Comparison of Reality Shows and Documentary Shows / Films - Essay Example

?Comparison of Reality Shows and Documentary Shows Films There was once a time when the television was regarded as the ?oob-tubebecause of the way that people would sit mindlessly in front of the box and be fed information that amounted to nothing by shows being aired. It was formerly merely a form of relaxation and nothing more. Movies were actually the way by which people received their more intellectually stimulating forms of film entertainment. It was this interest in informative films that led to the rise of ?ocumentaryfilms whose sole purpose was to expose, immerse, and educate the viewer regarding the theme or topic of the documentary via raw film footage of events or situations that transpired amongst real people. To any ordinary person being asked to define what a documentary film is, one is most likely to receive a definition that a documentary is a: ... type of film that is based on the real world and real people, depicting things as they are or telling about historical events in a supposedly truthful or objective manner... filming on some real location without actors, artificial props or a pre- constructed narrative (Juel, Defining Documentary Film). Using the above definition as a basis for reality television, one might therefore deduce that documentary shows and reality television are not so distant cousins in the sense that both offer some sort of story being told in real time wihout the use of the Hollywood rigmarole that we have gotten used to in the past. However, documentary shows and reality television are not the same and, might I dare say, never going to be equal at all in any form of representation in the entertainment media department. A documentary show or film is a movie production shot in real time and covers a multitude of topics ranging from science, economics, politics, and history. Such films provide a voice and venue for discussion pertaining to the truth of certain issues or central themes. It is an uncanny form of film making and story telling as it finds itself the middle ground in educational film presentation as it fully utilizes visual presentation in order to get its message across to the viewers rather than the text of a prepared script. (Shapiro, How Real is the Reality in Documentary Film?) First applied to the 1926 film Moana by Robert Flaherty in The New York Sun by by John Grierson, a documentary film back then meant showing news reels between main feature movies, usually shot on film stock. These days however, documentary films is a term that also applies to the: filmmaking practice, a cinematic tradition, and mode of audience reception... that is continually evolving and is without clear boundaries (What is ?ocumentary Film? Additionally, Grierson also set the tone and pace for what a documentary film must contain in order to be deemed as such by its viewers. A documentary film according to his essay First Principles in Documentary must allow the cinemar to observe life from the point of view of the ?riginalactor and ?riginalscene thus allowing for a more realistic view of the events being depicted on film. The pioneers of the reality television programs would like us to believe that reality television is no different from watching a documentary film simply on the basis that these types of programs do not use ?ctorsnor does it utilize a preset script or setting.Just like a documentary film, no events within the footage is claimed to be staged for the benefit of any one party. Stuart Sweet (What is the Difference Between Reality and Documentary) begs to differ when it comes to the definition of the word ?eality televisionin relation to a ?ocumentaryfilm or show. He claims that: "Reality" programming, which is better termed "unscripted" television, is an entertainment product that makes no attempt to inform or educate, or enrich the world at large. It makes no promise that real events were not altered or staged. "Documentary" programming, in its purest form, is an attempt, through the documentation (with as little staging or intrusion as possible) of naturally occurring events, to inform or educate, and generally implies a call to action. Even a documentary showing happy people in a happy place would imply that unhappy people in unhappy places have something to learn. (Sweet, What is the Difference Between Reality and Documentary) While documentary film making can trace its roots all the way back to the circa 1930's, reality television is a mode of television entertainment that only saw its final form sometime in the year 2000. Reality television took center stage during the actor and writer's strike that year which resulted in television stations having airtime to use but no programs to air within them. The TV industry was in a quandary. They needed to air something, the advertisers paid for the air time after all. But they could not run just commercials 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Enter reality television. One camera, one mic guy, and some unknown people who do not mind becoming EdTV come to life. Just like that, a new genre in television viewing, reality television, was born. The years previous to that saw television stations experimenting with reality TV via the airing of gag and prank shows such as Candid Camera back in the 1970's. The concept of reality television snowballed from there into the final form that we now know it to be. Reality television was first conceptualized and known as popular factual television with its content bordering on information and