Reality TV in relation to television - Essay Example

REALITY TV IN RELATION TO TELEVISION REALITY TV IN RELATION TO TELEVISION The concept of reality television or reality TV for short has been known to have a history that spans back as far as the beginning of television itself (Lundy, Ruth and Park, 2008). As a media concept, reality TV can be explained to be a type of TV show in which there is an unscripted situation that takes place within a real life or an actual occurrence (Murray and Ouellette, 2009). This means that in reality TV, the performers do not have prior knowledge of exactly what they are expected to engage in as a form of dialogue or social activity performance. As far as the history of reality TV is concerned, Ouellette and Hay (2008) mentioned one of the first forms of reality TV as taking place in 1948 when Producer-host Allen Funt started a program known as the “Candid Camera”. In the show, people who were unaware that they were being capture on camera were approached with funny and unusual situations and their reactions were filmed. From this, it will be right to say that the concept of reality of TV is directly linked to the social surveillance concept. This is because in social surveillance, the everyday or social actions of people are monitored for some specific purposes, such as the need to managing or directing the behaviours and activities (Papacharissi, 2002). Over the years, reality TV became more of an in-house based so that the social surveillance principle of influencing behaviour will be achieved. There are a number of factors that can be said to have accounted for the successful growth, increase and popularity of reality TV shows over the years. The first of this has to do with the social curiosity nature of people, which makes people naturally want to know what takes place in the life of people in their most ordinary moments (Tokunaga, 2011). Using a reality TV show as “Survivor”, which has been aired since 2000 as an example, it gives viewers the opportunity of satisfying their social curiosity of how people behaviour in their most normal and ordinary lifestyle when faced with socially challenging situations. There is also the factor of developing people’s socio-personal skills. A typical example that can be cited in this instance is with the reality TV show of “The Real Housewives”. Knowing that marriage is a socio-personal concept that lives with most people, the reality show is there to help improve the social status of housewives. Using the show’s housemates are models, it is possible for these people to set good examples for others who watch them to follow. Very often, these shows come with judges and coaches who correct wrongs and reward rights. Through the comments and recommendations of these judges, in most of which cases are experts, learning takes place. What is more, reality TV shows continue to be popular because they satisfy the social lives of people by entertaining them, whiles developing talents. A typical example of this is “Britain’s Got Talent”. As the audience watch and entertain themselves with the program, contestants also get their talents developed. As mentioned earlier, the concept of surveillance society has influenced reality TV greatly due to the relationship that exists between the two (Lyon, 2001). For most of the time, TV shows come to audience in a well scripted and practiced format. Because of this, it becomes very difficult to know what actually takes place in the lives of participants in a very normal life situation. Because such forms of TV programmes are the commonest, audience find it difficult to satisfy their surveillance society demands, which demands that they will know what goes on in the lives of people as realistic agents of society. In a study, Trottier (2011) noted that most audience are constantly looking for the answer to the question of how other people will behave if the people found themselves in situations that audience found themselves in real life. To get a candid answer to such questions, social surveillance becomes the tool that can be used. This is because the concept of surveillance society requires that people will be monitored in their most natural environments. Using reality TV shows “Big Brother UK”, audience come face to face with how other people behave in everyday natural situations. Basing on Foucault’s idea of panopticon however, reality TV may be subdivided into those that inmates are aware they are being surveyed and those that they are not. This is because from the concept of panopticon, those who are being monitored are not expected to be aware that there is any surveillance on them (Semple, 1993). In effect, a reality TV show such as Candid Camera can be said to satisfy the idea of panopticon more than other like “The Biggest Loser” where participants know they are being monitored. When reality TV is compared to other TV programmes, it can be said that most people are becoming more and more identified with reality TV because of the surprises they pull and the sense of social curiosity satisfaction they give (Murray and Ouellette, 2009). Indeed the world and for that matter society is a natural phenomenon and so people feel more comfortable when they are presented with more natural situations than those that are seen to be acted and well rehearsed (Ouellette and Hay, 2008). Comparing a reality TV show like “Dancing with the Stars” to an ordinary movie, one is more likely to prefer the reality TV show, where celebrities will be seen as engaged in normal and natural social phenomena than in movies where their actions are directed and well acted out through various forms of editing. In effect, the reason that reality TV shows bring all people to the same level of social equality is a factor that make people identify better with reality TV shows. There is no denying the fact that reality TV has changed television in general. In the first place, it has helped in bringing variety in what people expect from their television sets. Variety has also been described to be the spice of life. In effect, reality TV has brought spice to television as a whole. It has also make the viewing of TV more emotional and naturalistic, given the fact that viewing takes place in the most natural state of the viewer. The chance that people will shed tears or burst into laughter during reality TV shows is thus higher. This is because they know that whatever takes place in reality TV shows is happening in a more realistic environment. Lastly, reality TV has transformed television by drawing larger audience. In a survey, Wade (2003) noted that most forms of television shows that attract the largest quantity of audience are reality TV shows, especially talent related shows like “X-Factor”. References Lundy, L. K., Ruth, A. M., & Park, T. D. (2008). Simply irresistible: Reality TV consumption patterns. Communication Quarterly, Vol. 56 No. 2, pp. 208-225. Lyon, D. (2001). Surveillance Society: Monitoring in Everyday Life. Philadelphia: Open University Press. Murray, S., & Ouellette, L. (2009). Reality TV: Remaking television culture. 2nd ed., New York and London: New York University Press. Ouellette, L., & Hay, J. (2008). Better living through reality TV. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. Papacharissi, Z. (2002). “The Presentation of Self in Virtual Life: Characteristics of Personal Home Pages.” Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly Vol. 79 No. 3, pp. 643–660. Semple, J. (1993). Benthams Prison: a Study of the Panopticon Penitentiary. Oxford: Clarendon Press Tokunaga, R. S. (2011). “Social Networking Site or Social Surveillance Site? Understanding the Use of Interpersonal Electronic Surveillance in Romantic Relationships.” Computers in Human Behavior Vol. 27 No. 2, pp. 705–713. Trottier, D. (2011). “A Research Agenda for Social Media Surveillance.” Fast Capitalism Vol. 8 No. 1, pp. 56 Wade P. ""Plus-size" contestant wins U.K. Pop Idol, as judge Pete Waterman walks out". Reality TV World. 22 December 2003 Read More