Shain Gandee & The Rural Exploitation of “Buckwild”
Update: MTV has suspended production of “Buckwild” after Shain Gandee’s death.
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It’s all fun and games…until somebody gets killed.
The depths Viacom and American corporate media have slumped to in their tireless endeavor to exploit and further stereotype the rural residents of the United States is nothing short of a black eye on the American culture, and an abomination of the entertainment medium. Yeah, they may bleep out all the bad words and blur out the occasional errant boob shot to pander to their corporate TV sponsors, but the effect of this type of marginalizing of human behavior, especially when it is incredulously aimed at a youth audience, is worse than most garden variety hardcore pornography on the psyche of the viewer, and on the dignity of the subject.
Viacom, the world’s 4th largest media conglomerate and owner of MTV, CMT, BET, and VH1, decided last year that the level of exploitation found in their CMT ‘Redneck’ franchise that includes the shows Redneck Vacation and Redneck Island was not enough, so they ratcheted up their malfeasance of the public media, and in an act of grotesque profit mongering, targeted their rural stereotyping on MTV’s youth demographic and launched Buckwild–a reality franchise that follows unsupervised youth of West Virginia as they act out scripted scenes that offer no context and cast a very narrow window into the behavioral patterns of the Appalachian people and America’s rural culture.
Today it was announced that one of the stars of Buckwild, Shain Gandee, along with 2 other people, were found dead when their 1984 Bronco was stuck knee deep in mud in the West Virginia back country outside of Sissionville. It is believed that the passengers died of carbon monoxide poisoning when the tailpipe of the vehicle became submerged. Who were the two other people in the vehicle? Apparently that is not important to most of the reporting outlets, because they weren’t reality TV stars.
Just like MTV’s reality show Jersey Shore, outcries from locals worried about the perpetuation of negative stereotypes from the show went unheard. In the aftermath of the death of Shain Gandee, the mayor of nearby Charleston, West Virginia has called for the cancellation of the show, saying, “Of the few cast members on the show already two have had legal issues and now one has died. The show only enhances the negative stereotype the Kanawha Valley already has.”
It’s not that some of the scenarios portrayed in Buckwild and other reality series aren’t similar to some of the recreational activities of rural residents. But for entertainment purposes, they are prodded into pushing the limits, and many times are fueled and enabled by television producers supplying them money, alcohol, and other items to help spurn unrealistic and riveting scenarios that rarely take into account the well-being of the participants. Another Buckwild cast member Salwa Amin was arrested in a drug bust that involved transporting and distributing heroin and oxycodone. Cast member Michael Buford has been arrested for DUI.
Though MTV offers condolences in public statements, the off-the-screen drama of the cast members and even Shain Gandee’s death only fuels interest in the reality franchises they are a part of.
Buckwild unabashedly takes pages from the White Family of West Virginia franchise, a family that has been featured in numerous films starting with the 1991 documentary Dancing Outlaw. But Buckwild takes the extra dangerous step of having both the cast members and the audience fit squarely in a youth demographic. A week after 2009’s Wild & Wonderful Whites of West Virginia was released–a movie produced by MTV–cast member Jesco White was arrested on drug charges. They were later dropped.
As America’s rural and agrarian culture continues to contract, rural culture is regularly lampooned, stolen from its residents, commercialized, then sold back to them in a caricaturish fashion like Buckwild and CMT’s ‘Redneck’ franchise.
Why doesn’t MTV and Viacom stick their cameras into the hidden reality of white affluence, where the bored sons and daughters of the supposed sheltered and upstanding world wreak havoc on themselves with alcohol, and dangerous and sometimes deadly doses of illegal substances and designer drugs in out-of-control parties? Or let alone, why doesn’t MTV stick their noses into the medicine cabinets of their moms and dads to find out that this isn’t a matter of youthful indiscretion, but an institutionalized way of life? Of course, that would all be too scary for corporate America, but you can exploit rednecks all you want, because like Italians and blacks, they are part of a cultural minority that can be lampooned and sold as an entertainment oddity.
This type of shameful, exploitative entertainment should be banished from the airwaves, and not from some intrusive governmental intervention, but from an awareness throughout the rural population about the effects of cultural filth like Buckwild. And it should happen before someone gets seriously injured or killed.
Oh wait…
April 1, 2013 @ 4:00 pm
I can’t stand these shows. I don’t understand how anyone finds them entertaining. It’s a bunch of people running around making idiots of themselves. All reality tv is doing is destroying what little ethics people nowadays have left.
