Reality Television as an Attempt to Live the Excitement - Coursework Example

Reality T V An attempt to live the excitement Reality television has become a craze with the audience today. Programs like gameshows, lifestyle makeover shows, cop shows and relationship related shows have reached a new height of achievements in the world of television. But the question is, what makes them so popular? Why is it that Reality shows are becoming as popular as the Soap Operas and the dramas, and in fact, in some cases have become number one shows on television? The secret lies not in the shows but in the mind of the audience. There are two main psychological reasons as to why people watch the TV shows like Pop Idol and x-factor. Firstly, the audience have got an opportunity to ‘decide’ the result of the shows and secondly, they get huge pleasure in watching someone as ordinary as they are, getting an experience of celebrity status, which somehow works as a feel good factor for them. Reality TV is nothing but a dramatic presentation and a program that shows the real life situations of real people ( Hill 2005. p 23). These programs are designed to capture the emotions, fears, actions, reactions and opinions of real life people regarding certain aspect of their lives. The programs range from finding a right match for a millionaire , makeover of a housewife , putting a group of people through physical and mental hardships to see if they can survive and making the aspiring singers to compete with one another to win a coveted title. All theses programs have real people working in it, facing the real situations and going through real experience. There is no prewritten script or dialogues. It is just real. At least, that is what is told to the audience. Now the question is, why do I like watching these shows? What do I get by watching an ordinary singer or an actor, taking part in the show and winning it? After all, this competition is similar to the contests that take place in schools, colleges or universities, right? Well, not really. There is a huge difference between real life competition and the competition that takes place on the TV. And that difference is experienced in our mind. The psychological aspect of Identification plays the most important role in making the reality TV a big hit with the audience. Let us see how the reality TV shows like American Idol are conducted. First of all, there are auditions for the participants. The judges of the show go from one city to another, one state to another, watch the auditions, select the participants according to their abilities and bring them together in one place where the contest begins. But this is not the only things that take place. Every single participant who takes part has a family, a ‘story’, a dream to make it big and an opportunity given by the show. While the auditions are taking place, it is sincerely told to the participants that as it is a ‘reality’ show and as only the reality is going to be shown to the audience, they might face some undesirable reactions from people humiliation and ridicule. However, this does not stop people from participating ( Biressi & Nunn 2005. p 148). The American Idol show not only becomes a huge success but also goes into its second series. What has made the show such a big hit? Why do common people watch this show? As I said earlier, the answer is ‘identification’. When the auditions are going on and the focus is on the lives of common people like you and me, the audience is exposed to the videos that are shot to describe the life of the participant. The program shows the clippings of ordinary things the participants do like paying with their pets, doing mundane chores at homes, going to church, spending time with their family, etc. This is to show that they are as ordinary as you and me sitting on the couch watching the TV. At the same time, their friends, their family members and their mentors are also shown talking about the participant. And when they talk about the participant, they try to say things about him which makes us believe that in spite of being an ordinary person, the participant has an extra ordinary ability and so is worth winning on that particular show (Biressi & Nunn 2005. p 148). In short, the show has captured out attention by showing the ordinary life of that man and also has justified their stand of making him a participant by showing that he has an extraordinary talent. And this is where the audience is caught. Every human being has some hidden desires and dreams. Not everyone is lucky enough to get those dreams realized. The competition and the problems of life makes you to forget those dreams and forget the desire of becoming ‘someone special and important’. But even when we forget them we are not able to erase them. They go into our sub-conscious mind and hide themselves. And these dreams come to the fore when we watch the reality shows that portrays a life of an ordinary human being taking on a challenge of achieving something extraordinary. The audience, forgetting that he is merely a watcher, begins slowly but surely to see himself in the participant. He feels that whatever the participant is going through, is in fact his own experience. Rtaher than feeling passive about the whole reality drama taking place on the screen, he begins to feel that he is an active element of this situation and gets emotionally involved with the participant. His ego gets attached to the participant. And if the participant that he is voting for wins the show, then he feels that he has played a major part in elevating a life of an ordinary human being to an extraordinary level (Biressi & Nunn 2005. p 149). His ego gets a huge boost with this fact. The personal subconscious desires, the suppressed emotions and the forgotten