Authors Statement

My line of inquiry revolved around Reality Television and the effect it has on
viewers. I questioned if it causes stereotypes or certain types of behaviors and even if it
caused higher sales on certain products the stars used. After doing much research and
finding many different perspectives I decided that the most factual evidence supported
the opinion that reality TV can influence the behavior of the viewers and can also cause
emotional damage and less trust in others. The source that most influenced me when
making this decision was from my blog post number five. The article, titled The Appeal
of Reality Television for Teen and Pre-teen Audiences: The Power of "connectedness"
and Psycho-demographics was by Anthony Patino and gave factual evidence that
supported how reality television could give young girls the connectedness to the stars
and these stars become their idols. Most of the stars are not idol material and this could
lead to bad behavior and potentially dangerous situations. For the multi-genre project I
decided that I wanted my repetend, or overall message that tied all the projects
together, to be Reality Tv, its harmless right? All three project propose different
situations where it is obvious that Reality TV is negatively effecting the viewers,
however by using a question as the repetend the audience must come to that decision
on their own based on the evidence Ive given them. My targeted audience was more
adults and parents who can prevent themselves and their children from watching these
shows. The genre pieces arent all child appropriate and the poem would be hard for a
child to understand. My genres consisted of a cartoon, a poem, and a public service
announcement video.

A cartoon is a way to get a point across without actually having to verbally say
your opinion. Typically a cartoon it a drawn picture but it also has some writing that is
like dialogue and discusses current issues in society. Some typical characteristics of a
cartoon are that they are humorous, they are short and to the point, and most of the
time they are controversial. I used this genre to exemplify my opinion on how Reality TV
can incapacitate the imagination. My next genre, a poem, was a little bit more
challenging. Poems can be more cryptic and less to the point. They can be interpreted
and structured many different ways. One common characteristic of poem is a rhyme
scheme, however this is not always necessary. The purpose of my poem that I authored
was to address all the issues of how reality tv isnt really reality, it creates fake Rules
and perceptions that people think they have to live by. My last genre, a public service
announcement, was used to alert the public of the inappropriate content that is in
Reality TV and that it should be avoided. A public service announcement typically is
informational and serious and is used to convey important messages to the public.
Some of the normal characteristics of a public service announcement is that they are
not flashy, they are minimalistic and they cut straight to the point. Each of these genres
were very different and each had there own difficulty level.
The cartoon was one of my easiest pieces to create. I followed the norms or rules
for a typical cartoon piece and kept it short, to the point, and humorous. The situation in
the cartoon shows a young boy sitting and reading Harry Potter above his head is a
snapshot of his imagination while reading the book and how developed his imagination
has become. His parents are sitting on the couch watching Reality TV and the word
bubble over their consists of nothing. This shows how Reality TV takes away

imagination and doesnt stretch the mind at all when a viewer is watching a show. I used
the over exaggerated faces of the parents to give the cartoon a more humorous appeal.
I designed this piece with adults in mind because I placed the parents in from of the TV
and not the child. This was to show that even the adults watching the Reality TV shows
can be detrimental even if they think that it isnt affecting them in anyway. While I didnt
directly quote or paraphrase anything for this piece I did use an idea I received from an
article titled The Death of Imagination that I considered writing a blog post about. The
article focused on how new technology especially TV and Reality TV shows are killing
peoples imagination because they just watch and dont have to imagine or be creative
(Pollard). I chose to approach this piece the way I did because I wanted it to address
adults and how children arent the only ones who can have their imaginations
destroyed. I used only black and white because I felt that this was symbolic of this being
a black and white situation. There is no grey area and my mind is made up on my
opinion that Reality TV can be detrimental. I chose Harry Potter because many people
are familiar with the series which makes the cartoon more relatable.
The poem went a lot deeper into the issues that Reality TV causes. It focused
more on societal views as a whole and not just detrimental affects to certain aspects.
The poem references many current Reality television shows and how they are very
superficial and lead to behavior that shouldnt be accepted but is accepted because the
audience thrives off of it. The poem didnt reference any one source or any idea in
particular. The poem was a gathering of all the research I did, some of which isnt
included in the blogs, and how through all these Fake bodies and trashy tv
shows (Gennis) and how eventually every reality tv viewer ends up living in the dark,

like trash tv casualties still searching for whats next.(Christensen) Essentially the poem
is my opinion I gathered after reading all the research I found. I used the norms for the
poem and a somewhat typical rhyme scheme although it doesnt always follow the
rhyme scheme and sometimes becomes more of a freestyle poem. However, each
stanza is fourteen lines long and the same thing is said at the beginning of each stanza
Reality TV-its harmless. But this is my reality. Which shows that that although some
say Reality TV is harmless, in my reality it most definitely isnt harmless. The audience
for the poem is definitely young adult and adult because it references a lot of reality tv
shows that adults only watch. The words that I use in the poem would need to be read
by someone who is educated as well for them to understand the point I am making.
Finally, the public service announcement stuck with the norms of a typical public
service announcement. It is straightforward, informational, and serious. The intended
audience is parents and adults because the material in the PSA is explicit and the whole
point of it is to show parents and adults that the content isnt just something that you
would have to illegally search for. The shows are on TV, unmonitored everyday for
children or anyone who pleases to watch. The overall message of the PSA is that the
TV should be monitored and this explicit and bullying Reality TV content should be kept
out of sight for anyone it could influence. I got the idea for the PSA from the article Our
unhealthy love of reality tv bullying which talks about how many people, especially
children, are effected by the bullying that goes on in these shows and how it can lead to
bad behavior (Christensen).
In conclusion, throughout each of my genres I constantly included my repetend,
which was Reality TV, its harmless right? In the cartoon it is exhibited at the bottom

of the picture and helps further the opinion behind the image. In the poem it is stated at
the beginning of every stanza and in the PSA it is stated at the end to help further along
the persuasive portion of why the Reality TV is bad. Although, each of the genres is very
different in its message and style, they all tie back together with the constant idea of
repetend, This repetend ultimately expresses my opinion that no matter who is
watching Reality TV, there is always going to be a detrimental effect wether is be
perception of women or behavior of children.

Works Cited
Christensen, Jen. "Our Unhealthy Love of Reality TV Bullying - CNN.com." CNN. Cable
News Network, 28 Feb. 2013. Web. 24 Apr. 2015.
Gennis, Sadie. "Why Reality TV Is Good for Us." TVGuide.com. TV Guide, 27 June
2013. Web. 3 Apr. 2015.
Patino, Anthony W. "The Appeal of Reality Television for Teen and Pre-teen Audiences:
The Power of "connectedness" and Psycho-demographics." Journal of Advertising
Research 51.1.288 (2011).Web. 9 Apr. 2015.
Pollard, Dave. "The Death of Imagination How to save the World." How to save the
World. Word Press, 20 Aug. 2013. Web. 24 Apr. 2015.
Stefanone, Michael A., Derek Lackaff, and Devan Rosen. The Relationship between
Traditional Mass Media and Social Media: Reality Television as a Model for Social
Network Site Behavior. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 54.3 (2010):
508-525. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 27 Mar. 2015.