April 1, 2013 @ 4:38 pm
I would have watched it had Buckwild been around when I was 16. What else is there for a rural White kid to relate to on TV?
As much as I really don’t like reality shows, it’s good to see something like Duck Dynasty to be some kind of counter. Not that great a show but at least it’s something.
Juke
April 1, 2013 @ 4:34 pm
Very good article. I do think the Wild & Wonderful Whites gets a pass for showing the outcome of that lifestyle & even trying to explain how the toxic lifestyle came about.
But anyway, great article. It’s a crime what Viacom alone has done to the culture.
Juke
April 1, 2013 @ 5:06 pm
I don’t want to imply that The Wild & Wonderful Whites and Buckwild are one in the same. I do think that the movie lent to Buckwild and gave the MTV producers the idea for it, but that is not necessarily the movie’s fault. I was mostly favorable of “Wild & Wonderful Whites of West Virginia” when it initially came out. But since then, this incessant reality show reduction of America’s rural people has turned me pretty sour on the whole lot of it.
April 1, 2013 @ 4:53 pm
Agree with most of your points, but you’re not saying Hank III is a bad person for appearing in the movie about the Whites and writing “D Ray White,” are you?
April 1, 2013 @ 5:02 pm
Hank3 came out publicly against that movie, though he also admitted that he didn’t watch it in its entirety at the time.
https://savingcountrymusic.com/hank-iii-disses-new-white-family-movie
““Well I really don”™t support that movie man. I mean, they promoted more the dark side”“the addiction, the bad stuff”“they didn”™t really promote the creative side of the Whites. And this is no disrespect to Jesco and the family at all. Its more of the people that made it should have concentrated a little bit more on the creativity, and the good vibes that the White family bring to the table. Yeah, we all have problems with addiction, but they made that a little too dark for me. I”™ve only seen a couple of clips of it, just enough to rub me raw.”
And no, I’m not saying either of those things. I’m simply saying it appears that MTV took all the bad stuff from the Whites movie and made it into a 30 minute reality series by adolescents, for adolescents.
April 1, 2013 @ 5:35 pm
Hey Trig, it’s a great article and I appreciate your insight and compassion however, I do have to disagree. Yep, it’s trash telly and created to appeal to the lowest common denominator, however the people featured in this show are consenting adults. They absolutely know what they are getting themselves into and gleefully sign those consent forms and cash those cheques from the production company. I hope you know I’m not a hard-nose and I felt sick when I read about Shain’s passing. I just don’t think the blame can be laid at the feet of big corporations for something like this. End of the day everything on the telly is ratings driven: if people watch programmes like this they continue to get made. If they don’t, the shows don’t.
April 1, 2013 @ 7:22 pm
Nobody is blaming MTV for the death of Shane Gandee and I hope it doesn’t come across that way. However I think his death does speak to the larger issue. Sure they’re consenting adults that signed releases, but fame for many people is the mother of all broken promises, especially for some reality show stars who are put on television not from their strengths as people, but so people can poke fun at their weakness or perceived weaknesses/prejudices/ignorance/shallowness/etc. Especially in the social media age, fame can do very damaging things to people. Legal releases or not, there’s little accounting for this for the cast members in Viacom’s reality shows.
Really, Buckwild would have been more fit on CMT than MTV, but Viacom knew the CMT demographic would find it both insulting and borderline immoral. I think that says a lot about what MTV itself thinks about the content of the show.
April 3, 2013 @ 11:08 am
I think when you said “And it should happen before someone gets seriously injured or killed…Oh Wait” that was interpreted as blaming MTV, though I can see how you meant that more tongue in cheek.
Getting to Carla’s point, I don’t think it’s as simple as “well the corporations are just giving the people what they want.” Yes, corporations are out to make a buck, but the people who are in Hollywood have their own cultural prejudices, and when they will make money on any type of show, they will happily push their values, which are often not alligned with the people who watch them. Slowly but surely, the Hollywood values changes our values.
April 1, 2013 @ 6:27 pm
People around Charleston die all the time from this sort of thing and I’m sure that’s true throughout Appalachia and rural America in general. I spent much of my teenage years having fun by getting as razor close to calamity as possible. Its what we did. This kid’s death is no different than the accounts of similar tragedies I saw on the local news pretty much every night growing up and the tragedies that i experienced firsthand. So it isn’t possible for me to blame MTV because these kids would have been risking their lives even without the cameras. They were paid and goaded, I’m sure, and I’m sure MTV might be at least a tiny bit optimistic about what this could mean for future ratings. But those guys were basically doing what people do for fun where we come from.
