the Female Body GOVERNING

Productive Bodies 143
members present. The show proceeded accordingly for 13 weeks until a
winner was selected. The “winner” was then awarded the opportunity to
work for one year as president of one of Trump’s companies.
These 13 weeks of work and competition are organized as entertainment
in the form of reality television. Nonetheless, the “real life”
outcome—the “opportunity to work”—differed from other reality
competitions in which the winner leaves with a cash payment and
ostensibly the possibility of not having to work. 9 This show exhibited
both the active participation in work tasks as they exist in contemporary
corporate America and, because of its competitive component, makes a
statement as to the form and quality of contemporary professional work
and the form and quality required of the worker who is to succeed in
today’s economy. Each week the contestants were required to perform
divergent tasks that ran the gamut from selling lemonade on the streets
of New York City, to negotiating with known celebrities for a fund-raising
event, to renovating and renting a New York apartment. Notably, the
tasks are not representative of the job position for which the candidates
would be “applying”; rather the tasks themselves are immaterial. The
team and candidates that succeeded were those that best demonstrated
the qualities of the postindustrial worker. That is to say, it is not that a
candidate can do any particular thing, but rather that the candidate is fl exible
enough to do anything. Particular skills were not required; instead,
what was necessary was the ability to develop affective relationships
both inside and outside of work. In the case of The Apprentice, the social
adeptness or ineptness of the candidates was illustrated not only during
the workday, but also in the required communal living arrangement.
Work does not end.
The teams were initially divided by gender. Choosing a corporate
name was the fi st task of each team. The name Protégé Corporation
recognized the objective and role of each candidate in her relationship
to Donald Trump. The name Versacorp recognized the versatility and
fl exibility that both corporations and their employees must embody. The
teams and their members were required to move easily from one set of
tasks to the next, from one skill set to another, and were to adapt quickly
to unpredictable changes and opportunities. This quick adaptation
required the potential employees to use all of their resources including
their material bodies. Although, presenting some ethical concerns to
both the teams and the audience, the contestants readily sexualized and
racialized their bodies to complete the job tasks. For example, whether
taking the opportunity to use one’s sexual qualities to sell alcohol at
Planet Hollywood, as the women were accused of doing, or to capitalize
on one’s gender and race by presenting oneself as a famous athlete, as an