Why do you deserve a baddies chain EP.2 Baddies, Zeus, and the Business of Chaos

The transcription discusses the influence of reality TV show "baddies" on internet culture and social media, particularly focusing on the Zeus Network platform. It highlights how conflict and extreme behavior are used as currency in reality television, leading to viral clips and increased visibility. The show's structure encourages tension and drama to keep audiences engaged, while also raising questions about the exploitation of participants for entertainment. The discussion delves into the blurred line between empowerment and exploitation, as well as the impact of such portrayals on individuals and society. The analysis emphasizes the complex dynamics of visibility, virality, and conflict in media culture, shedding light on the challenges and consequences faced by those participating in reality TV shows like "baddies." Welcome back to Episode 2 of Why Do You Deserve a Baddies Chain. Today we're going to talk about baddies, Zeus, and the business of chaos. So in the first episode, I talked a lot about the historical context behind reality television and the way black women have been historically portrayed as spectacle in media. So now I want to move into a much more modern example of all of this, which I mentioned before, Zeus Network and baddies. And if you've never watched baddies, maybe or maybe not, you've seen a few clips online, the auditions, the reunion arguments, the memes, the TikTok edits of Natalie Nunn. Because of this, because at this point, baddies has become bigger than just a reality show. It's internet culture. So what I first want to do is explain actually what is Zeus Network, if you haven't heard of it. Zeus Network is a subscription-based streaming platform that mostly focuses on influencer culture, reality TV, internet personalities, and highly dramatic but unscripted content. A lot of their biggest shows center conflict as the actual entertainment. And so unlike traditional television networks, Zeus relies heavily on social media morality to grow. And that's important because Zeus doesn't really need everybody to sit down and watch full episodes on TV the way older reality shows do, dependent on ratings. So instead, clips themselves become the marketing. There's a lot of fans. There's a lot of people who watch and make different types of edits and fight scenes go viral on TikTok. So people repost it on Twitter. There are many, many reaction channels who discuss it on YouTube. Memes start circulating, and people choose sides online. And eventually, all of that internet attention pushes people towards subscribing to the platform. So on this platform you have baddies. So baddies is probably one of the biggest examples of this model. This show follows groups of women, mostly influencers, reality TV personalities, rappers, or internet figures traveling together while filming content, partying, arguing, fighting, performing at clubs, basically living together under constant surveillance while traveling. So the cast changes across seasons, but conflict is almost always central to the structure of the show. So even the auditions themselves become viral because of how chaotic they are. Anyone can audition. As Natalie Nunn said in her song, Doing What She Wants, everybody comes to the auditions. There are people physically fighting before even getting casted. Women who come and stand for hours at a time try to stand out long enough to get attention from the producers and the audiences. And the way they do this is by fighting and being in the camera, being physical with each other. It's honestly just a lot to watch. But when you actually watch baddies, it becomes really obvious that visibility itself is the goal, which is why they are doing this in the first place, because being memorable matters. Going viral matters, and standing out matters. You have to stand out. Why even come to volunteer to be on baddies, to try to be on baddies, if you're not memorable? Why, if you have no virality, what makes you a baddie? And so this is when I want to get into this extreme behavior as a form of currency. One thing I talked about in my presentation was this idea that extreme behavior becomes currency in reality television, and baddies reflect that perfectly. So the louder the argument, the more engagement, the bigger the fight, the more repost. The messier the situation, the more viral the clip becomes. And this didn't start with baddies either. You can trace this pattern through older reality television, like Flavor of Love, when Flavor of Slave, the main character of the show, had multiple women. Around 20 or so of just a lot of women fighting in a game show, trying to win his love. The Real Housewives of Atlanta, and then also College Hill, which was a reality TV show about HBCU students, and they were all living in a house together and just kind of filming what they were doing. Those three shows, along with baddies, have always rewarded personalities that feel unpredictable, emotional, confrontational, or larger than life, in quotation marks, because conflict keeps audiences engaged. But I think definitely social media has intensified all of this. And so now audiences are not just watching reality TV, but they are actively trying to participate in it. So