That’s
only two examples but I actually watch a lot of reality TV shows if they’re on
TV and for some reason I find myself hooked most of the time. I’ve always like
America’s Next Top model (ANTM) and I only got into watching Geordie Shore a
few months ago, which is weird because I thought I would never actually get
hooked.
So,
what defines reality TV? Hill (2005) states that “reality TV is commonly used to describe a range of popular factual
programming… a variety of styles and techniques associated with reality TV,
such as non-professional actors, unscripted dialogue, surveillance footage, hand-held
cameras, seeing events unfold as they are happening in front of the camera.”
I noticed in Hill’s (2005) definition it says unscripted dialogue but a similar popular
reality TV show to Geordie Shore, called Jersey Shore is apparently scripted. Online articles from softpedia.com by Gorgan (2011)
claims that the producers would have the cast members do several takes until
they are happy with it; she goes on and says in September 2010 (the year of when
the show aired) there were pictures from the set of the girl cast member getting
their hair and makeup done by professionals before going out to the clubs. I also heard that Geordie Shore started off being unscripted but by season 3 the show became scripted.
It
makes me wonder with a lot of reality TV shows of how many actually started
unscripted and then turned to being scripted. With that being said why is
reality TV called “reality” where in fact it is all staged and the “non-professional
actors” become actors anyway. I think that audience including myself forget
that we shouldn’t believe everything we see on TV. With reality TV sometimes
audience know that the show isn’t real yet we forget because we’re so
interested and caught up with the dramas and the problems that the people face,
we want to see how they deal with it or solve it.
Usually
a reality TV show would be about high-class people for example “Keeping Up With
The Kardashians’ because they’re famous but “Cathy Come Home” was different, it
was based on the working-class people and their difficulties. Biressi
and Nunn (2005) states “Television
producers, directors and writers increasingly aimed to depict a ‘history from
below’ that could give a voice to working-class experience and touch the social
conscience of their audience. When I was watching it I completely forgot it
was a documentary. Even if it wasn’t a real and it was scripted and staged,
what Cathy and her family had to go through was in fact more of a reality
because it deals with an important issue in society.
Reference
Biressi,
A. & Nunn, N. (2005). Real Lives, documentary approaches. In Reality TV:
realism and revelation. (pp. 35-58) London: Wallflower.
Gorgan,
E. (2010). ‘Jersey Shore’ Is Scripted,
Fake. Retrieved October 19, 2012 from http://news.softpedia.com/news/Jersey-Shore-Is-Scripted-Fake-155981.shtml
Gorgan,
E. (2011). More Proof that ‘Jersey Shore’
Is Fake Emerges. Retrieved October 19, 2012 from http://news.softpedia.com/news/More-Proof-that-Jersey-Shore-Is-Fake-Emerges-209335.shtml
Hill,
A. (2005) The reality genre. In A. Hill, Reality TV: Audiences and Popular
Factual Television. (pp. 14 – 40). Oxon: Routledge.
How have they constructed our conceptualisation of reality
ReplyDeleteBiressi, A. & Nunn, N. defines Reality TV as “an emphasis on the representation of ordinary people and allegedly unscripted or spontaneous moments that supposedly reveal unmediated reality” (2005). Many people enjoy reality TV because it can be seeing an ideal reflection of realism and also imply the potential possibility for ordinary being. The reality genre suggested by Hill is that reality TV is a type of program between fact and fiction, it is a “factual television”, “real people show”, “topical futures”, etc.…(2005). For example, in the most successful reality TV series ‘Hell’s kitchen’, they constructed audience conceptualisation by imply the factual event happened using a lot of surveillance footage. Refer to Hill’s point of view, in fact the show is based on real ordinary people who come to Hill Kitchen with their dream but only the talent one’s dream will came true. On the other hand, it is didn’t happen in reality, but reality TV pretends that it did ( Le Guinn, n.d.) which is a kind of leading toward fiction.
Reference
Hill, A. (2005) The reality genre. In A. Hill, Reality TV: Audiences and Popular Factual Television. (pp. 14 – 40). Oxon: Routledge.
Hey Emill,
DeleteThanks for commenting on my post. I really like how you support your ideas with research. I definitely agree with you that reality tv consists of factual events and real people who are under surveillance footage. There are a lot of reality TV shows like X Factor, So you Think you Can Dance and America's Next Top Model that all have the one goal that only one person will win. Audience are interested in seeing who will win and if their favourite person gets through. However, reality TV shows like Keeping Up with the Kardashians is about their lives being filmed 24/7 so the world can see. Makes me think, isn’t that annoying?