entertainment (infotainment), documentary and drama (Hill 2) for programs that normally use on scene footage such as shows like Cops which uses on the scene footage for their presentations. Reality television was actually introduced to the viewing public with a very noble cause in mind, that of creating a totally new television show genre known as ?actual television(Hill, 2). However, there will be those in the entertainment industry who will argue that the reality format of entertainment is one which has actually been around since the 1830's when P.T. Barnum presented his first ?ealattraction in the form of a woman who claimed to be the 161 year old nurse of George Washington. The spectators came to see these ?ealattractions more as real people with stories more than circus performers. These events at the P.T. Barnum Circus were actually the first ever documented events of ?oyuerismentertainment which is sadly, the actual basis for reality shows. (Rosen What is Reality TV doing to Us?). Unlike documentary films which cater to a specific audience and interest, usually of a deeper theme or topic that commonly viewed by regular audiences, reality television claims to have a much broader appeal when it comes to the masses. It was Larry Namer of E! Entertainment and Reality Central who explained that: ... there is a large base of reality tv fans: To them reality is television. (qtd. in Hill 3) With the existence of such a viewing public, one might be able to determine that reality based programs may have certain influenting content which helps determine how reality shows are perceived and accepted by the viewing public as opposed to viewing a public documentary show. Take for example the fact that reality shows more often than not have some sort of romantic basis or competitiveness about them. (Nabi 371). This is in stark contrast with the documentaries whose sole purpose is to present the reality of a topic or human condition without any vested interest on the part of the film's producers. Speaking of the human condition as presented in reputable documentaries and short films shown on television, these footages are very rarely edited and shows the reality of the situation being presented without the aid of camera trickery. Which is another aspect that continues to separate the documentary shows from reality shows. I will submit that there was a time when reality shows actually worked without any editing or scripts. However, as the appetite of the viewers for more salicious content on these kinds of programs grew, so did the need of the production company to deliver what the viewers seemed to be responding to. Which has led to the ethical quandary of the current crop of reality shows. To edit or not to edit, to use a script or not, that is the question. (Cline Should We Really Watch?) The documentary style of film making was developed as an educational tool for people who did not have the patience for reading about certain issues and topics relevant to the times. These documentaries were meant to expose the viewers to a reality that he might not have known existed but might have to deal with in the future. It was meant to educate and sow understanding amongst one another. Documentaries in other words, were meant as tools of peace and unification. Reality shows on the other hand were developed without any real purpose in mind other than to serve up ?eeping tomopportunities to the viewers whenever possible. Thus making it a tool of discord and social ramifications instead. Thus the growing criticism of reality television at present (Poniewozik Why Reality TV is Good for Us). Take the following scenario into consideration: a man who has no interest in global travel being made to travel by his friends. From this we can see what other countries lifestyle, cultures are like and what we can learn about each country that he travels.Since the man has no interest in travelling, he has some good and bad experiences to contend with. How does he handle it? Does he make friends or enemies along the way? We see him getting into scrapes and being helped out of it by some good samaritans. What you have just witnessed was a day in the life of ?n Idiot Abroad a documentary based program. The show uses unedited and oftentimes raw footage of the host in the most unimaginable scenarios as he learns to navigate the globe as a traveller of the world which often leads to a new understanding of the world that he lives in. Here is another scenario for you to consider: 2 married sisters go to reside in New York with their husbands. While there, we witness some of the problems that their marriages encounter and one of the sisters ends up in divorce court after only 72 days of marriage. Why did the marriage fail? Were all the scenes that the camera captured real or staged for the benefit of the viewers? Meet ?ourtney and Kim Take New York Season 2 Although this program is one of the most highly rated reality shows on the E! Entertainment Channel, it is also one of the most questionable as the show is fast becoming known for editing the footage being shown in the final cut and is being questioned regarding the multi million dollar wedding of Kim Kardashian. Was the marriage real or was it just meant to boost ratings? Did we actually learn anything by watching this show? Nope. The above mentioned comparison is further proof that reality television does not have the same purpose as the documentary shows. While one show (An Idiot Abroad) promotes cultural understanding and camaraderie, the other (Kourtney and Kim) highlights bad behavior and immorality