Fall

16

Humilitainment
We are what we watch

The ethical issues of television shows and its impacts on

viewers feelings and behaviors

Nguyen Le Khanh Linh (June) – 1121 4132

ABSTRACT

We live in the midst of a mass media era where the access to any types of
multimedia contents is fast and easy. Mass media is where people feel free to
enjoy the way they want. After the invention of television, a number of
television shows has been established and watched by billions of viewers
around the world. Television shows, with the innovation of technologies, is
becoming one of the most common sources of entertainment. It is not easy to
tell the impacts of mass media on human in just one paper. There are
numbers of studies on how various types of mass media affect human on
various aspects. In order to entertain the audiences, ethical aspects was not
protected during the process of producing many media contents.

There is an overwhelming amount of reality shows on TV these days. This

thesis investigates the relationship between reality shows and the public’s
reaction, especially how humor elements affects the audience. Although it is
difficult to summarize the effects television shows cause on human behaviors,
There are two main questions raise during the research of this topic: (1) Why/
How do we derive the pleasure from others’ misfortune?, (2) Can an
entertaining, profitable show be ethical?. The purpose of this study is to
investigate the effects of media on human feelings and behaviors with
particular focus of reality and variety television shows. By introducing the term
“humilitainment” and examining how television shows apply this characteristic
in order to address audiences interest, the paper aims to explore the pattern
of humilitainment in the producing process of television shows and point out
the dark effects of these products.
Table of contents

Title: Were we supposed to laugh?

The ethical issues of television shows and its impacts on viewers feelings and
behaviors

Thesis: The humiliation aspect of variety/reality shows has negative

influences on human behaviors.

Research question:
(1) Why/How do we derive the pleasure from others’ misfortune?
(2) Can an entertaining, profitable show be ethical?

I.Introduction

A. The brief introduction of TV reality shows history and the use of humors

B. Thesis statement: The quality changes of humors in reality shows and

its impact on viewers.

II. Background and literature review

A. Theories of humors

Summarize the theories of humors to have a brief understanding about
humor study and its philosophy.

B. Reality TV ethnics.
Analyze and summarize reality TVs as its origin, providing a basic framework
for further use.
III. Evolution of variety shows

A. The use of humors in variety shows in different regions

Mainly focus on Japanese and American variety shows. Analyze the contents,
sources of the humors use in the show. The change of humor elements in
media

B. The joy of watching variety shows and the reasons behind the laughing
Discuss the reactions of viewers by examine the journals, articles, rating and
records of the shows.

IV. Schadenfreude in social life and media

a. Schadenfreude in social life

Giving the brief information of how Schadenfreude happened in social life and
between social relations.

b. Schadenfreude in reality shows

Analyze the process of Schadenfreude in reality shows.

V. Laughter and outrage: Reaction of audience on different type of

humor

Looking at the relation and limit between laughter and outrage and how
humiliation (Schadenfreude) affects audience reaction/thinking

Also, take a deeper look at different type of laughter (thoughtful laughter, fake
laughter) to identify the reaction.

VI. Methodology
 A. Examine journals and video of some reality shows (Youtube)
B. Conduct survey and direct interview to find out the reaction of people
on different type of humors.

VII. Result

VIII. Discussion
a. Thesis
b. Summary and evaluate the result from the surveys and interviews.

IX. Conclusion

X. References
I.Introduction

A. The brief introduction of TV reality shows history and the use of humors

Reality television is a difficult-to-define concept in media discourse for its

varicosity in term of forms and topics. There are more than just several
Michelle (2009:1) says: “increasing questions are being raised about the
viability of various traditional approaches to reality T.V”. Reality television can
include an cover a wide range of subjects from sports, education, cooking,
romance, friendship, business, etc. But beside the wide range of topics that it
covers, reality television is often being configured as abroad category of TV
program genre that subsumes an even wider range of programs that claim to
be both factual and entertaining. The reality television only gains its popularity
from 21st century, when televisions became popular and widely used. Not
only in developed countries, reality television shows continue to become more
and more popular everywhere around the world. As itself became popular, the
forms and also the sub-genres has also been increasing since then to reach
out for new markets and look for more potential audiences. The focus of this
paper is to explore the concept of reality television and the use of humors in it.

