Television\'s Hit Series the Apprentice

Television's Hit Series "The Apprentice" with Donald Trump: The Hegemonic Reinforcement of Corporate Values, Capitalism, and Competition in the Guise of Reality Television Show 'Entertainment'

The popular television program "The Apprentice," starring millionaire (though often bankrupt) real estate developer Donald Trump, and his various groups of "fired" or "not fired" "Apprentices" provides an interesting mass media-sponsored example of hegemonic reinforcement of corporate values, in the guise of reality TV show "entertainment." "The Apprentice" and its star offer implicit support for, and even a sort of general advertisement of the "rewards" to be taken from the corporate world, that is, should one be smart, lucky, young, good-looking, and play the game "right." The not-so-implicit message of this supposedly merely fun and entertaining weekly series is that if one manage to become a corporate champion, like Trump's "winners," one will likely be handsomely rewarded in the end, much like the winning contestant on this show, e.g., with a plumb job (like those sparingly handed out by Trump himself on the show), and all the spoils that accompany it: material success, prestige, recognition. On the show itself, the winning "Apprentice" receives a six-figure job for a year, national recognition for being a rising star of American capitalism (at least on television, but television is very convincing), and enough national exposure, including name recognition, that yesterday's obscure nobody need now never worry about being unemployed (or underemployed) or about having to "sell himself/herself" based on anything less than top-level corporate experience (and lots of public demonstrations of his or her business "skills." "The Apprentice" functions as a sort of Cinderella story for the business world (or TV's version of it), with the grand prize being not a handsome prince (or princess) but a handsome job. All the while, enviable aspects of such a prize are strongly reinforced on the show.

As for the payoff for the audience, a significant part likely remains unconscious, or at least covert. On an overt level, though, viewers feel "entertained" by the action at hand: that of bright, attractive, well-dressed, ambitious, industrious contestants scrambling to be the best. Second, again overtly the backdrop of who will be "fired" at the end of the show provides suspense. Third and more covertly, however, one may implicitly assume, without even thinking about it, that he or she is learning valuable lessons about corporate life, and may therefore become successful, or more successful, just by watching the show. What the show is really "teaching," however, is that corporate values, and corporations themselves, are good, beneficial, and admirable, and that a job within one is not just a good, but a glamorous career to which to aspire, especially if one can turn oneself into a "corporate winner" like some of those on TV. Fourth, again largely unconsciously, viewers experience a presentation of implicit values with which they likely already agree (since no one is forcing them to watch the show). These include material capitalism, acquisitiveness, a winner/loser mentality; and the validation of competition and individualism: all of them reinforced and rewarded.

A fifth key reason "The Apprentice" remains popular with so many people is that they can vicariously identify with contestants participating in a staged version of dog-eat-dog corporate life, for the hoped for opportunity of a plum job (in a corporate sense, something like being crowned Miss America; being named the American Idol of the Year, or being the last survivor on a deserted island. In essence, then, one voyeuristically experiences a top-echelon corporate scramble (where only "big dogs" play) without needing to actually qualify (or participate). The unconscious result is a sort of catharsis, during which one may decide not be too envious of the Trumps of the world, after all, since in most cases one either could not be a Trump or would not want to be a Trump. That relieves all the pent-up anxiety of a Trump wannabe. Therefore, such a viewer remains content with his or her current life, acquiescing to (and as a result reinforcing) current hegemonic power structures (i.e., the real power of big corporations, and corporate players like Trump, over all the rest of us)).

"The Apprentice" is especially successful at pro-hegemonic reinforcement, moreover, since it focuses on a subject we all (except for those born independently wealthy, or winners of huge lotteries) recognize and experience day-to-day: work. Hegemonic power of corporate workplaces, and, by association, a national government that allows, and encourages, corporate uses and abuses of power, are validated by "The Apprentice's" implicit suggestion that a high-powered corporate career, the higher paid and more prestigious the better [the stuff that makes the Ken Lays of the world tick], is exciting, fun, glamorous, where the winners are, and something to aspire to, rather than to be suspicious of, avoid for humanity's or the environment's sake, or even critique. In terms of the political implications, moreover, the widespread popularity of "The Apprentice" is especially good news for George W. Bush, himself a Harvard M.B.A., and also the most business-friendly chief executive in all of American history.

But, as is often true in the (corporate driven and supported) world of network television, Trump, the show's Alpha Capitalist, is a fake. After all, Many of Trump's own current (and past) entrepreneurial endeavors fall short of success. To paraphrase then-Senator Lloyd Bentsen, during the 1992 George H.W. Bush vs. Dukakis presidential campaign, "He's no Warren Buffet."

For example, "$1.3 billion in debt, Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts is going bankrupt, this being the second time that Trump has guided his casino businesses to bankruptcy" ("Dinsdag"). As one viewer of "The Apprentice" also states: ". . . he's borrowed so much money that, if the banks don't stand by him, the reverberations will reach all the way to my piggybank. So we should . . . forget that the casinos may have been a bad gamble? ("Inkwell").