This week in one of my COMM courses, we watched a couple of reality televisions shows. After watching the shows, we discussed why thy were considered reality shows and if we agreed. We found that the "reality shows" had staffed writers and many of the cast members were not the average people that we thought they were. Half of them were trying to get into show business! So..this is just a "reality show," not reality at all.
We also talked about American Idol, which was also mentioned in Jenkins' book. American Idol is very similar to all other reality shows that are, in my opinion not reality at all. These shows have producers who are able to manipulate things so that the show has whatever outcome that they suggest. Is this convergence...or not?
Ah, the smoke and mirrors of show business. It's kind of like most documentaries made these days. What you are presented with is usually not how it actually is. Documentaries, just like reality TV shows, are edited perfectly to show you exactly what the directors and producers want you to see. It's usually just as much fiction as Captain America :)
ReplyDeleteUgh I hate that it is made up soo much now. I am a big reality TV fan and I have actually been brought with the opportunity to audition for one but hearing so many different things about "reality TV" makes me kind of upset that its not all real. However I still do believe that some if it is real!
ReplyDeleteWhile as a populace we may say we want reality I think its more a case of the producers "knowing" whats good for the audience. I am not saying this is right, just how I see it to be.
ReplyDeleteI think that producers have to much at stake to just throw their precious air time to a bunch of "real" people. They want the illusion of reality but not the chaos with which it comes.
I think that the word "reality" is just a term to bring in an audience. Many of today's shows are reality tv shows and they are pretty big across the country. However, when it is referred to as a reality tv show that in itself makes it marketable because a lot of people try to find a way to relate to these shows assuming that it is real. But going off of what you said, since many of these shows are scripted you as a fan have to decide whats real and whats just tv. Is it right to manipulate fans? Who knows. But for some it makes for good tv.
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