Some of the main reasons for having television shows as a tool in different
fields are for advertising, PR and profits. The most important of all is to
entertain the audiences, since audiences are the main profit sources as we all
can imply as “the one who pay”.

Humiliation may be one of the worst experiences of one Schadenfreude is a

German phrase, combined by two words “schaden” means harm and “freude”
which means joy. The combination creates a meaning of joy harm, the
pleasure derived from the misfortune of others. The core of this research lies
within the question why can we enjoy while watching something bad happens
to others. For example, a girl got scolded by Gordon Ramsay in Hell Kitchen,
and then he sent her out after that. Someone was hurt, she was about to cry.
The famous American Idol shows also using the same pattern by showing
numbers of “failing” contestant. The raise of Youtube videos combining those
performances with a large number of views emphasize the enjoyment of
viewers. The actual use of the that ingredient is to emphasize the
extraordinary appeal of other contestants.

Those two are just a small part of the television shows in which humiliation is
one of the spice in show hotpot. Humiliation in those shows exist in different
forms, physical or mental, that sometime it is hard to tell whether it is
humorous or humiliated. There are several explanation that the show was
made that way, so it is ok for us to enjoy it. When we see someone on the
street, they got yelled by other, do we feel the same way? The consequence
of the show is that whether people will react the way they do when they watch
the shows or not. At the same time with the sympathy when we see someone
got hurt or in shame, we also have that schadenfreude in mind, the pleasure
from other’s pain. Humour, in its narrower sense, humor is distinguished from
wit, satire, and farce. It is less intellectual and more imaginative than wit,
being concerned more with character and situation than with plays upon
words or upon ideas; more sympathetic and less cruel than satire; more
subtle than farce.

Humor in particular is one simply form of ingredient that lead to humiliation.

The pattern to make people laugh is almost the same with humiliating others.
According to Monro, D. H, there are three theories of humor that is commonly
use which are superiority theory, incongruity theory and relief theory. These
three theories are base on the change of human emotions that create laugh.
In order to create the connection between humor and laughing, it is necessary
that the audiences were not included. In other way, it means that the
audiences should not be the target of the joke. One other technic is that
humor happens when there is a surprise between what the audiences expect
and what really happen. Unexpectable and ridiculous things are some of the
oldest tik-tak to create laugh. The last theory talks about the relief when we
are not included. As we are observing someone that is not like us, we feel
more free to enjoy. It is impossible to feel the joy when we are actually the
same or same things happened to us. This creates the fact that we do feel
pity for the misfortune of other but at the same time, the enjoyment raise when
we know that we were not a part of that.

Smith, R. H. (2014) stated in his The joy of pain that “What sports fan can
suppress delight when a hated rival loses? Political junkies know the thrill of a
scandal befalling an opposing candidate. How about when an envied friend
suffers a little setback? Who fails to laugh when an arrogant but untalented
contestant is humiliated on American Idol, or when the embarrassing vice of
an ideological politician is exposed? “

According to social comparison theory, proposed by the American

psychologist Leon Festinger, human tend not to define and evaluate
themselves by the social moral system, but more by comparing them to
others. In consequences, they found joy and relief when they see others’
misfortune. As we watching the “failing” contestants on TV, the audiences
somehow find out that their life were not that miserable. There is a link
between this “schadenfreude” and jealousy. Jelousy, as defined in Merriam
Webster dictionary, is the unhappy or angry feeling of wanting to have what
someone else has. In the other way around, it is lack of self confidence that
lead to this feeling. As we do not believe in our abilities, we tend to feel angry
when seeing other achieve the things the we could not. The result is
whenever we observe someone that is below us, we feel pleasant, or maybe
enjoyable. As mention above, the audiences tend to believe that it is ok to
laugh, to enjoy because the shows were made to create that joy or because
the shows were fake. This cruel feeling of human was covered really well
under the coat of obviosity, that it is not cruel at all to enjoy others’ misfortune.