instead. Reality television uses deception as the basis for its program content. Film makers, be they for documentaries or reality television have a moral responsibility towards their viewers. It their duty and responsibility to promote social well being and teach their viewing public about things like acceptance, trust, compromise, etc. However, only documentary film makers seem to be taking the responsibility thrust upon them as modern day educators seriously. Instead, what we have more of are the reality television crews that would rather promote social divisiveness and discord and it seems that the viewing public is slowly becoming painfully aware of these facts. There are people whose eyes are slowly opening up to the reality of ?ealitytelevision and they come to realize that these kinds of shows, unlike documentaries, provide nothing cultural for the viewer. Instead, reality shows poison our culture by promoting negative attitudes and actions such as bullying as a normal part of everyday life (CBS News The Real Deal on Reality TV). Such modes of thinking do not provide a positive outlook for mental and social health in the forthcoming years. Dr. Steven Reiss, Phd. and professor at the Ohio State University explains that: Reality TV allows Americans to fantasize about gaining status through automatic fame. Ordinary people can watch the shows, see people like themselves and imagine that they too could become celebrities by being on television. It does not matter as much that the contestants often are shown in an unfavorable light; the fact that millions of Americans are paying attention means that the contestants are important. (Dr. Reiss Why Ameria Loves Reality TV). With a whole generation of children worldwide being raised while watching reality television, one can only hazard to guess the kind of damage that these shows will have done on the child's psyche. Reality television, unlike documentaries, shall shape our future world movers and shakers into believing that the meanness and fights is the only way to exist in the world. Thus bringing about more international problems rather than solutions when the time comes. Unlike documentaries which promote more serious schools of thought and and analysis of the plight of others and how we can contribute to the solututions of the world problems, reality shows instead promote consumerism and the ?e, myself, and I always looking out for number one attitude. Thus causing a great economic, racial, and social divide, the repercussions of which will be felt world wide in the future. Reality shows unlike documentaries desentitizes the viewer to the world around him. As such, people start to become less sympathetic and emphatic towards each other. The distrust, backstabbing, and conniving that goes on in the reality shows do nothing to promote any sense of well being in a person. Although both reality shows and documentaries crosses over in the Venn Diagram as we wait for new, exciting, and wonderful if not terrifying things to happen to the subjects of the film that is all these two genres have in common. It is said that everything that we see and observe around us help us to gain a deeper understanding of the meaning of life. documentaries such as Bachelor King, which is all about the life of penguin on the South Pole helps one understand the circle of life in this amazing aquatic animal's life. We see him in his regular habitat, surrounded by the animal equivalent of family and friends, all the while doing activities with them in such a manner that the documentary film maker is able to impart this valuable information to his viewers. We learn all about life on the South Pole for creatures that we would never have given a thought to. Then we come back to Hollywood and we end up ?eeping Up With the Kardashiansas they go shopping and find themselves problematic when Kim can't choose between a Manolo Blahnik and a Jimmy Choo. Seriously, what does one learn from voyeuristically following around this family? These are the kinds of reality television shows that give documentaries a bad name. Unlike documentary show participants whose only desire in seeing themselves on television or film is the plight of their cause, reality show participants do so for a starked difference. The kind of 15 minutes of fame that can only be had by joining a reality show. With its promise of becoming an overnight star and an unbelievably rich life offscreen, one wonders why s/he has not been discovered yet. Participation in a reality show can after all, sometimes translate into a regular job under the kelig lights of Hollywood. Rosen quotes a 2007 UK survey (What is Reality TV Doing to Us) that resulted in one in ten young people saying they would willingly drop out of school in order to be on reality TV as also indicating that half of the 16-19 year olds in the survey ?spired to be a celebrity(Rosen, What is Reality TV Doing to Us). Add to this desire the support of Twitter and Facebook and we have more than a handful of adults who believe that reality TV can provide them with their 15 minutes of fame provided that they can become notorious enough for its producers. As the documentary film makers struggle to source funding as well as air or screen time for their films, reality television continues to soar in the entertainment scene. Something that happened due to the economics of the situation. While documentaries require quite a hefty amount in order to get the film or show produced, a reality show takes only a few hundred thousand to produce and has an almost return on investment for the producer. An end result that no documentary film can ever brag about. Just look at the following statistics and the reason why more and more reality television shows are being produced rather than documentary shows becomes very clear (Reality TV - A Brief History): Reality programming is cheaper than regular programming.  ?Rset a record at $13 million per episode, while $500,000 is typical for an hour of ?ateline (Goodale, TV Feeds hunger for real stories, 1998: 1).  A half hour sitcom easily runs over a million to make, while $150,000 for half hour shows ?talkerazzior ?hen Good Pets Go Badare much cheaper (Streisand, Did you say reality TV?, 2001: 36).  ?urvivorepisodes ran just under $1 million to make (Grover, Off the Island, 2000: 48).  Some reality production costs run 1/3 of the $1.5 to $2 million price tag that it takes to make ?he X-Files(Lacter, ?lair Witch TV, 2000:64). However, there are those who have not given up hope on their documentaries and do their best to get it the kind of air time it deserves. People like producer Joe Berlinger, explain that: With ?conoclasts,every episode has an interesting pairing of these two creative people, so it kind of falls in the reality TV camp. Everyone? looking for great characters. But we try to make ?conoclastsas documentary as possible. There? a spectrum of what constitutes reality TV, but I don? play in the pure reality TV world. Because all the networks are owned by a handful of corporations and everyone? looking for advertising dollars, there are some topics they won? touch (Reality TV: Brilliant Mirror on Soceity or Sign of End of Times? Four Reality Insiders Debate). While documentaries are not always expected to make money for their producers, reality television programs are expected to turn in huge profits for their producers. Reality show producers are enticed to come on board for huge profits like 50% of the advertising revenue, something that cannot be offered by ordinary documentary shows. We can perhaps attribute the constantly rising popularity of reality shows to the fact that the more freedom and equality we receive under the law, the less and less we feel like an individual. Thus the need for some sort of release from the equality that we so desire but also so reject once it infringes upon our individuality. However, reality television made the situation worse instead of maneagable. The want of personal distinction has become a consuming factor for some people. Reality television has altered the psyche of most people into believing that life is not worth living if they are not part of a reality show. They develop a need to gain public attention in any way possible. Even if it means losing their sense of self respect. This is a belief further fuelled by reports from the 2001 Psychology Today Journal that related the following: ... found that fans of shows such as Temptation Island, which puts committed couples in situations that test their fidelity, were notable for their ?ack of interest in personal honor they value expedience, not morality.The attitude that most ?eparated the regular viewers of reality television from everyone else,the study concluded, was ?he desire for status.Reality TV is also noteworthy for its high level of violent behavior. (Rosen What is Reality TV Doing to Us?) Reality shows also prove to be an interesting tool by which to observe the rise in bullying across the country. The Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media reports that : reality shows served up, on average, 52 acts of aggression (physical, verbal, and relational) per hour, as compared to 33 per hour for scripted programs. (Rosen What is Reality TV Doing to Us?) Documentaries and reality television are as different as night and day in terms of the method of filming and desired results. However, they are both tools by which a person can be properly educated in all things that matter in the world. Documentaries enrich the mind and the spirit while asking us to consider the what if's in life. These shows strive to make us consider those people around us and the symbiotic relationship that we have with them. We learn how to coexist if only to be able to survive as a specie. Reality television on the other hand, asks us to observe and question the events that happen around us. It asks us to ponder the real question which is ?s this all that my life is meant for? Maybe I can do something more productive with my time instead Works Cited Barnhart, Aaron. Reality TV: Brilliant Mirror on Society, or Sign of End Times? Four Reality Insiders Debate Kansas City Star. 8 Dec. 2010. Web. 8 Feb. 2012. Cline, Austin. ?hould We Really Watch? about.com. n.d. Web. 7 Feb. 2012 Greenfield, Jeff. ?he Real Deal on Reality TV CBSNews. n.d. Web. 4 Feb. 2012. Hill, Anne. ?eality TV:Audiences and Popular Factual Television New York: Routledge 2005. Juel, Henrik. Defining Documentary Film pov.imv. n.d. Web 10 Feb. 2012. Poniewozik, James. ?hy Reality TV is Good for Us Time Magazine World. 12 Feb. 2003. Web. 6 Feb. 2012. “Reality TV - A Brief History oregonstate.edu. n.d. Web. 9 Feb. 2012. Reiss, Steve Dr. ?hy America Loves Reality TV Psychology Today. 14 Dec. 2010. Web. 6 Feb. 2012. Rosen, Christine. ?hat is Reality TV Doing to Us? Big Questions Online. 4 Aug. 2010. Web. 4 Feb. 2012 Shapiro, Ann-Louise. ?How Real is the Reality in Documentary Film? nd.edu. n.d. Web. 6 Feb. 2012. Sweet, Stuart. ?hat is the Difference Between ?ealityand Documentary? DBSTalk.com. 22 Jan. 2008. Web. 3 Feb. 2012. “What is Documentary Film? Documentary Archive. n.d. Web. 5 Feb. 2012. Read More