Mercedes in bikini: Pride or shame for Iranian-American woman?

Dec 15, 2012

Iranians in Diaspora , Entertainment

Mercedes (MJ) Javid

Finally American TV is not casting Iranians as violent terrorists thanks to "Shahs of Sunset," BRAVO's new reality TV series about hedonistic lifestyles of wealthy Iranian Americans. This week's poolside pictures of Mercedes Javid, a real character in the show, in a "tiny" bikini holding a beer bottle, certainly showed a "nontraditional," immodest side of an Iranian woman to American spectators. Mercedes is also introduced as a successful businesswoman but at the same time humiliated in the media for her immodestly posed pictures.

US Weekly wrote: "Javid, a 30-something luxury real estate agent, showed off her voluptuous figure by pouring her curves into a teeny weeny purple leopard print bikini .. Javid also showed off an impressive gold cuff and watch ... While the pint-sized reality TV star and a pal soaked in the sun poolside, they opted not to get in the water for fear of a wardrobe malfunction! or ruining their hair and makeup. "

Mercedes Javid

Daily Mail suggests Javid is attempting to follow Kim Kardashian to boost her popularity by wearing as little as possible: "[she] was seen spilling out of a blue strapless bikini which appeared to be a couple of sizes too small." One commentator wrote under this story "Yuck.. doesn't she own a Mirror? " and another one commented: "why some insist on degrading themselves and look disgusting?"

On a video on the entertainment channel TMZ (seen below) Javid was compared to "Jabba the Hut," the ugly mean monstrous character in Star Wars:

The new series on Bravo, produced by Ryan Seacrest Productions, shows the lives of young and rich Persian-Americans as they balance their social, romantic, and career lives with the values of their families and community. The cast members of this reality show, claim their parents landed on U.S. soil "with nothing," but then we notice they all landed in Beverly Hills! of all places!

Some of the show's strong ratings my be attributed to the controversy in the one million-strong Iranian-American community over the portrayal of Iranian-Americans as spoiled, shallow and decadent, as discussed in a recent blog here.

Some American critics (as in TMZ video below) believe the Iranians on the show try to live "richer than they are" but this "Pretense" and "Shallowness" is their "real" persona so the show is a truly appealing "reality TV" series.

The Iranian American men on this show are Jewish or gay, and all in real estate business. But most Iranian-American men are not Jewish, gay or in real estate, so the sampling is very skewed and perhaps done for shocking and entertainment purposes. The series is criticized by many Iranian-Americans because it stereotypes them as superficial, materialistic, spoiled and dysfunctional - men as womanizers, women as spoiled, and all as superficial, hedonistic and materialistic.

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