The article “Self Making as Public Spectacle: Bodies, Bodily Training and Reality TV” is written by Bree Hadley, from Queensland University of Technology, Australia. It is published in “Scope: An Online Journal of Film and Media Studies” in Issue 24, October 2012. The article starts with the commentary on how reality TV shows has penetrated the media and its definitions of what real people are like has taken the society by a storm.
Reality TV has recently exploded into the mainstream media and has taken over our televisions. It has already been written about extensively how these reality TVs are actually not real and their constructive nature is widely known among the public. However, their fan following and viewership never suffers. Current research suggests that while spectators, producers and critics recognize reality TV‘s constructed nature, viewers remain keen to watch the exploits of the larger-than-life contestants chosen to be part of Survivor, Big Brother, Pop Idol, its US equivalent American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, The Biggest Loser, Extreme Makeover, or their many franchises and imitators around the world (Murray and Ouellette, 2009: 8). The question that boggles the mind is how despite being shrouded in controversies they are still a rage among people and continue to be produced and created. In the article the writer further explores the relationships of these Realty TV shows with the body image and the techniques they use to teach the public how to transform into an acceptable body image. Shows the likes of Medical Miracles, The Miracle Worker, Embarrassing Bodies and The Biggest Loser make public the private trainings and of individuals in hospitals and gyms. Larger than life and seemingly ordinary contestants are made to fit into a certain image in public.
The training of the mind and body has always been a part of the structure of acting and theater. In every culture and at all times there existed a neutral body and mind image that is construed as the perfect example for an individual. Theater training always included portraying a certain image and actors were trained to look a certain way or behave in a certain manner. However, these trainings were always private and were never enforced on screen. This is in contrast to the training of modern reality TV shows where they sell because of the public training of individuals through humiliation and haranguing.
The example evaluated in the article is that of the show “The biggest Loser” which is very popular on mainstream and airs in many countries and has many different adaptations in many countries. The program uses public voting and weigh in each week to decide who gets to stay who gets to leave. This training is based on a preferred cultural script of how a body should look and shams the people who do not fit into that criterion. In each episode there are references to competitors as fat or obese and proclamations that their lethargic lifestyles have left them deserving of the education, training and humiliation to which they are subjected (Bernstein and St. John, 2006: 25).
The disgusting idea that is taught to the contestant and society is that there is a self that separate from the body that through sheer will power can separate all bad habits with good. This can’t simply be true in all cases as many people have different medical or psychological reasons for gaining weight other than just bad eating habits that they can overcome. The idea that a lumpy, limping, hunched or wart-covered body signifies character flaws has been common in Western cultures for centuries (Sandahl, 2005; Synder and Mitchell, 2000). This type of thinking is further signified by such reality TV shows.
In case of theater training there has always been a discussion among theorists about how the theatrical training can damage the actors psychological wellbeing however, in case of reality TV shows no such concern has been shown by the society in general or professionals in particular. The biggest challenge these type of trainings pose is that they are made to show that everyone in the society can and should do them. This makes the society vulnerable to believing that the results shown on TV are deemed for fit and compulsory for everyone.
The target audience of the article is particularly all professional associated with production or creation of TV media. However, as it effects the lives of almost everyone in the society, so the article is as much read worth of a common man as it of a TV producer.
The use of Ethos and Pathos in the article is impressive and as at the time of article the topic had a direct impact on the society the kairos is impeccable. However, the article would have more substantial appeal if it had statistics of how much the society watched a reality show and how much in terms of number did it negatively impacted people’s lives.
A fine example of ethos in the article is the author’s frequent use of cited credible sources and she has backed all her claims with researched articles. The first line of the article shares a factual number and it is necessary for the reader to know that the number is not made up; therefore the writer shared the source right there. “Reality TV has exploded onto the entertainment scene in the last fifteen years, as millions of viewers tune in each week to watch the bodies, relationships and behaviors of supposedly ―real people in a variety of private, public, or competitive situations (Holmes and Jermyn, 2004; Hill, 2005: 31; Christenson and Ivancin, 2006: 3).”
Ethos in the form of author’s credibility is shown when she very subtly tells the reader her vast experience in theater and drama i.e. “As a scholar who has observed the self-production that typifies drama, theater and dance training for fifteen years, I have been fascinated by how private training practices are made public in reality TV”. In a very subtle but non dismissible manner she affirms her command on the topic she is about to give her opinion on. A reader is more likely to believe an author who has been a professional in the field and has a first experience than somebody who has just researched the topic and is giving an opinion. This sentence in the beginning of her article made an impression on the reader that she knows what she is talking about and will not make any claims that are not backed by reality.