In order to have the audiences interest or keep the ratings of the show, it is
important to balance between the talents and the un-talents. This create the
two ways emotion for the viewers. As the same time at the admiration, there is
the feeling of pleasure. This paper aims to explore the pattern of
humilitainment in the producing process of television shows and point out the
dark effects of these products.

What is reality television?

It is difficult to clearly define reality TV since it includes a wide-range of

characteristics and often defines in different ways. To get the basic
understanding of this two concepts in the context of this paper, these two
definitions are used for analysis:

Reality television shows are those shows that contain producer related
‘producer created environments that control contestants’ behaviour’. /(Charlie
Parson, creator of survivor series, 2005).

One more definition of Hill (2005:1) stated that:

Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents

purportedly unscripted dramatic and sometimes humourous situations and
with individuals who are often persuaded to act in specific scripted ways by
off-screen “story editors” or “segment television producers”, with the portrayal
of events manipulated and contrived to create an illusion of reality through
direction and post-editing techniques.

One important characteristic of reality television is that it claimed to potray

reality, not the dramatic and edited situation. Paris Hilton famously said about
her reality show The simple life that all reality show are actually fake when
people assume that it was real. The show was not fake itself, but because of
the cameras and all the things around that make people act accordingly.

The change of television in the past two decades lead to the change of
television shows. Back to the time where television was not that popular, most
of the shows use famous actors and actresses with careful written script to
attract audiences. In the time of cable tv and satellites where it is so easy to
have access to television, a wide-range and number of shows produced under
the title of “reality television” in order to distinguish them from scripted shows.
From talent shows, to personal life show, or even weird contests are used to
create the base formats of the shows. The origin of reality shows is where
camera are all hidden and everything recorded was actually happened. But
most of the show at the time was filmed in the studio, with tons of preparation
and staffs to guarantee the show filmed perfectly. The producing process and
scripting of these shows adding more ingredients to create a show for
entertaining.

The history and development of reality televisions

Reality television gained its popularity at the dawn of the 21st century and
soon becomes the dominant television program worldwide. The origin of
reality television was unscripted program that portrayed people in different
situations as many people recognized. This began in the 1940s and became
more and more popular, especially in America around 1950s. According to
Christian Cherry (2008), debuting in 1948, Allen Hunt’s hidden camera-
Candid Camera – show in the United States of America, (based on his
previous 1947 radio program – Candid Microphone – where unsuspecting
ordinary people reacting to pranks were shown, is the first ever known reality
television show. For this reason, as Robert Gawford (2014) contends, Hunt is
regarded as “the granddaddy of the reality TV genre”. From 1980s to the
beginning of 2000, there were more reality television produced. Since 2000s,
there comes an explosion of reality television shows that gains its popularity
and soon became one of the most watching program worldwide. The
successes of Survivor and Big brother which was starting in the United stated
of America. Survivor, a game show reality TV program led the ratings in
2001-2002, while American Idol topped the ratings for six consecutive years
(2004-5 through to 2009-10). Coming up with more reality television shows,
the United States became one of the top countries to produce this genre of
programs. The most watched shows included Who Dares Wins, TheAmazing
Race, the America’s Next Top Model series, the America’s Got Talent series,
the Dancing with the stars series, Hell Kitchen, Masterchef, The bachelors,
and many more. Christin Cherry (2008) states that several factors account for
the growth and development of reality TV. The first factor is television’s
struggle with alternative media outlets. Pay TV, DVDs, and the Internet have
all eroded free-to-air television’s status as the premier media outlet. Reality
TV thus offered free-to-air stations a unique and more importantly, cheap form
of programming.

