Horn

Victoria Horn March 18, 2014 Assignment Two

Introduction/Background:
This paper and this research is all conducted around reality television and my views on the reality aspect of it. Reality television has always been portrayed as everyday life of everyday people, (but cameras around of course to capture it all). My experience of observing reality television is doing observations on the reality television show, The Real World. I observed the real world and saw just how much it was in fact, not like the real world itself. This show, like many others is showing its viewers that life in the real world is like a party, and that everything is handed to you, which makes its a misnomer. Further, I will explain what will make an ideal reality television show, what not to do to keep away from the pitfalls of reality television, and what my standards are when I think of what makes reality programming, reality.
Commented [T2]: More description about the real world and what it is. Commented [T1]: Move this sentence to my last sentence for the thesis of intro.

Literature Review:

Commented [T3]: What did this literature review show me and what stood out and was so important?

Throughout this literature review I have conducted from many different sources, feedback from reality television. The backbone of my paper comes from the television show and series The Real World and my observations on it. My whole point in creating this review is to show how reality television is a misnomer and the basis on how and why it is. I will be specifically focusing on marketing techniques, film editing, and actual reality vs. reality television itself. Reality television is very tricky considering most of their techniques are

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supposed to be hidden rather than thrown into the public that defeats the whole purpose of reality. Because once the viewers see that reality TV isnt really reality as they know it, it becomes less interesting. Reality VS. Reality TV Starting off with Killborn(2012), the conversation gets started on how the general population is getting so hooked to reality television, rather than other shows that are out there for enjoyment. The new television times of reality programming is being placed over on top of the usual produced shows due to the spark of interest. And also according to Rose and Wood(2005) they say a valid point on why these shows are coming up on such a fast up rise, because people expect for their own lives to play out as such. Also views are comparing their own lives to what is on reality television are almost living their adventurous lives through the television. This shows obviously how reality programing is not like reality because people are more invested in TV than their own lives. This has to give on suspicions on how and why this real television is more interesting than our own lives, so what really happens behind the scenes? The blurring of boundaries in real life and entertainment is too mentioned in this article. And by the blurring of boundaries I mean depicting the difference between what is real and what is not. Our normal lives and lives shown on national television have big differences comparing all of the drama that keeps us toned in every week. In Saye(2004) we see how society is so interested, nosey, and invested in other peoples lives but our own so this is why reality TV is taking over the industry. In Survey(2006) we see how there has to be an extensive amount of drama added to reality
Commented [T4]: Re phrase this sentence, im lost?

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television aside from our own reality for it to become popular and for it to hit high on the charts in the first place. In Grazian(2010) it is said that reasoning behind the start of reality television is to try to save money because there is no need for scripts, producing, etc., they would just pick the contestants and put them in a reality situation and film how they react to it. But now in todays reality television programming we see it getting more expensive because to please the viewers they are now adding scripts, editing, and producing going on behind the scenes. But portrayed to the public this is all reality and random selecting as you would think of it to be. A good example explained by Levey(2010), is when producers created a reality TV show where they rounded up 40 children from ages of 8-15 to come together and create their own society on national television. This created a huge uproar on what the lengths the TV industry goes to get viewers and to make their money. These children were getting injured cooking while on camera and this were being filmed during the year when school was going on, so they were missing out on their education. This right here shows how reality television is not real! In what world are 40 children getting together to make their own society and live on their own before the age of sixteen? This just simply cannot be compared to reality. Techniques in Reality TV In Andrejevi(2004), we start the conversation about how reality television shows such as the popular Big Brother, The Real World, and others are being slickly produced behind the scenes and cameras. They do their best to hide things from the viewers like scripts and producers telling them actions to do, to make it as real and dramatized as we can possibly get. Saye(2004)
Commented [T5]: Good example from the actual article and its context.

