“Total Divas” Total Drama

“Total Divas” first premiered on July 28, 2013 on E! channel. The American based reality TV show follows the lives of female WWE wrestling superstars like the astonishing Bella twins, Natalya Reinhart (she’s a beast, and let’s not forget a legend), Eva Marie, and a few others through their wrestling career’s and personal lives. The show does a great job capturing what seems like genuine relationships between the producers and directors of the WWE, including the way contests and story-lines are decided based on crowd response.

In addition to covering the Divas lifestyles on WWE, “Total Divas” also follows the women’s personal lives. Exposing America to the hardships, determination, and motivation each and every Diva superstar needs in order to be successful within their business and maintain interpersonal relationships with family, friends, husbands, and boyfriends allows “Total Divas” total drama!

The tension covered in “Total Divas” is felt by not only the wrestlers and their significant others, but also the audience while tuning in, making “Total Divas” intriguing. The show reminds me of a bad train-wreck,  nobody really wants to watch it (except for maybe nosey celebrity fans) but once it is in front of you, you can’t look away. “The History of Television” on Modern Marvels devotes about forty-five minutes to explaining how television had come about and how early television stars were created. The documentary describes how “stars were created overnight, some made it and some didn’t”, just like some of the divas. “Total Divas” has now been on the air for over seven total drama, total binge-worthy seasons covering WWE contests ups and downs, injuries, marriages, pet losses (We all still miss you, Gizzy!) and more. So, let us ask ourselves why the television shows, or movies we watch are so entertaining?

According to Youtuber, The Audiopedia “What is Reality Television? What Does Reality Television Mean? Reality Television Meaning” (2017)  “reality television is a genre of programming that documents supposedly unscripted real-life situations” in which the audience can relate and reproduce the same experiences. For example, while watching Brie Bella struggle to help Bryan Danielson cope with his wrestling injury, I compared his sadness to mine when I tore my ACL/MCL playing college basketball and could no longer perform. The experiences the audience watch the superstars go through on television become reality for the audience as well. While watching Natalya and her husband TJ suffer over the loss of their precious boy Gizmo, I felt the emotions they both felt. I believe reality television is success because of the way the audience feels connected to the television stars, almost like they could watch through your front door at any moment!

Aurelie Corinthios’ article, “Total Divas Renewed for 2 More Seasons After Nikki Bella Splits from John Cena” (2018) published by PEOPLE TV Watch, describes how a little bit of relationship drama has gotten Total Divas an addition two seasons on channel E!. Corinthios explains to her audience how WWE Diva Nikki Bella’s desire to have children ultimately created chaos for herself and WWE Superstar John Cena. Corinthios purpose in writing this article, in my opinion, is to express how a little bit of drama can attract a lot of attention or in this case media coverage. Considering the fact that PEOPLE magazine is a tabloid magazine, I feel the intended audience of this article is celebrity following fans and WWE supporters, as well. Personally, I find this article to be really exciting as I recently have fallen in love with the lives of the Divas and WWE Superstars. A lot of hardwork, time, and dedication go into performing a WWE contest, making Total Divas a binge-worthy television reality drama.

Side-note, I also feel that interviews like the one above for PEOPLE allow for reality television stars and shows to promote and advertise to audiences their successes and struggles of stardom that the original series does not reach. Talk about mass media advertisements! Also, shout-out to my girlfriend Cheyenne for showing me this stupid show!