But I do feel uncomfortable with a show about my hometown that neglects to give a full sense of the place in favor of tired stereotypes. There are scenes where those twang spewing kids are frolicking in what a, say, a New Yorker might think is a deep dark Deliverance-style Appalachian jungle when the reality is the show is shot in and around a town of 50,000 that his its own symphony orchestra, nationally known radio series, minor league baseball team, several gay bar, two synagogues, an Indian cultural center, a thriving Lebanese community, two universities, and a homegrown arts scene apropos of only its own culturally unique, historically proud, and unaffected self. If by chance the camera would pan ever so slightly away from the rowdiness, boozing, and four wheeling (WHICH ARE AWESOME), I promise a surprisingly diverse picture would come into sharp focus.
April 1, 2013 @ 7:39 pm
“If by chance the camera would pan ever so slightly away from the rowdiness, boozing, and four wheeling (WHICH ARE AWESOME), I promise a surprisingly diverse picture would come into sharp focus.”
Excellent point, and one of the most disturbing things about these shows is they’re couched as being “reality” when in reality they only represent a small segment of people, and a small portion of their lives and daily habits. And this is what you hear from West Virginians specifically when they’re asked about Buckwild. They would rather be known for hard work and strong families and other such values. It doesn’t mean the Buckwild behavior doesn’t happen, but portray it in a more realistic context.
As for the first part of what you said, I don’t want to have it come across like I am blaming MTV for the death. I do think this situation does give us an opportunity as a society to take a deeper look at these shows and the effect of taking everyday people and making them superstars overnight because they’re fun to laugh at.
April 1, 2013 @ 7:04 pm
The thing about shows like Buckwild, is these kids existed before MTV… and MTV, to an extent, is just using what they give them.
Trashy rich chicks = Real Housewives of ___
Goomba New York types = Jersey Shore
Derelict gamblers = Bearing Sea Gold
Addicts = Intervention shows
Crime, sports, etc, etc… you get the picture
If people didn’t watch these shows, they wouldn’t be on TV. it’s a little too easy and convenient to put this all at MTV’s feet. If these shows are a sine wave, the vast majority of the public lies in a line drawn lenghtwise through the middle of that sine wave; an inherent interest lies in seeing the upper and lower peaks.
April 1, 2013 @ 7:45 pm
I totally agree, MTV is just giving the public what they crave. I wish they would take more responsibility and understand that what they broadcast may have consequences, but in the end if these shows are going to cease, or at least portray life in a more realistic “reality,” it is going to take consumers making better choices, just like it is going to take consumers making better choices for country radio to improve.
April 1, 2013 @ 9:51 pm
I do not watch MTV, or reality TV in general, because it is filled with this type of garbage.
Buckwild is not a realistic portrayal of all, or most, of rural America. Neither is the “sweet and innocent” stereotype of country girls that was portrayed by Taylor Swift’s early albums. Both were scripted for public consumption, to generate profits.
April 2, 2013 @ 4:06 am
Honest question to those so strongly against the show:
Did you ever watch it?
I first assumed it was more country buffoonery along the lines of the Redneck-style franchise and I was ready to raise my hackles, just like you. Then I got hooked on the show – it reminded me of my late teens. I honestly thought it was a pretty endearing look at rural youth culture. I think that’s why this is such big news – many people genuinely LIKED these kids and were rooting for them.
We’ll see what happens with the franchise and it will inevitably turn into a parody of itself, but I can’t say I have a problem with it right now.
April 2, 2013 @ 4:26 am
You could also have included Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, a show that also trades in the worst strereotypes and exploits an under 10 yr old girl.
April 2, 2013 @ 3:31 pm
I was really surprised to hear Elizabeth Cook, who I respect a lot, say on her show she watches Honey Boo Boo regularly because it feels like a true representation. I haven’t wathed it, except a few clips, and while it may be real, it seems like exploitation. I wonder haw may viewers, likw Cook, actually come from a poor, white background.
April 2, 2013 @ 8:17 am
There are no boundaries anymore, for anything.
April 2, 2013 @ 10:52 am
I have to say I never watched the show. I made it through the first 20 minutes of Wild Wonderful Whites and turned it off because it was sad. Watching folks lives go down the toilet while they struggle with addiction hits a lot of folks too close to home and dredges up crap they fought to get rid of.