B. Thesis statement: The quality changes of humors in reality shows

and its impact on viewers.

1. There are several questions that I will use in this paper.

2. Can an entertaining, profitable show be ethical?
3. How did humors quality changes through times? From 1970s ~ now
4. What are the psychological impacts or how personal perspectives change
by watching reality television shows.
5. What are the pleasure we receive when watching misfortune on reality
television shows?
6. Why are we laughing while observing others’ misfortune?

II. Background and literature review

A. Theories of humors

Summarize the theories of humors to have a brief understanding about
humor study and its philosophy.

Aggression, incongruity, arousal-safety are 3 mechanisms of most humors

theories.

According to Dr.Adrian Bardon from the Wake Forest university, the first and
widely used theory of humor is the Superiority theory which stated that the
humor elements we reprise from any sources of media and also in life mostly
based on ridicule, that we see the object of amusement as inferior and
ourselves as the superior. This theory can be seen in comedy shows, where
we often see the comedian and the ridiculous actions as something stupid
that we would never do, and turn into laughing. We see ourselves higher than
what is showed. Most of the time, people laugh because they feel like they are
above others.

The second theory is the Incongruity theory which arose around the 18
century. This is said to be the dominant theory of humor nowadays. In order to
against the statement of the Superiority theory, the Incongruity Theory says
that it is the perception of something incongruous—something that violates
our mental patterns and expectations. The Incongruity theory is different from
the two forms above. Twentieth century philosopher George Santayana (The
Sense of Beauty) notes that we laugh in situations that don’t involve
incongruity: we laugh in victory, in sympathy with others, or just at being
tickled.

It is easier to understand this theory in form of jokes. And one popular one is
listed below.

THIS GUY WALKS INTO A PUB, SITS DOWN, AND SAYS, “GIVE ME TWO BEERS, I'VE
HAD A ROUGH DAY AT WORK.”
THE BARTENDER SAYS, “SORRY TO HEAR THAT, WHAT DO YOU DO?”
THE GUY SAYS, “I TAKE CARE OF THE CORGIS— YOU KNOW, THE DOGS THE ROYAL
FAMILY OWNS.”
THE BARTENDER SAYS, “TOUGH JOB, HUH?”
THE GUY SAYS, “WELL, ALL THAT INBREEDING HAS LED TO LOW INTELLIGENCE
AND BAD TEMPERAMENT. AND THE DOGS AREN’T THAT SMART EITHER.”

12 (KEILLOR, 157)

It is said that when someone say or do something and we somehow have the
images of what could be the result, and it turns out to be not as we think. This
approach is widely used in stand-up comedy as the comedian tend to say and
do things that beyond audiences’ expectations. As the joke above, the
conversation at the beginning was the set-up which created the expectation.
The punch line is the last part (“Well, all that inbreeding has led to low
intelligence and bad temperament. And the dogs aren’t that smart either.”)
which go against the expectation of the reader/audience. In the language of
the Incongruity Theory, the joke’s ending is incongruous with the beginning.
More than looking at the object, this theory tend to look deeper in the content
of the jokes. In order to create one joke, the creator needs the ability to think
oppositely with the normal phenomenon. It is hard to come up with unusual
thought since we are all coming from the same education system and moral
system.

In joking with friends, for example, we break rules of conversation such as

these formulated by H. P. Grice (1975):

Do not say what you believe to be false.

Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.
Avoid obscurity of expression.
Avoid ambiguity.
Be brief.

Nineteenth century philosopher, social reformer, and biological theorist

Herbert Spencer (The Physiology of Humor) cites Bain as an influence in
spurring his own theory of humor, the Relief Theory. The relief theory based
on the the statement that we could gain the join that turns into laughter by
releasing the nervous energy or emotional tension. He claimed that the
humiliation will come with the involving of some humiliating actions. As we
look at others enduring the pain, we, at the same time, release that
nervousness that we are free from the pain as well as realize that the one in
pain was not themselves. This happened a lot in stage play or any live form of
media where the audience .

