The Littlest Groom

The Littlest Groom was a reality television miniseries that aired for two episodes[1] on the Fox network[2] in 2004.[3] Modelled on The Bachelor, the miniseries followed salesman Glen Foster, a 4'5" little person, in his search for love within a group of both little women and women of average stature.

Reception

The show was subjected to considerable negative criticism from media critics and the general public,[4][5] due to its purportedly exploitative “latter-day freak show” dimension[6] or “carnival-like” quality.[7] Nonetheless, at least one of the little women who appeared on the show explicitly rejected this interpretation,[8] as did Foster himself.[9][10] Similarly, Matt Roloff, then-president of the advocacy group Little People of America, commented on the potential for The Littlest Groom to provide a positive media representation of little people as individuals “just being themselves". “[H]iding us behind closed doors or in funny costumes”, he observed, “will never give us the exposure needed to desensitize society to us”.[11]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The Littlest Groom". Reality TV World.com. 2007-01-21. Retrieved 2011-03-31.
  2. ↑ "FOX to air 'The Littlest Groom' reality miniseries on February 16 & 23". Reality TV World. 2004-01-28. Retrieved 2011-03-31.
  3. ↑ "The Littlest Groom—Top 10 Skanky Reality Shows". TIME. 2009-06-02. Retrieved 2011-03-31.
  4. ↑ "The Littlest Groom". Ruthless Reviews. Retrieved 2013-05-05.
  5. ↑ "The Littlest Groom". The Most Obnoxious Reality TV Offenders. Retrieved 2013-05-05.
  6. ↑ Robert McRuer. Crip Theory: Cultural Signs of Queerness and Disability (New York University Press, 2006), p. 58. Note that, after outlining this conventional interpretation, McRuer foregrounds the ways in which we can “read the show against the grain” (60) to identify signs of resistance to it; see Crip Theory, pp. 58-63.
  7. ↑ Michelle Brophy-Baermann. “True Love on TV: A Gendered Analysis of Reality-Romance Television”. Poroi, 4.2 (2005): art. 2, para. 3
  8. ↑ "SPU Student Brings Her Interest in People to the Set of TV’s “The Littlest Groom”". Response (Seattle Pacific University) 26.6 (2004). Retrieved 2013-05-05.
  9. ↑ "New reality show 'Littlest Groom' raises concerns about exploitation". Boston.com. Retrieved 2013-05-05.
  10. ↑ "Fox escorts ‘Littlest Groom’ down the reality-TV aisle. Bachelor says he didn't feel exploited". Today. Retrieved 2013-05-05.
  11. ↑ "Dwarf-date show sparks controversy—Some criticize, but show has support from little-people group". CNN. Retrieved 2013-05-05. For an excellent overview of the historical backdrop to this controversy, see: Betty M. Adelson "Dwarfs: The Changing Lives of Archetypal 'Curiosities'—and Echoes of the Past". Disability Studies Quarterly, 25.3 (2005).