two on camera. Bridezillas illustrates what modern day marriage has evolved into while also depicting the stereotypical gender roles that future spouses are often faced with. Modern day marriage is more often than not an extravagant and grandiose event as depicted by many of the weddings in Bridezillas.
For example, during the recession in 2011 the average cost of a wedding was about $26,501 (Townley). However, they were not always so lavish. Before the twentieth century, couples were discouraged from having “elaborate weddings because they detracted from the occasion's real purpose: the joining of compatible partners in holy matrimony” (Jellison). Conversely, the rise of consumerism combined with the urban middle class in the 1920’s caused a shift towards luxury (Jellison). In addition, the wedding industry jumped at their chance to make money and began marketing more towards women due to marriage being considered “a woman’s most important accomplishment” through the 20’s and 60’s (Jellison). While that old adage is thought to have died in the twenty first century, Bridezillas seems to say otherwise. Often during the episodes the weddings are centered on what the bride wants, and the grooms appear to have little to no say on the matter. In one of the more extreme cases, bride-to-be Dezjuan would not listen to her fiancé Tyler at all, and according to Tyler, they were going to have the wedding “of her dreams” not his. For example, when the couple was sampling cakes for their wedding, she says “This is buttercream. This is what we are having. This right here.” Tyler then retorts “I don’t like it”. She replies “No, you do like it. Eat it. It is
good.” This interaction indicates not only how weddings are often centered on the bride, but also how the groom is expected to go along with her choices and not say a word. The gender roles within Bridezillas are very cut and dry. Firstly, the female role is to orchestrate the entire event and make all or most of the decisions. In contrast, the male role is to sit back and let his bride-to-be do as she wishes with little to no commentary. In fact, the advice of Ariel to other brides-to-be was “Don’t listen to the groom. Don’t listen to your mom. Don’t listen to anyone because you need to get what you want.”, and her fiancé Brook’s advice to other grooms-to-be is “to just chill out and go with the flow”.