REALITY TELEVISION
AS A POPULAR CULTURE FOCUS/CASE STUDY (PART I)
1. THE CREATION OF REALITY TELEVISION
WHAT IS ‘REALITY TELEVISION’? Defining reality television is difficult because it is difficult to draw
a line between the ‘reality’ genre and other television genres such as documentary/game show/drama
comedy/sport/performance art etc. Charles Parsons, creator of the Survivor format, defines reality
shows as those containing ‘producer created environments that control contestant behaviour’ (TV
Land: Australia’s obsession with reality television by Kerrie Murphy, 2006, p.16).
- Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted
dramatic or sometimes humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary
people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is
awarded. (Adapted from Hill, Annette (2005). Reality TV: Audiences and Popular Factual Television.
Routledge)
HOW ‘REAL’ IS ‘REALITY TELEVISION’? Reality television frequently portrays a modified and
highly influenced form of reality, at times utilising sensationalism to attract audience viewers and
increase advertising revenue profits. Participants are often placed in exotic locations or abnormal
situations, and are often persuaded to act in specific scripted ways by off-screen "story editors" or
"segment television producers", with the portrayal of events and speech manipulated and contrived to
create an illusion of reality through direction and post-production editing techniques.
A) Trace the origins of reality television
1950s & 1960s- In the late 1950s the popularity of Television amongst westerners meant that US and
television networks had to diversity the genres of television they provided to maintain viewer
interest/engagement and thus Television as a popular culture.
- Precedents for television that portrayed people in unscripted situations began in the 1940s and became
more popular in the late 1950s. Debuting in 1948, Allen Funt's hidden camera Candid Camera show in
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, (based on his previous 1947 radio show, Candid Microphone),
broadcast unsuspecting ordinary people reacting to pranks. It has been called the "granddaddy of the
reality TV genre". ‘REALITY/COMEDY SHOW’
1960s-1970s- Marked the beginning of the UNSCRIPTED/OBSERVATIONAL DOCUSOAP in Britain
and USA. Many of these ‘docusoap’s’ focused on observing ‘everyday life’ of children, teenagers and the
family unit.
E.g. Seven Up! (Britain, 1964, produced by Granada Television, directed by Michael Apted)
An American Family (USA, 1974, produced and directed by Craig Gilbert)
The Family (British, 1974, produced by Paul Watson)
The themes of the above shows often focused on the factors impacting socialisation and related to the
social and cultural ‘concerns’ of western societies at that time (e.g. changing structure of the family, rising
divorce rates, nature/nurture debate, inequality and social classes).
1980s-1990s- Can be divided into two main ‘types of shows’
The beginning of unscripted/observational docusoap’s in Australia:
In 1992 the first local, ‘Australian’ unscripted docusoap called Sylvania Waters was produced by Paul
Watson and the ABC/BBC and shown to Australian and British audiences. The show Sylvania Waters, a
documentary television series which followed the lives of an Australian family. A 12-part co-production by
the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the
controversial program chronicled the existence of couple Noeline Baker and Laurie Donaher and their
largely adult offspring. The series took its name from the wealthy harbourside suburb in southern Sydney
where Neoline and Laurie reside. Billed as a real-life soap opera , Sylvania Waters was shot over a sixmonth period by a camera crew who lived with the Donaher/Bakers. According to an agreement struck
with the family,the crew was allowed to film anywhere,at any time -expect when family members were
using the bathroom or making love. While ABC publicity for the documentary series emphasised the
couple's new found wealth and luxurious lifestyle, the tightly edited result ruthlessly scrutinised the
entrenched interpersonal conflicts which lay beneath the surface of the blended family's easygoing
facade. Like its 1978 British prototype, The Family, which brought instant infamy to the Wilkins family of
Reading, and the 1973 U.S. program An American Family ,which chronicled the lives of the Loud family
in Santa Barbara,California, Sylvania Waters focused a national microscope on the values and behaviour
of the Donaher/Baker family. Noeline and Laurie's unwed status, Noeline's drinking problem, Laurie's
racism, their materialism, and the family's routine domestic disputes,all became issuses discussed widely
in the Australian media. Contributing to SOCIAL AND CULTURAL CHANGE.
To view excerpts of the show and social commentary surrounding the show please see the following
footage:
- Sylvania Waters on the ABC 7.30 Report, 1992
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SrmTPuXLs0&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
- Byron Hurst critiquing Sylvania Waters on the ABC 7.30 report 1992
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hf22nDIu_00&feature=autoplay&list=UL7SrmTPuXLs0&lf=mfu_in_ord
er&playnext=1
Very ‘revealing’ interview with local MP for Sylvania Waters, Byron Hurst who is ‘expressing concerns’
over the social and cultural impact of the show (popular culture) in shaping individuals perception of the
suburb and its people.