Ethos is also shown by the author’s impartial review of the topic. The article is fair biased as it doesn’t just attack the Reality TV shows, it first acknowledges the fact that the training of body and mind has always been a part of TV and theater and actors always had to portray an ideal self. Then the author makes a rightful comparison of the differences in both trainings and their impact on the society. The reader is more inclined to believe the author’s point of view as it gave two contrasting ideas and very skillfully made a comparison of the two of them. If the author just gave her opinion on the effects of reality TV training without a backing it with a comparison of theater training, her opinion would not have had much weight, as that would have made the author look biased and judgmental. She concludes her article by making another realistic comparison of how training are and should be in real life and how contrasting the reality TV trainings is to the real life one. These comparisons gives credibility to the author’s concluding claims and makes the reader see her point of view.
The use of pathos by the author was also visible in her concluding paragraphs, as she describes what an average person feels or how they react when they watch a reality TV show like The Biggest Loser. It’s this accuracy of emotions predicted by the author that makes the reader agree with her. “Spectators do not just watch The Biggest Loser for entertainment. Rather, they study the host‘s, experts‘ and contestants‘ behaviors, assess how those relate to reality as they understand it, and make decisions about how to behave in their own lives.” As these feelings are accurate and relatable, reading these lines will make the reader trust her conclusion. The author correctly predicted an average reality TV watcher’s emotions and putting it along with her conclusion made an emotional impact on the reader without which the reader would have a hard time believing the author’s point of view.
The tact of Kairos couldn’t have been more effective, the article was published in 2012 and it was the time when people were hooked to reality TV shows and the society was already witnessing the damage these shows were causing. The reader could relate to the article as their own TVs were flooded with shows depicting people changing themselves seemingly for the better. In order for the author to make a mark on the reader, the reader has to be in a certain frame of mind. This is exactly what is meant by kairos, that the article makes an impact because of its situational relevancy. If this article was written in say 1995 when the reality TV hadn’t yet conquered our lives along with our TVs, then it wouldn’t have been substantial or relevant. It was written in 2012 when we had already started witnessing a rise in cosmetic surgery among teens, along with increased cases of psychological disorders associated with comparing one’s self to TV actors all the time. The article particularly hits a chord with the reader due to its relevancy with the current state of affairs.
The article even though was very persuasive, would have been more effective if it shared with the reader the number of people getting effected by this daily torture on TV. They could have shared the average viewership of “The Greatest Loser” and the average number of bulimic and anorexic people in the countries where it was aired. The same idea has been shared by Stice and Shaw and they shared the actual number of bulimic cases in women affected by media. The writer could have further strengthened their premise by showing how the results of these reality TV shows are neither real nor long lasting and an average can’t and shouldn’t aspire to achieve those results. The everyday contestant shown in these reality TV shows are not an average working class student or professional. An average person can’t spend five hours at the gym or survive wholly on no carb diet. They then resort to cosmetic surgeries to achieve similar results. The study by Crockett, Pruzinsky and Persin shared the number of first time cosmetic surgery patients and how their decision was impacted by reality TV. The study showed that fifty seven percent of patients were regular fans of similar reality TV shows. This fact would have further strengthened the premise of Hedley in her article.
Works Cited
Bernstein, Beth and Matilda St. John.“HAES / The Biggest Loser”. Health At Every Size 20 (1), (2006) pp. 25-29.
Crockett, Richard J. M.D., Thomas Ph.D. Pruzinsky and John A. M.D. Persing. "The Influence of Plastic Surgery “Reality TV” on Cosmetic Surgery Patient Expectations and Decision Making." Journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (2007): 316-324.
Eric, Stice and Shaw Heather E. "Adverse Effects of the Media Portrayed Thin-Ideal on Women and linkages to Bulimic Symptomatology." Jouranal of Social and Clinical Pshycology (1994): 288-308.
Holmes, Su and Jermyn, Deborah. Understanding Reality Television. London: Routledge. (2004) (eds.)
Murray, Susan and Ouellette, Laurie. Reality TV: Remaking Television Culture. 2nd edition. New York: New York University Press. (2009)
Sandahl, Carrie. “The Tyranny of Neutral: Disability and Actor Training” in Carrie Sandahl and Philip Auslander (eds.), Bodies in Commotion: Disability and Performance. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, pp. 255-267. (2005)
