Introduction
Perhaps one of the most influential forms of media proliferating nowadays is the television. Many households nowadays use television as a form of entertainment, due to the extensive range of programs that it can offer. For example, children and the youth can enjoy animations that are geared specifically to them, while older people can either enjoy drama or variety shows depending on their tastes and preferences. All in all, it can be said that television can provide a wide variety of shows from audiences from all over, thus contributing to its popularity among modern society.
One of the shows that television has to offer is reality shows. Reality television, as its name implies, is composed of shows that are supposed to document how normal people act when confronted with everyday situations. This is opposed to dramas and live-action television shows wherein actors play certain characters and they follow a certain script that determines how the story will turn out. Like documentary television, reality shows offer a glimpse on aspects on real life, although unlike documentaries, reality TV focuses on the drama more rather than aiming to educate viewers about a certain topic. There are many types of reality TV shows that are popular nowadays, including but not limited to Big Brother, Survivor, The Real World, Keeping up with the Kardashians, and more.
However, reality TV shows have been widely criticized for its redefinition of what really constitutes ‘reality’. There are some events and issues in reality TV shows that can be considered unrealistic when applied to real-life events. For example, reality show contestants are being exposed to unrealistic environments which can foster an unhealthy image for its viewers, there is an extensive amount of editing and scripting done on the set so as to attract more audiences, they cause some people to obtain unwarranted celebrity status, and the like.
Some of these arguments will be discussed in detail as to why reality television presents an unrealistic image of reality itself, contrary to its name. Knowing about these issues can give people an idea not to take everything that they see on reality TV seriously, as more often than not they are not accurate reflections of how real life works.
Unrealistic Environments and Unhealthy Images
One of the primary complaints about reality TV is that the situations presented in them are not representations of how the real world is supposed to be. Shows such as Big Brother, wherein housemates with different personalities live with one another in a house for a specified amount of days, has an innocuous enough premise at first. However, when examined closely, it can be seen that the producers themselves control the overall scenario that happens within the house, thus making the show more of an unscripted drama show than anything. This is also true in shows with a similar premise like The Real World and Survivor. By extension, most of the events that ensue in the shows such as conflicts, drama and disagreements are more brought about by the uncontrolled scenarios rather than a manifestation of the actions in real-life.
This state of affairs may have a negative impact on the viewers. Because of the ‘reality’ factor associated with these shows, some audiences may mistakenly figure out that those scenarios are how reality is supposed to work. More often than not, they compare these events to what is happening in their own lives. Understandably, they find too often that what happens in their own lives are not what they see in these so-called reality shows, thus they garner negative images about their lives and have an unhealthy opinion that they are not living life the way it is ‘supposed’ to be. In addition, the images and scenarios conveyed in these shows may perpetuate a bad reflection of some groups. For example, an Asian who acts obnoxious about his or her culture in a reality show may give a false impression to viewers that all Asians are stuck-up, which obviously is not an accurate nor ideal representation of all of them. It has been shown that reality TV viewers tend to be more neurotic and have lower self-esteem because of the things they see on TV (Gwyn-Williams Jr, 2012). The part about they view reality in a distorted manner is explained by Reiss and Witz (2009) that they see reality TV shows as ‘real’ ones, and expect reality to behave in a similar manner.
Manipulative Editing
Aside from the unrealistic environments presented in reality TV, another popular criticism of reality TV shows is how the producers edit footages and the dialogue by the characters in order to gain attention from the viewers. For example, footage from different times can be spliced and joined together in a way that can generate a scenario which never actually happened in the first place. In the same vein, the speech said by the characters can be cut so as to emphasize important points, which can be a problem if the edited part will change all meaning of the message that the character intended to say.
Some reality shows also focus on some notable characters, portraying them as the central forces in some of the events such as making them the hero or the villain of those particular situations. These can trick the viewer into making a biased judgment of the events that have happened in the show. In addition, some edits of the footage can incorrectly portray an individual’s actions and mannerisms towards a particular event. One notable example is Jennifer Byrne, the girl who was rolling her eyes at Susan Boyle’s audition video for Britain’s Got Talent. She explained that she was not the only who seemed bemused by Susan waggling her hips on stage, and she also was a big fan of the singer after she belted out her performance. However, the camera chose to focus on her at that inopportune moment, making her the target of internet hate just because she performed a seemingly innocuous act that many people have probably done at the same moment (Smith, 2009).
Scripting and Staging
One of the primary premises of reality TV is that the actions of the characters involved act according to their own accord. They may be influenced by the events and scenarios imposed on them, but the actions they take is ultimately up to them. However, reality TV has gotten a flak in the recent years because some participants have been told to act in a certain manner by the producers in order to create drama and attention for viewers. Some participants in famous reality TV shows, such as The Hills, The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, Keeping Up with the Kardashians and the like have admitted the show to have scripts in certain parts (Booth, 2004). While it may be justifiable as viewers may find all too seemingly normal people go on with their daily lives without much drama as boring, it is unfair for the reason that reality TV itself should be rooted on reality, as per its premise.
Unwarranted Celebrity Status
Lastly, one of the criticisms that reality TV faces is its focus on people that can be seen unusual in society. Obnoxious people, eccentric ones, and the like are given major focus which is intended to humiliate them or make fun of their habits and lifestyle. For example, Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, a show about a southern family who makes the titular character participate in child pageants, can be viewed as a show that highlights how backwards and revolting some of the family’s habits are. In addition, some people who star in reality TV give these people short-lived celebrity status because they become famous for all the wrong reasons. Unlike typical famous people who achieved their status due to talent and hard work, reality TV stars gained their fame simply for starring in a TV show and being popular among viewers—a status which can be seen as subjectively unwarranted.
Conclusion
Reality TV has been viewed as an interesting premise because it supposedly showcases the habits and mannerisms of normal people, but in actuality reality TV is no more different than most other TV shows, rendering its ‘reality’ factor void. Reality TV has been seen as unrealistic because they present scenarios that otherwise would not happen in real life, scenes and actions are edited out for maximum drama, some of reality TV shows follow a script planned out beforehand, and they are tools intended to humiliate, embarrass, and promote people in unwarranted celebrity statuses. When watching reality TV, it is important to keep in mind that like any other show, TV producers want them to have a high amount of viewers. Therefore, they will use any available means to achieve that goal, even if it means sacrificing the reality premise of reality TV itself.
References
Booth, W. (2004). Reality is only an illusion, writers say. The Washington Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53032-2004Aug9.html
Gwyn-Williams (2012). Reality show viewers are more neurotic, have lower self-esteem, study finds. CNS News. Retrieved from http://www.cnsnews.com/blog/gregory-gwyn-williams-jr/reality-show-viewers-are-more-neurotic-have-lower-self-esteem-study
Eiss, S & Witz, S. (2009). Why people watch reality TV. Media Psychology 6(4), 363 – 378. doi: 10.1207/s1532785xmep0604_3
Smith, S. (2009). Exclusive: Agony of sneering teenager filmed sneering during Susan Boyle’s debut. Daily Record. Retrieved from http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/real-life/exclusive-agony-of-tv-teenager-filmed-1042797
