#Free ruler mailfinity series

A press release described Travellers and Roma as living in a “hidden world” and having a “highly secretive community.” From the get-go, TLC’s language perpetuated a dangerous stereotype by instructing viewers to see these people as other, as aliens living outside the mainstream by choice. That TLC’s version of the show-which has substituted an American narrator for Channel 4’s British one, but uses the same content-would be biased was clear from the network’s p.r.

Viewers are instead offered an overly simplistic view of the cultures of Travellers and Roma-two distinct groups, though the show happily conflates them into one category-with scarcely any historical or political context about their place in the United Kingdom and Europe more broadly. “My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding” (a terrible, degrading title to begin with) claims to offer one-of-a-kind insight into a unique community, but it manages to achieve the opposite. What’s most outrageous, however, aren’t the celebrations on display: It’s the show’s voyeuristic, stereotypical, judgmental, and shallow depiction of one of the world’s most misunderstood and, at times, abused minorities. “From the makeup to the miniskirts, from the heels to the hair,” TLC declares at the beginning of each episode, “it’s the outrageous, it’s the unbelievable, it’s ‘My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding.’” The “spectacle” includes teenage brides and grooms, elaborate dresses that can weigh in at more than 70 pounds (including one that lights up in the dark), bouffant hairdos, spray tans, stretch limos, and scantily clad female guests.

#Free ruler mailfinity series

(The official premiere is June 3.) A re-broadcast of the British Channel 4 show of the same name that has attracted millions of viewers and widespread media attention, the series documents the lavish weddings, as well as engagements, first communions, and other milestone events, of Irish Traveller and Roma communities. “A spectacle like nothing else … their lifestyle will blow your mind,” proclaims the commercial for TLC’s newest show, “My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding,” which debuted in a “sneak peek” Sunday night.