tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25137929.post736062348679599323..comments2023-08-26T02:27:21.897-07:00Comments on Frisbee: A Book Journal: Ree Drummond's Pioneer Woman BlogFrisbeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07394353185610393979noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25137929.post-14545582635393497242011-05-14T20:48:48.177-07:002011-05-14T20:48:48.177-07:00There is a tendency to sentimentalize in personal ...There is a tendency to sentimentalize in personal columns and women's blogs, where women must be mothers to have legitimacy among their readers. There's Jean Kerr, Shirley Jackson, Erma Bombeck, Anna Quindlen (okay, serious,but still a mom, and many others in this genre. Ree Drummond plays the "sexy blogger housewife," a new variation on the pardigm, to perfection. Her life is idealized: Gourmet magazine-quality photos of the food she cooks, cuteness everywhere--and I don't think anything ever goes wrong (though I've only read her blog a few times).<br /><br />So it IS a kind of crazy reality show. Personal blogs ARE fun, but they end up chronicling others' lives and that gets problematic. Or it can.Frisbeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07394353185610393979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25137929.post-46834635069830541712011-05-14T05:47:31.329-07:002011-05-14T05:47:31.329-07:00I've found a good article which places these h...I've found a good article which places these housewife-turned-professional blogs in a context that shows the parallels with game shows and reality TV. In all of these the people at the center "makes themselves over" to conform to often class-ridden social norms (they get rid of stigmas from their "before" selves); they offer their new self up for surveillance (the "after" self that emerges). They get paid -- sometimes making a lot but more often claiming far more. They can present themselves to others as famous. It's in the most recent New Yorker: Kelefa Sanneh "The Reality Principle," May 9, 2008, pp. 72ff. I was struck to find my sense that Queen for a Day is the ur-progenitor of them all.<br /><br />http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2011/05/09/110509crat_atlarge_sanneh<br /><br />EllenEllenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14979942382683140531noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25137929.post-10950338970760856882011-05-11T07:17:56.702-07:002011-05-11T07:17:56.702-07:00I assume her market demographics are 20-30ish? Pe...I assume her market demographics are 20-30ish? Perhaps it's like the Julie & Julia phenomenon (though I don't know if Julie got rich).Frisbeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07394353185610393979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25137929.post-91803173174321311402011-05-10T19:57:07.890-07:002011-05-10T19:57:07.890-07:00I wouldn't be able to take much of it or the c...I wouldn't be able to take much of it or the cruel one parodying it.<br /><br />EllenEllenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14979942382683140531noreply@blogger.com