Why is it that we can flip through channels insensately and then come upon a reality show and freeze? Perhaps we want to see how the other half lives, the reality TV stars. Perhaps it’s for entertainment value. Perhaps it’s something that resonates with us.
For those of you who’ve heard of MTV’s, The Real World, this was my first experience to Reality TV. I was 15, it was the latest buzz and the world was watching.
The Real World was originally produced by Mary-Ellis Bunim and Jonathan Murray and first aired in 1992. The idea was to originally have a scripted cast and do something similar to a soap opera. That idea was scrapped and the decision was to produce the ups and downs of real life relationships unscripted.
The Real World San Francisco was MTV’s third season of the hit show which first aired in June 1994. This is a story of seven strangers who are picked to live together in a house and have their day-to-day lives filmed unscripted. This was the first season featuring someone dealing with Aids and also the first season to cast an Asian-American and two Hispanic Americans. The Real World is the longest-running program in MTV history and is credited with launching this pop culture craze.
You may be surprised, but Reality TV wasn’t born in the 20th century. Reality TV shows have been around for over 50 years. Hit shows such as Candid Camera and The Dating Game are pioneers of reality TV.
Reality TV shows have boomed in the last ten years. You may be familiar with other popular shows such as Survivor, The Real Housewives, The Biggest Loser and Jersey Shore. They all have something in common- raw emotion. These shows make us laugh, they make us cry and they make us scream; sometimes they leave us scratching our heads.
Do I dare ask, what makes us watch Reality TV Shows?
If you have ever have been excited, nervous or angry and at the edge of your seat while watching a reality TV show; the networks have successfully enticed you into watching. Mass media achieves this through sensationalism or dramatization of subject matter no matter how insignificant an irrelevant it may be. It’s clever and it works. These shows are so popular because people can identify or relate with them; the struggles and the triumphs of everyday people going through similar experiences. Reality TV shows provide a window into a diverse world around us through the safety of our living room.
The lens in which I choose to anaylze reality TV shows is both deconstructionism and postmodernism. The editing that is done in reality TV shows picks apart the material and subject matter and transforms information we are exposed to and allow us to draw an entirely different meaning of what is being conveyed. Media has radically transformed society's norms, values and beliefs. "The postmodern society requires new concepts and theories to address the features that characterize the new era: fragmentation of individuals and communities; a consumer lifestyle; a sense of alienation; and a destabilization of unifying discourses and principles." --Sonja K. Foss, 2009.
" Watch what happens next.."
The lens in which I choose to anaylze reality TV shows is both deconstructionism and postmodernism. The editing that is done in reality TV shows picks apart the material and subject matter and transforms information we are exposed to and allow us to draw an entirely different meaning of what is being conveyed. Media has radically transformed society's norms, values and beliefs. "The postmodern society requires new concepts and theories to address the features that characterize the new era: fragmentation of individuals and communities; a consumer lifestyle; a sense of alienation; and a destabilization of unifying discourses and principles." --Sonja K. Foss, 2009.
" Watch what happens next.."
I love your question for analysis! Although reality TV shows provide a window into a diverse world, I think they are very manipulated into being more "juicy" than what is actually happening. The cutting and editing from those shows are sometimes very noticeably out of place. Great job! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your input, I agree.
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