not only are they posting edits, making memes, arguing online, defending cast members, but they're actually auditioning to be on these shows. They see themselves a part of the cast. They see themselves with the women on the show, and there's nothing wrong with that. But these women who are actually on the show stop being viewed as full people and start becoming Internet characters, which I feel is a bit problematic. And I think people, well, people including myself, I guess, stay tuned in to these types of shows, because it's important to talk about how easy it is to criticize reality TV without actually understanding the appeal. These shows are entertaining. People watch for escapism, for humor, to be about a community, for drama, for distraction. And so a lot of people watch it together with friends or discuss episodes online afterwards. And social media makes all of this even bigger, because clips spread super quickly now. So most people, yeah, don't watch the full episodes. It's just really important to acknowledge how these shows become so popular in the first place. And so that's when the business side becomes really important, because if you're viral, then you can make a profit. And if you're viral, people are paying attention to you. That attention also becomes profitable. And so conflict becomes a part of the marketing strategy itself. So people tune into that specifically expecting chaos. And the environment on these shows are intentionally structured to create tension. There's constant cameras. There's alcohol that's provided all the time. They have access to their phones, so they're seeing the public scrutiny happening at the same time. They're confined living spaces. They share rooms. They all live in, like, a really big mansion together. But there's a lot of competition that at the end of the day causes a lot of tension to erupt between different ladies. And so once the episodes air, the conflict that has already passed continues online for weeks. And so I really also want to keep nuance in this conversation, because I don't think the women on these shows are simply victims with no agency. A lot of women genuinely gain opportunities from television. We've seen on lots of different shows, not even just baddies. There's a lot of brand deals, exposure, networking, travel opportunities. And especially for black women who come from lower income or first-generation backgrounds, visibility can absolutely feel tied to survival and opportunity. So I definitely understand why people participate. But I also think we should question what women are being asked to trade in order for visibility. So is it public humiliation, constant online harassment, violence, or trauma becoming entertainment? Because sometimes empowerment and exploitation can exist at the same time. And one scholar I used a lot for this project talks about something called the work of being watched. And honestly, the idea explains modern reality TV perfectly, because now your personal life becomes labor. Your emotions become content. Your relationships become content. Visibility itself becomes the work. And I think baddies reflect this perfectly, because the show doesn't just end once the filming stops. The cast members continue performing online afterwards, too. They have Instagram Lives. There's a lot of arguments online to keep the visibility going, to keep viewers engaged. So that ties to the Internet discourse. So the performance continues, because attention is valuable here. And, again, I really, really want to separate this conversation from respectability politics, because this project is not saying, again, black women should act a certain way to deserve respect. I really want to mainly call out how the systems and industries that repeatedly reward conflict-heavy portrayals, because those portrayals generate money and engagement. And so this representation alone, yes, they are getting money. Yes, they are providing for their families, which is a really good thing. But at the same time, this does not automatically equal liberation. And so I think that's what makes baddies such an important example to analyze, because the show reflects much bigger media culture, where visibility, virality, and conflict are constantly rewarded. And even the line between entertainment and exploitation starts becoming blurry, because there's a lot of humiliation, violence, emotional breakdowns and trauma. As in a lot of the times, a lot of the girls have a lot of family issues that they're dealing with. There was even a case of sexual assault that happened and claims of just very personal things that shouldn't be used as content that is being created to use as content, whether it happened on or off camera or if it's true or not. At the end of the day, it's still being used as a storyline. And so it's interesting to look at how that type of trauma becomes profitable content. And who is that somebody that is benefiting from that? And usually it's networks. So in the next episode, I really want to get into more of the social and psychological impact of all of this, because media doesn't just entertain people. It shapes perception, too, and also perception as in public perception, and then also self-perception, and then also getting deeper into health and social belonging within society.