Fashion is not for sissies!

Project Runway episode we saw provides a great example to survey McCarthy's take on reality shows while offering linkages to Illouz's study of emotions and consumption.

In “There is a Pattern Here” episode, the contestants were given the challenge of preparing their own textile inspired by personal experiences for the project of the week. In order to get that inspiration, they were provided with childhood photos. As they talked about the photos, they reflected upon their personal histories. Unsurprisingly, the show prioritized the depiction of emotionally heavy experiences including Mondo's HIV positive status and April's parents' divorce. Once the contestants found out about the challenge, they were interviewed about their families. Gretchen mentioned she hadn't seen her mother for a while and Mondo talked about his relationship with his mother, who once told him not to come out to the rest of their family.

As the contestants became more emotional, Tim Gunn surprised them by bringing their families to meet them. The already emotional tone of the episode peaked when the contestants were reunited with their families. They all seemed to be shaken by the experience, but Andy suffered the most and admitted that he was distracted by his mother's visit. When he was criticized by the judges, he shared the effect of the visit on him, which led to the famous line: “Fashion is not for sissies.”

While the show created a “neo-liberal theater of suffering” in McCarthy's words, the contestant who suffered the most was criticized for that. The idea of self-management of responsibilities and the need for self-discipline in line with neo-liberal governmentality were prioritized (p. 18). Therefore, Mondo, who channeled his HIV positive status into his design was praised for creating something “positive” out of his experience. In a way, he was depicted as someone defying his trauma rather than becoming its victim like Andy. This depiction is line with McCarthy's survey of suffering and trauma in reality TV (p. 21).

Although Andy was criticized for failing to overcome his emotions, all contestants' emotions were commodified by the show. While Illouz explains the relationship between emotions and consumerism, here the affect functions in a slightly different way (p. 383). The affective relationship between the consumers (or viewers) and the product (the show) is established via the emotional status of each contestant. In other words, the commodification of the contestants' emotions is utilized to create affective relationship with the viewers. Therefore, the show not only reproduces the neo-liberal discourse of self-responsibility for success, but also contributes to a self-congratulatory depiction of tragedy in a way reminiscent of Aristotelian catharsis.

While Andy's failure to deal with the traumas of the past caused the judges to say their all times favorite sexist remark “Fashion is not for sissies,” the marketability of his emotional status kept him in the competition. Valerie, who was inspired by her father's building of their first house, chose to use the blueprint design for the textile. The judges criticized her design, but didn't pay any attention to her story since it wasn't “traumatic” enough and she was the one to leave after ending up in the bottom two with Andy. Therefore, it is possible to say Project Runway coincides with McCarthy's depiction of reality show. It is also important to keep in mind that in order to reproduce the discourse of self-discipline, the depiction of trauma is essential while the responsibility to overcome its effects is attributed to the subjects, whose emotions are commodified to establish affective relationships with the viewers.

"Fashion is not for sissies!" apparently became a trademark for the show:

Michael C. impersonates the judges and it was funny enough for me to share it: