Whether you realize it or not, television acts to persuade the audience of a certain set of ideologies. Shows will integrate plot points and character motivations to make the audience have certain attitudes and beliefs towards a subject.

Ideologies are often defined as “normative” beliefs. They uphold the status quo of thought rather than challenge it and work in the interests of those in power. The guise of ideology effectively conceals the harsh truth of subordination — especially as it pertains to depicting dominant mindsets in media.

In UnREAL, the messages being told to the audience are deafening. They uphold patriarchal structures — often commenting on or dancing around them without actually challenging long-held beliefs. In “Fly,” the audience is told over and over again that women are not desirable when they’re older and that women must be in constant competition with each other to succeed.

“Fly” focuses on Mary, the designated “desperate MILF,” and her family date with Adam. Her entire characterization thus far has been seen as a joke — the producers don’t think a play-date with her kid will be sexy and are surprised she’s been kept on this long. Chet is the most surprised and makes a bet with Quinn that she won’t last the week. Quinn agrees while dealing with her own ageing and desirability to Chet — who is always seen with younger women.

While UnREAL has moments where older women are in power — like Quinn’s dominance as a producer and Mary’s moment in front of the mirror in lingerie — the show is constantly reminding the audience that older women can never compete with younger women. The rest of the contestants are perfect pictures of what America finds traditionally beautiful — and Mary is made out to be an outlier rather than a societal change of beauty standards.

The most inescapable message that “Fly” conveys is that women will always have to compete with each other and tear each other down in order to get ahead in a patriarchal world. This is seen in the competitions between Mary vs. Anna, Rachel vs. Lizzie and Rachel vs. Shia.

The case of Mary vs. Anna is the most obvious example of female competition as it pertains to Everlasting. To win his bet, Chet tells Anna to interrupt the family date and make it about her. Anna does, which sets off an already unstable Mary — making her seem crazy and jealous in front of America. Anna is then rewarded for this when she gets some one-on-one time with Adam.

The fight between Rachel and Lizzie happens behind the scenes. Both are desperately fighting for Jeremy’s attention — Lizzie, Jeremy’s fiance, starts comparing herself to Rachel and gets upset when he saves her from potential danger. Instead of being mad at Jeremy for having a wandering eye, most of her rage is pointed towards Rachel for being the object of that desire.

Lastly, Shia and Rachel have had a contentious competition that has largely been one-sided. Shia was upset when Rachel came back because she got relegated to a lowly producer with less trust from Quinn. In order to raise the stakes and get more drama than Rachel, Shia started giving Mary alcohol and switching out her medication. With the push from Quinn, Rachel decides to invite Mary’s abusive ex-husband to the date so she can get closure.

Both of these coincide at once which makes Mary lose her sanity. Shia, feeling guilt for her own role in this, puts the blame on Rachel for bringing Kirk. Shia is able to absolve her guilt somewhat by putting Rachel down.