Using humilitainment as one of the ingredients for television shows create the
feeling of obviosity when observing others’ misfortune. We get so familiar with
the embarrassing moments of others or used to seeing someone got yelled on
TV and there is a big possibility of having this habit turning into common
senses.

B. Reality TV ethnics.

Analyze and summarize reality TVs as its origin, providing a basic framework
for further use.

There are several ways that TV shows can affect audiences perceptions. A TV
shows, or even reality shows, are scripted and edited, that even the realest
TV show was actually acting. Steven Soderbergh once stated that reality
shows are all rage on TV at the moment, but that’s not reality. TV shows were
just another aesthetic form of fiction.

As the number of TV shows have been rising since 2000, it created a lot of
stereotypes that change people perspectives on different things. Critics
believe reality TV shows perpetuate damaging ethnic, cultural and gender
stereotypes, contending that viewers might take the shows at face value,
failing to realize that the “reality” depicted on screen is sometimes nothing
more than a heavily-scripted producer driven ratings ploy. By stereotyping we
infer that a person has a whole range of characteristics and abilities that we
assume all members of that group have. Stereotypes lead to social
categorization, which is one of the reasons for prejudice attitudes.

There is one technique called “laugh track”. People tend to follow the laughing
of others. On TV shows, the editor always put the background laughing in
order to make the audiences follow the track. This action of editing is a part of
creating the habit of laughing. Even when the scene was not funny to them,
they still have the habit of starting laughing because of the background sound
effects.

III. Evolution of variety shows

 A. The use of humors in variety shows in different regions
Mainly focus on Japanese and American variety shows. Analyze the contents,
sources of the humors use in the show. The change of humor elements in
media

B. The joy of watching variety shows and the reasons behind the laughing
Discuss the reactions of viewers by examine the journals, articles, rating and
records of the shows.

Neuroscience suggests that our attention is instinctively directed to anything

that previous experience indicates is potentially good or bad. According to
psychology professor Dr Douglas Gentile, one worrying effect of reality TV is
that it might make us more aggressive. Gentile released a study revealing that
those who watch more indirect aggression on TV — such as gossiping, eye-
rolling or making sarcastic comments — behave more aggressively. The study
also highlights that when aggression is perceived to be more realistic, it has a
bigger influence on the viewer.
Critics believe reality TV shows perpetuate damaging ethnic, cultural and
gender stereotypes, contending that viewers might take the shows at face
value, failing to realize that the “reality” depicted on screen is sometimes
nothing more than a heavily-scripted producer driven ratings ploy. By
stereotyping we infer that a person has a whole range of characteristics and
abilities that we assume all members of that group have. Stereotypes lead to
social categorization, which is one of the reasons for prejudice attitudes.

While viewers may be savvy enough to realize that ‘real life’ shows are only
loosely based on a true story, the more we watch TV, the more tempted we
become to believe in the world it represents. But while TV prefers the visual
impact of primary color, the real world is shaded with a more complex palette.

Ultimately, we have a responsibility for what appears on our screens — if we

didn’t watch reality shows, broadcasters wouldn’t commission them. So while
we continue to tune in, we should remember that in ?real life there is no diary
room to repent in, should we lash out at a loved one. It may also be useful to
switch channels more often. ‘We might now look to comedy or drama to see
the genuinely ordinary,’ says Murphy. ‘You can’t depend on reality TV to
provide that anymore.’

IV. Schadenfreude in social life and media

a. Schadenfreude in social life

Giving the brief information of how Schadenfreude happened in social life and
between social relations.

b. Schadenfreude in reality shows

Analyze the process of Schadenfreude in reality shows.

V. Laughter and outrage: Reaction of audience on different type of

humor

Looking at the relation and limit between laughter and outrage and how
humiliation (Schadenfreude) affects audience reaction/thinking

Also, take a deeper look at different type of laughter (thoughtful laughter, fake
laughter) to identify the reaction.