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bring up the subject of a created cast, purposely picking people to be on certain shows so we know there will be conflict arising, because the difference in personalities. And also to make it seem more real to all of the viewers, the producers create a type of family cast with relationships such as mother/daughter, parent/children so that the viewers can relate more easily and get the audience involved. And a topic kind of foreshadowed earlier, mentioned by Bagley(2001), the reality programming industry relies heavily on what the audience likes and what they do not like. If the viewer are not happy, no ones happy, and happiness cant be created without immediate drama and scandals. And with Denham and Jones(2008) add a lot to the conversation on random selection. Producers instead of randomly selecting contestants they go off of stereotypes and choose white females, and contestants of color because they know that they have a different background and culture, most of them do. There is a process to picking the people they put on national television, and its not the process that we think of when we imagine reality television.

Entering the Conversation:

When it comes to reality programming, there are many standards that I think need to be meet in order for it to classify as reality. Reality television in my point of view needs to actually be able to compare to a normal lifestyle but still be interesting enough to watch. Any day

Commented [T6]: Good detail, would like to see more of this added throughout my paper.

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of the week you can take real circumstances, from real life, and make a TV show that will entertain anyone but still be relatable. And when I say relatable, this everyday life needs to be things that happen to actually more than one person on a normal basis. One major standard that I would expect to happen would be no scripting and behind the scenes fluff. To meet my expectations of a REAL television show, of course there would be camera men, but nothing more to influence the people that they are recording. Major implications that we run into when looking at bad reality television we see little mistakes such as left over scripts laying around, we see them hiring and picking only certain people with specific stereotypes to make the show more interesting, producers called on set, etc. Real TV needs to be all real and no fluff added in to make the viewing rates just go up. Producers need to stay out of the way of reality television shows and let the contestants play out what it would be like in real life, hence the word reality in reality television. So in terms of what not to do, the following shows how you would avoid the pitfalls of reality programming as we know it. One thing not to do is to avoid the stereotypes in random selection as I mentioned earlier. When the producers pick the contestants for a reality TV show, they make sure to pick people who are basically opposites of each other so that the opposites dont get along and go well together. Something also that would benefit them to avoid would be making those little mistakes as I also mentioned earlier of leaving scripts around or having producers show up on the television show trying to solve conflicts that need to be shown and settled on their own. I believe that just over time reality television has gotten worse in terms of fakeness by trying to please the viewers and to make their television show the best and better than others. Something else no to do in when trying to avoid the pitfalls of reality television is to cut out the thought of scripting and editing period, this needs to be real, not scripted. The

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contestants are supposed to be contestants, not actors preforming a show. And if that is what they are aiming for then create a drama show or sitcom and stop portraying reality television as something that its not. Another major thing that I think that is important not to do is putting people in unrealistic settings with everything handed to them. And when I say everything handed to them Im saying all the food, all the alcohol and money to go shopping every once in a while like as seen in the The Real World. One needs to own their own money and their own way of living instead of getting everything handed to them, I mean is that how it is in real reality? Absolutely not. Now comes the part of how I would describe the almost perfect reality television show that applies to then real world and how things are done. First of all, the title for my realistic television show, the title of the show would be Life on the Real, No Bull. I think that the title kind of gives away the thought of it actually being a REAL television show and it foreshadows where the setting will be of my reality show. This show will be staged in southern Georgia on a farm with many farm animals to care and tend to. This goes back to my setting in where I said what not to do which was place them in a unrealistic setting where everything was handed to them and they are waited on hand and foot. The farm would give the contestants a chance to experience what it would be like to take care of not only themselves but animals that determined how they made money for the next three months. The farming of these animals would be their source of income from selling chickens, eggs, cows and their milk to make a living for themselves and the other nine people that are living with them. Now speaking of the people that they are going to be living with, the selection of the contestants will be completely random picking out of a pool ranging from ages fifteen to thirty five. I think that is this a very goof range of people because it creates almost a realistic range of ages, not discriminating just toward
Commented [T7]: Is this sarcasm? Better phrasing, maybe a new sentence to start you off.