life goals plays a major part in getting the audience hooked to the reality TV. How could we otherwise explain the fact that viewers actually send the texts and the make calls to make sure that their favorite player in the show stays on? On the show called Big Brother, there were 34 million votes received to express their interest in a particular participant (Biressi & Nunn 2005. p 12).. This shows that how seriously the audience get involved and how much it matters to them as to who wins the competition. The statistics that these shows boast of are huge. The auditions of American Idol in itself attracted the viewer ship of 23 million people with 30 percent market share. Almost half of the female teenage audience was glued to the TV. This is also because shows like Shows like Popstars and American Idol transform ordinary people into celebrities ( Hill 2005. p 9). These programs show interactions of ordinary people with people who are famous and extraordinary. Common audience finds this a pleasurable experience. And then these shows have made the audience feel powerful by giving them the authority to vote. As if they are saying, “ You are important and what you say matters to us.” This makes them feel like the judges of the show. They feel that they have the control over who wins the show and are equal to the celebrity judges on the show. This not only make them active participant in the show but also gives them a pleasure of judging and keeping a watch of the participants so that they can justify their choice ( Hill 2005. p 21) . The audience get seriously involved in the shows and start becoming critical about the attitude and the behavior of the participants ( Hill 2005. p 9). They start getting unusual pleasure in the fact that they are in control. The audience start experiencing great pleasure in watching the distress, the happiness, the tensions and the fears of the participants. The audience as if forget their own life for a time being and enjoy the experience of a participant’s journey as their own. The emotional drama and the events that happen on the reality show are the experiences of the non-professional actors that participate in the show. However, the dramatic performance of the non-professional actors makes us to wonder if the reality shows are really the ‘reality’ shows. We do realize that things are definitely not completely real. There are manipulations and changes made to increase the appeal to the audience ( Hill 2005. p57). The reality shows are becoming a craze with the young and the old. However, the genuineness is definitely not one of the elements of these shows. There are so many devices like giving a wild card entry to the participant, giving immunity to the participants or calling back the participant who has been eliminated in the past on public demand, that are used to keep the audience interest alive in the shows. This makes us ponder over the authenticity of these shows. People spend their energies, their time and their votes ( and so their money) by getting actively involved in these shows. The talent shows invite the most active participation. However, the unreal emotions, twisted personal stories and portraying yourself as a victim of bad life when it is not a case, have made these shows a fake one. The real talent and the integrity of the participant is lost somewhere. Any common man who doesn’t even know what singing is all about, comes for the audition. And not just that, the shows actually show their videos and the judges reactions to them just to make the show entertaining. This shows that somewhere, in an attempt to live an excitement, we are becoming fake and missing the essence of the competition. The audience are becoming a victim of the business strategies that the production houses are using to make the shows a huge success. TV series like Pop Idol has won awards ( Hill 2005. p 45). The competition is growing on these shows. There are shows on millionaire marriages, lifestyle changes where the lifestyle experts come to your house, decide what you should wear and behave so that you can be a perfect date and shows where you see real criminals getting chased by real cops. People enjoy watching the reactions of the participants and their exhilaration when they find themselves transformed. These emotional reactions are a big bet on these shows ( Hill 2005. p 29). However, these emotions are getting dramatized to such an extent that it is not real anymore. We do realize tha participants are suggested to behave in certain way and are advised to emote in certain manner so that it looks interesting and keep the audience glued to the TV. This has hampered the aunthecity and the ethics of theses shows. Sometimes shows like these also do not hesitate to create a situation where the participants are shown as a victim of jealousy, anger and racial discrimination just to create some sort of tension on the show and increase the viewer ship. To what extent is this right. The explanation given by the studios is that everything is part of life and what we show is real. However, we know that the whole thing is created and not real. The audience watch the reality show because they feel and see themselves somewhere in the life of the participant. However, now is the time to decide if we are becoming victims of manipulation and false ideas. Integrity and genuineness should be the essence of any talent hunt. A talent should be the factor to become a singer, not his emotional appeal with the audience. If we don’t change now, the next generation will not be capable of distinguishing between what is drama and what is real. References Biressi, A & Nunn, H 2005, Reality TV : Realism and Revelation, wall flower press . Hill, A 2005 , Audiences and popular factual television, Routledge . Read More