienne when they arrive at Mauricio’s launch party. The emotion they show when hearing the shocking news that Brandi has spread about them transcends onto the viewers. You get a sense of a “how dare she!” because once again Paul and Adrienne are such well-to-do people that the viewers might think they aren’t the type that should be “bullied”, but then again… it takes two to tango. Logos can be seen on both sides of Brandi’s and Paul and Adrienne’s arguments. Logos is synonymous with a logical argument. In this episode both parties present
arguments in such a way that by use of facts and prior knowledge, they attempt to make others believe their side of the story. Brandi states that Paul and Adrienne have bullied her in the past to get her to take their side in their fight with Lisa. To retaliate Brandi discloses the “bombshell news” Bravo has edited out. Paul and Adrienne counteract her argument saying they never did such a thing and continually make her accusations out to be false. However, the two arguments being presented disprove the other; therefore, the show suggests one of the arguments is based on invalid information. On one hand, Brandi brings into account the Twitter conversations, the phone calls, and the letter written to her attorney to support her claims. Yet, on the other hand, Paul and Adrienne say they have never done the things Brandi is accusing them of, attempting to negate her accusations. This situation proves how, although logos can be a successful tool in persuasion, it will only be truly effective if all of the information being used is proven to be accurate. With all of this in consideration, ethos, pathos, and logos work together effectively to create a dramatic series in which the viewer is more likely to become invested. By implementing ethos, the network creates a foundation on which viewers will be more willing to devote their time. Because human emotion is one of the most powerful forces in the persuasive arts, pathos is applied in order to create emotional attachments with the characters in the show. With the information being unattainable to the viewers, the network leaves the audience sitting in suspense, waiting for the truth to finally come out. Overall, the network is able to satisfy the audiences’ desire for a realistic, yet dramatic series by using all three persuasive devices in varied and successful ways. [Word Count – 1,549]
Works Cited A. "She’s Gone Too Far." The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Bravo. NBCUniversal, New York. 10 Dec. 2012. Television.