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getting young people but being fair about the selection and picking at random. This selection process also creates a variety of ages that many viewers or people watching will be able to relate too and maybe even compare it to their own family lives. The only producer is the producer that puts together the films that will be shown on television and to make sure that everything is appropriate and such. This producer will not be creating scripts and editing the shows to where is makes it unrealistic just so it will be more appealing for the viewers. Also the camera men will be there 24/7, not to only get the good stuff but to get everyday life that they are going through. And I am sure that you are probably thinking well how in the world are there people going to all of a sudden learn how to raise a farm and take care of all of these poop animals? Well my idea to at least give them a little input is to give them an experienced farmer for three days to teach them all that there is to know about farming and tending to animals. In these three days they will get the skills that they will need to know about raising a farm and their resources for selling their products for making a living and surviving on the farm. And I believe by not only adding these details it will make it more real, but it will add to the program and make it more interesting and relatable. I believe that this would be a wonderful example of a television show because it is literally what real people go through and you have to do things on your own without things being handed over to you, (hence REALITY).
Commented [T8]: Broaden your vocabulary past more.

Conclusion/So What?:
So why does all of this matter, and why does it involve any of us? This subject matters because reality programming as a whole are lying to us, and society is expecting for their lives to play out from what they see on television and reality TV. From what I added to the conversation and what was said in my literature review, you can see clearly that reality programming is a misnomer and causes the wrong ideas about reality. My paper will hopefully not only suggest

Commented [T9]: How I feel about what I learned? Elaborate!

Commented [T10]: Be a little more confident that hopefully, this is your paper so have confidence

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ways that reality television is a misnomer but it will help for reality programmers in the near future to think again on how they conduct their shows while also giving tips on how to make it more realistic for the viewers sake. In all, I hope that this information will add on to the research that is already out there and for what is yet to come. In addition, I hope that people will realize what they are watching is not always what it seems and what it is promised to be.

Citations: Killborn, R. K. (2012). `how real can you get?': Recent developments in `reality television. Thomson Reuters, 9(4 421-439), Retrieved from http://ejc.sagepub.com/content/9/4/421.short

Andrejevi, M. A. (2004). The work of being watched. Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, INC, 1(1), 16-17. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=RcYdAAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR3&dq=editi ng reality tv&ots=b1c9hhkUrl&sig=juty0CjWVSUWNjPUP6_iqLbUS14

Rose, R. L. R., & Wood, S. L. W. (2005). Paradox and the consumption of authenticity through reality television. Journal of Consumer Research , 32(2), 284-296. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.librarylink.uncc.edu/stable/10.1086/432238

Saye, N. S. (2004). No "survivors," no "american idol," no "road rules" in "the real world" of "big brother": Consumer/reality, hyper/reality, and post/reality in "reality" tv. Studies in Popular Culture , 27(2), 9-15. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.librarylink.uncc.edu/stable/23414952

Grazian , D. G. (2010). Neoliberalism and the realities of reality television. Contexts, 9(2), 6871. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/41960112

Bagley, G. A. (2001). A mixed bag: Negotiating claims in mtv's the real world. Journal of Film and Video , 53(2/3), 61-76. Retrieved from : http://www.jstor.org/stable/20688357

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Denham, B. E. D., & Jones, R. N. J. (2008). Survival of the stereotypical:a study of personal characteristics and order of elimination on reality television. Studies in Popular Culture , 30(2), 79-99. Retrieved from : http://www.jstor.org/stable/23416126

Bottinelli , J. J. B. (2005). This is reality. right now, right here. so be real": Reality television and the amish "other". Western Folklore , 64(3/4), 305-322. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.librarylink.uncc.edu/stable/25474754

balloon boy "plus ei8ht?" children and reality television hilary levey Contexts , Vol. 9, No. 2, sociology for the masses (SPRING 2010) , pp. 72-75 Published by: Sage Publications, Inc. on behalf of the American Sociological Association Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org.librarylink.uncc.edu/stable/41960113

'Emotional Blood on the Undusted Carpets': The Citizen as Subject in "Wife Swap" JAMES WALTERS Critical Survey , Vol. 18, No. 3, SUBJECT AND CITIZENS (2006) , pp. 51-64 Published by: Berghahn Books Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org.librarylink.uncc.edu/stable/41556181