Moral Education Through Mass Art: Implementing Vanderpump Rules in the Modern Ethics Classroom

In a world dominated by screens, professors more than ever need to diversify their pedagogical methods to compete for the tech-dependent students’ attention. In Section One, I argue the traditional method for teaching ethics does not cater to the modern student, thus to cultivate a more compassionate and ethical society, we should rethink how we conduct our ethics classes.

Traditional ethics classes rely too much on bizarre thought experiments, convoluted and abstract texts, and unstimulating lectures making them less effective at achieving their true purpose, i.e. cultivating what Martha Nussbaum (2010) calls the democratic citizen. I argue that Nussbaum’s narrative imagination should be the hallmark of the ethics class. But, instead of limiting it to just highbrow literature, I argue we can extend the practice of narrative imagination to popular arts, specifically reality TV.

Since students will undoubtedly engage in mass arts such as reality TV, we ought to teach them how to engage with it critically and compassionately. In Section Two, I discuss how reality TV is an optimal medium to practice narrative imagination in the modern classroom because it grabs the attention of the tech-dependent student, is easily accessible, and depicts real life. I believe Bravo’s Vanderpump Rules (VPR) is the best candidate for narrative imagination because it simulates the everyday, provides the means to develop emotional connections to the cast, and explores multiple facets of life.

At this period of time, undergraduates undergo significant transformations within the four main facets of life: family, friendships, romantic relationships, and professions. Because of this, it is imperative students understand how to address the inevitable obstacles within these domains compassionately and effectively. In Section Three, I will discuss one or two ethical dilemmas from VPR in each of the four domains, and couple them with a philosophical concept and specified ethical problem. I present the ethical dilemmas through conversation transcriptions and inspired-by-real-life hypothetical scenarios. By dissecting these situations from VPR, Students not only cultivate the compassion necessary for narrative imagination, but they can learn how to reflect and tackle similar ethical dilemmas in their own lives.