Document Type
Poster
Publication Date
Fall 2025
Abstract
This project uses topic and word frequency arcs to explore a seemingly frivolous yet ultimately revealing part of modern TV: The Real Housewives franchise (2006-). By looking at the taglines the women use to introduce themselves along with full transcripts of episodes, I want to examine how the mood and language of different cities change from region to region of the wildly popular series. I focus on a small sample size of three areas: the West Coast (Beverly Hills), the Northeast (New York City), and the South (Atlanta). Based on what I have noticed as a longtime viewer of the show, I expected West Coast programming to use more wealth-focused language, Southern shows to highlight themes of empowerment and rivalry, and Northeastern episodes to lean more negative or confrontational. By comparing common and frequent keywords and emotional trends, this project hopes to show how regional identity shapes the tone and personality of each Housewives city. More broadly, this project shows how topic analysis can help us understand the cultural values and regional identities that shape popular media, revealing patterns that go beyond entertainment and reflect how different parts of the country talk about power, conflict, and emotion.
Recommended Citation
Fattahi, Ava, "Reading Between The Taglines: Regional Topic Frequencies In Reality Television Narratives" (2025). IPHS 200: Programming Humanity. Paper 89.
https://digital.kenyon.edu/dh_iphs_prog/89
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.