I can speak intelligently about Black Gold as someone who works in the oilfield and started as a roughneck. For the most part the guys on the crew were jackasses and would have been run down the road faster than that dipshit in the opening credits could slide down the handrail. It was scripted, played to the worst stereotypes, and was just downright stupid. But people ate that up and thought it was the real deal. It was a caricature for people who had no idea what the patch is all about, how hard we work out here to support our families, and what it’s like to see a friend go down. I have to assume the rest of these types of shows are the same things. Yeah, there’s a few parts that you can relate to but all in it’s just shit.
I’ve spent most of my time offshore overseas so I haven’t had access to TV, I just consider myself lucky. God bless Shain Gandee and his family.
April 2, 2013 @ 11:36 am
I’m confused. What does Buckwild have to do with saving country music?
April 2, 2013 @ 11:55 am
One could argue that MTV is selling the same romanticized rural lifestyle that Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan are selling. And their audience is likely the same – middle class suburban kids/teens. I think Trigger is pointing out that the portrayal of this rural lifestyle is just as “real” as all the good times in trucks at bonfires way back in the holler off old dirt roads.
April 2, 2013 @ 1:27 pm
To me, “Buckwild” has everything to do with Saving Country Music. It has more to do with Saving Country Music than most other subjects. This gutting of music infrastructure in the form of cable channels whose roots are in promoting music that now have become repositories for the most stereotypical of reality programming is doing just just as much damage to mainstream music as mainstream radio consolidation, if not more. And as Meaghan pointed out, we find the same type of stereotypical demographic pandering happening in the modern-day laundry list country songs as we do on shows like “Buckwild.” As the quote on the top of the site states,
“When a culture’s music is lifeless, that culture is bound for more trouble than just having nothing decent to listen to.”
April 3, 2013 @ 7:33 am
Thanks for the explanation. My TV viewing is limited to Netflix (mostly movies and docs.) so I don’t watch reality TV. When Buckwild was launched I thought it was a new low for the garbage that MTV broadcasts. In general, I’m shocked that radio is still relevant. I learn about artists/music genres by reading blogs and then listen to music on Spotify and YouTube.
BTW, CAPTCHA bites, lol
April 2, 2013 @ 8:26 pm
My impression is that MTV and co do the same type of thing with the “bored sons and daughters of the supposed sheltered and upstanding world” (e.g. My Super Sweet 16 ) and the “medicine cabinets of their moms and dads” (Real Housewives.)
I honestly haven’t watched any of these shows, so I may be wrong about Jersey Shore or Buckwild being any different.
I also think the stereotypes promoted by these shows are at least partially based in realty. That said, I think you have a point about how these will exaggerate cultural aspects from certain groups who will then watch the show and emulate the exaggerations.
April 2, 2013 @ 10:01 pm
Okay Trigger I got something to say about this article. First of all I want to say that I was a fan of Buckwild. I say “was” because I watched the show mainly because of Shain Gandee. Now with that said, I want you to know that I completely disagree with your article. Let me explain. First of all I am a fan of such shows like Redneck Vacation, Duck Dynasty, and Buckwild mainly because they are entertaining. I know the difference between reality and reality tv. Reality is the everyday life in which we all live. While as reality tv is nowhere near reality nor real. It’s all scripted and fake. If the Duck Dynasty guys did what they do on this show they would never have a business. With that said I want to acknowledge that television does influence our youth and that I think that MTV exploits that by focusing on that demographic. They know what young adults are like and what they like. Hence why Jersey Shore lasted as long as it did. These kids on Buckwild were already young, dumb, and full of cum before this tv show was even made. They already who they were before MTV scooped it up to show the rest of the world their world as they know. Yes, MTV went overboard with some of the scenarios but it didn’t change who these youths are. They are simply young adults who are fresh out of High School and feel like they can rule the world. They are dare devilish and fearless of consequences; hence the jail time for some of them. They’re young kids who don’t know any better and so they get drunk, they have sex, and they have a good time. They do not represent rural America, they represent pretty much young adult America. We have all been there at that age before and we have all boozed up and had good times with friends. What makes Buckwild any different from Jersey Shore or our own lives? Well the over the top antics of course but that’s entertainment. But MTV did not kill Shain nor sent the rest to jail, they did that themselves. Shain to me was the most relatable and likable character on the show mainly because of his innocence. If you watched the show I think you would see that and understand it. He never been to a large city nor a clubbing and the show did this for him. It gave him an experience that he would never forget. Shain lived life as if it could end the next day and it did. All he wanted to do was have fun and in the end it took his life. So is that a bad example to set? His death was tragic and my condolences go out to his family. No mother or father should out live their children. But I feel that his death is nobody’s fault but his own. Yes young adults should be more responsible but knowing my own youth they’ll never listen. Such is life as a youth in America we were all young dumb and full of cum out to run wild in the world. But we learn there are consequences in life. The people of Jersey Shore finally figured that out and realized they have gotten too old for the show. We all grow up and realize there is more to life. MTV doesn’t exploit anything, most times they show the youths of today what being a youth is like and that everything will be okay in the end as long as you work things out. Shows like Teen Mom, 16 and pregnant were shows put out to reach youths about the importance of safe sex. The Buckwild cast does not represent rural America anymore than Honey Boo Boo. This cast represents themselves for who they are and what they do. Also Trigger, this article was a bit harsh especially on the eve of Shain’s death. You should have at least ended your rant with condolences instead of just “Oh wait…” come on man!