VI. References

Hill, Annette (2005). Reality TV: Audiences and Popular

Factual Television Routledge.
Monro, D. H. "Theories of Humor." Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum
3rd ed. Laurence Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen, eds. Glenview, IL: Scott,
Foresman and Company, 1988. 349-55

Smith, R. H. (2014) The Joy of Pain, Schadenfreude and the Dark side of
Human Nature. Oxford, Oxford University Press.

The Dark Side of Reality TV: Professional Ethics and the Treatment of Reality
Show Participants , JELLE MAST , Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium

Belloni, M. (2011, December 4). ABC, Endemol Settle 'Wipeout' Copyright

Lawsuit With Japanese Broadcaster. The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved
December 1, 2015, from
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/wipeout-copyright-lawsuit-abc-
endemol- 276301

Bergson, H., & Brereton, C. (1999). Laughter: An essay on the meaning of the
comic. København, New York: Green Integer ;.Cortazzi, H. (2007, March 27).
A Japanese sense of humor? The Japan Times. Retrieved November 30,
2015, from http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2007/03/27/commentary/a-
japanese-sense-ofhumor/#.VlzECvnhDIU

Davis, J. (2006). Understanding humor in Japan. Detroit: Wayne State

University Press.

Koven, Mikel and Thorgeirsdottir, Gunnella. 2011. Televisual Folklore:

Rescuing Supernatural from the Fakelore Realms. In Abbott, S & Lavery, D.
TV Goes to Hell: An Unofficial Road

Map of Supernatural, pages. 187-200. Toronto: ECW Press.

Oshima, K. (2013). An Examination for Styles of Japanese Humor: Japan’s

Funniest Story Project 2010 to 2011. Intercultural Communication Studies,
XXII(2), 91-109. Retrieved November 17, 2015, from http://web.uri.edu/iaics/
files/Kimie-Oshima.pdf

Michel, P. (2013, November 26). The Misunderstood History of the Wacky

Japanese Game Show. The Atlantic. Retrieved November 26, 2015, from
h t t p : / / w w w. t h e a t l a n t i c . c o m / e n t e r t a i n m e n t / a r c h i v e / 2 0 1 3 / 11 / t h e -
misunderstoodhistory-of-the-wacky-japanese-game-show/281825/

Peterson, R. (2009). An Account of My Perplexities: The Humorous Essays of

Kita Morio. Dissertation Abstracts International, Section A: The Humanities
and Social Sciences, 7-338.

Pulvers, R. (2009, August 9). Humor may be universal, but Japan's is largely
its smut-free own. The Japan Times. Retrieved November 30, 2015, from
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2009/08/09/commentary/humor-may-
beuniversal-but-japans-is-largely-its-smut-free-own/#.Vly-zvnhDIU

Richards, M. (2010). Humor In Japan. Student Essay. Ramapo College. New

Jersey.
Tate, N. (n.d.). Intercultural Communication Issues between Japanese &
Americans. Tohoku

Gakuin. Retrieved November 18, 2015, from http://www.tohokugakuin.ac.jp/

research/journal/bk2015/pdf/no01_04.pdf

Tsutsumi, H. (2000). Conversation Analysis of Boke-tsukkomi Exchange in

Japanese Comedy. New Voices,5(Chapter 7), 147-173. Retrieved November
17, 2015, from http://pdf.jpf-sydney.org/newvoices/5/chapter7.pdf 23

Underhill, J. (2015, August 20). The 100 hour work week in Japan. Yahoo
Finance. Retrieved December 2, 2015, from http://finance.yahoo.com/news/
working-towards-death-injapan-140758364.html
Warner, J. (2012, November 19). Japanese Comedy: So Funny, It Hurts.
Wired. Retrieved November 24, 2015, from http://www.wired.com/underwire/
2012/11/ff-japanese-tvpunishment-games/all

Wray, H. (1999). Japanese and American education: Attitudes and practices

(pp. 102-103).