Ethnography

Nip/Tuck is a television series that is watched and followed by millions of people. The show is a provocative series with scandals left and right that really shows how these characters' lives are really disturbing and not perfect at all. How does a show that does nothing but make beauty the most important factor of life become so fascinating with millions around the globe? One out of those millions of people is a friend of mine, whose name is Lindsey Braunhuber. She became interested in the show during the second season airing on television. Her older sister introduced her to the show. Her and I started to eventually watch the show together and we look forward to it every week. Nip/Tuck almost became and obsession for her. This made me question why is she so appealed to the series? What is it about the show that draws her attention into the lives of the two male doctors that do not treat women so well? Some things to consider are what Lindsey is like, who she is, and how she relates herself to the show. Lindsey is a 21 year old, who is conscious of her body, a girlfriend of a serious five-year relationship, and a future doctor.
First of all, many girls today are self-conscious of their own bodies because of the demand for woman to be beautiful, and the change of what is considered beauty in the recent years. Supermodels and celebrities are getting thinner by the minute, and girls today are really influenced by their beauty. I've known Lindsey for about three years now and I have never seen her where revealing clothes. I always thought it was because she was a tomboy, however, I learned that she is not happy with her body. She wears very loose tops with jeans. When she would go out to dinner, she would wear a tighter long sleeved shirt that never revealed any skin. This self-image might tie into her interest in Nip/Tuck because the show is about the perfection of one's body. These characters are also self-conscious and want a perfect body. A big portion of the operations is liposuction. I think that Lindsey's importance of physical appearance links to the show's importance of beauty.
Lindsey also has a serious relationship with her boyfriend, Jose, which has been continuing for five years. The hardships that they have been facing have been within the past two years, while her interest for Nip/Tuck has definitely increased. They are going through many difficulties within trust and loyalty. This is directly linked to her following the relationship and marriage between Sean and Julia on Nip/Tuck. This area of the show is definitely her favorite. Her favorite character is Sean because he is the strong person in the relationship who puts a lot of effort into fixing the problems, or at least that's what the audience sees most. Lindsey wants her own relationship with Jose to work for the better, and she truly wants to marry him to start a family in the future. He is her first love, and she realizes that is the reason why she loves him so much. The one thing she wants to see in the future episodes of Nip/Tuck is Sean and Julia's relationship and marriage to work out and continue happily. This is definitely a mimic of what she wants to see in her own relationship and what she is striving for in her future.
Right now, Lindsey is a full time student at UMBC as a Biology major to progress her major life decision to become a successful doctor. She has been studying hard with her first priority as education. She loves the medical world and has a pure interest in biology and science. Her father was a huge influence in her life because his career as a doctor helped spark her interest. She wants to continue in medical store and get her doctorate to become neonatologist, a doctor that treats newborn babies. Her future not only involves what she is interested in but also involved being successful and being able to provide for herself, husband, and children that she hopes to have one day. She sees how much her own family is able to have because of her father's income, and she wants the same for her future family as well. This is a major reason why she started to like Nip/Tuck in the first place. She likes to watch the surgical procedures that are involved within the show. The show, Nip/Tuck, also displays the way in which doctors with a high income spend their money. These doctors spend their money on necessities, like Sean paying for Julia's place while separated, but also for luxuries, like Christian buying a new Lamborghini. Lindsey has also spent her money on both, and she helps that in the future she can support herself for both. She has just recently bought a BMW 328i 2007 with her boyfriend and she definitely likes to drive it around. She also recently purchased a beautiful plasma television. All of these things are what she wants and more in the future with the income she will be making being a neonatologist.
Lindsey Braunhuber interest in Nip/Tuck is very related to her life. Her self-conscious, girlfriend, future doctor identity is definitely portrayed though out the shows plots and scandals. She might not notice it herself, but as one grasps a hand of her life and lifestyle as I did, one can see the connection that she has with the television show. Also, what she hopes for the show, she hopes for her own life. This is very similar to the article, "Gina as Steven", by John Caughey. Gina loves the character Steven Seagal portrays in his martial arts themed films. Gina's interest in his character was a reflection of her own life. She wasn't able to see it herself, however, the author was able to see the connections after viewing her life carefully.
Not only does Lindsey watch Nip/Tuck, but she also like Grey's Anatomy. Can you guess why? The medical world!
I think it's really interesting how the current shows, films, or other media sources today, are grasping onto people's lives and sparking relationships between the medium and the self.

5 Interview Questions

I will be interviewing a close friend of mine who will be named Lindsey Braunhuber within my project. I created a fake first name that is quite similar to her real first name, which she approved of. The last name that I will be using is her ancestor's last name which her father did not take on.

The five questions that I have developed for Lindsey are:

1. What does the phrase "popular culture" mean to you?

2. What are some major decisions that you have made based on your independence, as well as your social life?

3. How would you, or what would you, identify yourself with, or as?

4. What kind of media sources do you use in order to identify yourself with?

5. Who in your life has had a huge impact on your life and why?

Nip/Tuck

The topic that I will be researching through the semester is a television series called Nip/Tuck. I got into the series when the second season was being broadcasted on television. I started by borrowing my friend’s DVD set of the first season of Nip/Tuck. I loved it. It was all about beauty, drama, and scandals. The conflicts that were represented in the show definitely drew me into the series. It became my favorite TV show.
The second season DVD set was even better than the first. I caught up to watch the third season and fourth season on television. When I watched the third and fourth season, I realized how ridiculous the plot and conflicts were actually getting. It continued to become more provocative than it started out as, and more and more I realized how dysfunctional all the character’s lives were.
I’m still looking forward for the fifth season to start, but I definitely don’t consider it my favorite television series anymore. I watch it to see how the lives of the characters progress because the characters have actually grown on me as intimate relationships within the television series. I want to know if Christian is still treating women terribly or if Sean has become more mature. I mainly watch it with my roommate. I even got my boyfriend into the show, but now we are both having second thoughts on if the show is actually good or not, based on our own taste.
I think that the show actually changed my view on plastic surgery. I first thought plastic surgery was a very useful tool in the lives of many people, men and women. After watching the show, I realized how many people take advantage of plastic surgery and actually become obsessed with the outside appearance. Even the theme song itself is able to display the obsession of perfection. The song almost irritates me, but also interests me more with the show and the plastic surgery performances within the show.
I chose this topic because I know that there are many conflicts within this television series that come into mind about the modern popular culture of today. Nip/Tuck contains scenes of sex, lies, scandals, adultery, nudity, and more. I think this show defines what the people of today are most interested in because of the affects of the media. I also think that it will help me understand the show more. I hope that I can understand some of the actions within the show and maybe why the producers chose certain things and left other things out.

These are a few links to great websites about the show!

http://www.tv.com/nip-tuck/show/17095/summary.html
This website is from tv.com. It basically has a short summary of Nip/Tuck, along with news, clips, pictures, cast and crew lists, reviews, episode summaries, and forums. This is a great website for people that don’t watch Nip/tuck. The forum is great for people that do watch the show.

http://www.perfect-lie.net/
This is a great website for true fans of Nip/Tuck where you can actually join the fan list. It is updated on a daily basis with news about Nip/Tuck and recent events about the show.

http://www.parentstv.org/PTC/campaigns/niptuck/main.asp
This is a website against the images displayed on Nip/Tuck. It’s mostly about many people, mainly parents, that don’t want Nip/Tuck to be on basic cable because of the graphic content that is shown to their children.

http://www.niptuckforum.com/
This is showing many different forums based on Nip/Tuck. They talk about all the seasons, characters, and more. It shows what the fans like, dislike, and what they want more from the show. The audience and fans post here!