So I'm in Harwich visiting my family and I'm thinking how is this place anything like how The Only Way is Essex makes out it to be.
For the first time I watched an episode of the terrifying representation of apparently the whole of Essex. It is insulting to think that everyone who has watched the show and who has never been to Essex thinks of the people as the people in the show. All the girls are smothered in make-up and fake tan and use words like "reem".
Harwich is only a small town in Essex, there isn't many shops yet the community is pretty tight, everyone knows each other and are bound to bump into each other walking around the small town they have. If you want to go shopping at high street shops then you have to travel to other places such as Colchester. So in Harwich there aren't many salons or fashion shops for women to look "fashionable". So not everyone pampers themselves constantly, there are people who are not interested in how they look or how others look.
The show stereotypes women as "thick" and "slaggy" just because of the women on the show. I know so many people when I go to uni who sit there and say "I want to go Essex cos I bet we will see fit birds like that and we can say reem" or "I really want to go Essex because of TOWIE, I would wanna see how they all act" It's like these people think people from Essex are a different breed of people!
Obviously there are people who wear fake tan and wear makeup, there is no problem with that, it's just TOWIE exaggerates this to create a media stereotype for entertainment purposes which leads to more money from viewers because they know people want to see different types of people who go to the extreme especially when it comes to their appearance.
Not one of my family members acts like the cast but like I said there are people like that but the viewers need to understand it is not representing the whole of Essex. It's the same with Made In Chelsea, not everyone in Chelsea are born in a wealthy family and the same with Geordie Shore, not everyone from Newcastle are drunks who sleep with anyone. When I watch Geordie Shore it's like they all bang on about how good they are at drinking and that's all they do, well come to my uni in little old Crewe and you will see that all uni societies drink and party twice as much! It's just stereotypes and a way of bullying and ridicule in my eyes.
When I tell people i'm from Essex they automatically think I have that accent where they exaggerate every single word. People need to remember that the cast of TOWIE are entertaining the public and are one or two friend groups. That's who they are not every person from Essex. You can tell they're fake because when Lauren was on Celebrity Big Brother she wasn't exaggerating her words, she was just acting herself not how the public want to see how people from Essex should or do act.
TOWIE is just for entertainment purposes and focuses on the lives of a group of people not the whole of Essex. It's upsetting how everyone thinks its like that one place, no one actually appreciates what Essex is all about.
Please share your thoughts, and also if you have ever felt in this position where you get stereotyped because you are from a certain city :)
Please share your thoughts, and also if you have ever felt in this position where you get stereotyped because you are from a certain city :)