April 2, 2013 @ 10:11 pm
Fair points, good perspective, and well said.
Only thing I would clarify is that as I have said before, I do not blame MTV for Shain’s death. I also do believe MTV and other Viacom channels do exploit people, but that is a matter of opinion, and you did a good job explaining why you and others feel otherwise.
April 3, 2013 @ 5:29 am
Kyle,
I wondered if you were ever going to mention this show in your blog and I’m glad you did. All the “redneck” TV shows: Buckwild, Redneck Vacation, Honey Boo Boo, etc give such a negative image of the country and/or the South and it’s like no wonder so many people think country/Southern people are so dumb and trashy. The truth is: just because somebody is from the country and/or the South doesn’t mean they’re dumb and trashy and they don’t have to act that way either just cause that’s what everyone thinks you are. You can still carry yourself with pride and diginity.
April 3, 2013 @ 7:50 am
I have family who are country and live in the south, so I already know that those people on the show do not represent nor give off a negative image of people from such places. The television show Modern Family is a very popular show right now and has won many awards. But the character Cam is the homosexual partner from Missouri who grew up on the farm and who’s father (who has appeared on an episode) is a rough and tough rancher who wears cowboy hats and sounds like he is from Texas. I am a proud patron of Missouri. I was born and raised in this great state and I find this image of how people on the west coast view our state as nothing but a bunch of rural, ranching, cowboys very laughable. It’s silly at best because I know its not true. People tend to come up with ideas of what people and places are if they have never been or seen such people. West Virginia, case in point, has gotten a bad rap going back to the Hatfield/McCoy feud and the Matewan Massacre. Reporters flocked to West Virginia to see the family feud and dumped out their own ideas and perceptions of who these people are and people who didn’t know any better back then believed it. But people should be smarter in this day an age because of the wide range of media access. People are smart and they will say: “That’s not real it’s over the top silly!” Which in case is Honey Boo Boo and the Redneck Franchise. I don’t take offense because its stupid. How could anyone take these shows so seriously? But, it also can be true about certain people. I have known such people like the Honey Boo Boo family and the Redneck Vacation family; and to ignore that they exist is a fantasy. They do not represent the majority of rural America but they are a part of it whether we like it or not.
April 3, 2013 @ 2:46 pm
“I already know that those people on the show do not represent nor give off a negative image of people from such places.”
But that’s your opinion. I think they opinion of a lot of people, including the majority of people surrounding the area of West Virginia where the show was shot disagree with you. These are the people who are most affected by the negative stereotypes.
And these are not juts my opinions. Here’s another story about this:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/natashavc/why-mtv-cant-stop-making-reality-exploitation
April 3, 2013 @ 9:50 pm
That is a good point Trigger I am not from West Virginia nor wherever Honey Boo Boo resides, Therefore I am not offended as those who reside in those states in which these people live. I understand that completely. But if people are outraged by such negativity why are the shows still on?
April 3, 2013 @ 8:44 am
New AP article that I just read:
http://news.yahoo.com/tv-reality-lines-blur-death-141719488.html
April 3, 2013 @ 2:49 pm
Interesting things I took from that article:
1) The fateful “muddin” trip started after they left a bar at 3 AM.
2) It has yet to be determined if MTV was taping around the time the accident happened.
April 6, 2013 @ 5:57 pm
My heart goes out to shains family and the other two’s families that are comming to grips with their losses. Its really sad when a little mistake can cause such a loss. It could happen to anyone, and it did while he was doing what he loved. There is no right way to live, you just have to find what makes you happy, cause when its your time, it’s all up.
-Respect
April 15, 2013 @ 8:47 am
I think we are in agreement on Viacom and its exploitation of these young people. I wish more folks would point this out. Nice post.
http://southinpopculture.com/2013/04/10/the-death-of-shain-gandee-and-mtvs-cancellation-of-buckwild/