The beginning of ‘formulated docusoaps’ internationally and in Australia:
Formulated docusoaps: involve producers artificially ‘altering’ participants environment OR interactions,
usually in order to increase interest and ‘drama’.
The construction of ‘formulated docusoaps’ began in America with MTV’s The Real World in 1992.
producers selected seven ‘very different’ young people, put them up in a New York apartment for 13
weeks to ‘find out what happens when people stop being polite to each other and start being real?’
Producers and directors often attempted to artificially manipulate situations and produce drama.
The series was hailed in its early years for depicting issues of contemporary young-adulthood relevant to
its core audience, such as sexuality, prejudice and substance abuse, but later garnered a reputation as a
showcase for immature and irresponsible behavior. Following the original producer’s death from breast
cancer in 2004, Bunim/Murray Productions continues to produce the program. The show's twenty-fifth
season, set in Las Vegas, premiered on March 9, 2011. The twenty-sixth season, set in San Diego, will
premiere on September 28, 2011. The show has been picked up by MTV through its 28th season.
For short excepts of the show see:
MTV’s Real World: The Golden Years http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8esggn5LxiY
This format of ‘formulated docusoaps’ was adapted in a Australian context in 1998 with Sydney’s MMM
(Radio station) Andrew Denton and Amanda Keller running a radio competition called The House From
Hell. The show took 6 people, cast purely to create maximum friction, and locked them in a house in the
Sydney suburb of Naremburn for three months paying their rent and living expenses. It was viewed via
four internet cameras and contestants were subjected to various restrictions deigned to make them
uncomfortable and create conflict. E.g. removing all the furniture and replacing it with children’s furniture,
tying the participants together, confiscating all cutlery in the house. Whoever stayed in the house won
$5000 prize from loan company Mortgage Choice. (beginning of influence of business, marketing
and/or advertising)
For short excepts of the show see:
Ten 1998- House from Hell advert http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AltP6QdiYr4
HOME RENNOVATION/LIFESTYLE/ DIY AND SELF-IMPROVEMENT REALITY SHOWS also began in
Britain at this time. E.g. Changing Rooms
2000’s Reality television saw an explosion of global popularity starting in the summer of 2000, with
the successes of Big Brother and Survivor (in the US).
In particular, Survivor and American Idol have topped the US season-average television ratings on
several occasions.
Beginning of ‘game show reality’ television:
Survivor led the ratings in 2001–02, and Idol has topped the ratings six consecutive years (2004–05
through to 2009–10). The shows Who Dares Wins, Survivor, the Idol series, The Amazing Race, the
America's Next Top Model series, the Dancing With The Stars series, The Mole, The Biggest Loser,
The Apprentice, Fear Factor and Big Brother have all had a global effect, having each been
successfully syndicated in dozens of countries.
According to Charles Parsons (a major innovator of the genre), the REALITY GAME SHOW programs is
a HYBRID OF FOUR TYPES OF SHOWS:
- REALITY DOCUSOAP
- REALITY GAME SHOW
- ELEMENTS OF ‘DRAMA’
- REALITY TALK SHOW
The above form of ‘reality’ shows has given Australia and the world some of the ‘reality’ television genres
most POPULAR programs and enduring (ongoing) series.
Despite their different emphasis (e.g. drama, game show/talent show, talk show etc) all of these reality
series have a few things in common:
- GLOBAL FORMAT/LOCAL APPEAL. The ‘reality’ television show genre revolutionalised the
way television was bought/sold and transmitted around the world. Unlike soapies and dramas such as
Home & Away that are ‘exported’ to other countries. Reality TV shows are typically sold in terms of their
franchise/format rather than a specific show.
E.g. Big Brother is shown around the world under various different names
Big Brother is a television show in which a group of people live together in a large house, isolated from
the outside world but continuously watched by television cameras. Each series lasts for around three
months, and there are usually fewer than 15 participants. The housemates try to win a cash prize by
avoiding periodic evictions from the house. The idea for the show is said to have come during a
brainstorm session at the Dutch production house of John de Mol Produkties (an independent part of
Endemol) on 4 September 1997. The first Big Brother broadcast was in the Netherlands in 1999 on the
Veronica TV channel. It was picked up by Brazil, Germany, Argentina, Portugal, USA, UK, Spain,
Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland and Italy the following year and became a world-wide sensation. Since
then it has been a prime-time hit in almost 70 countries. The show's name comes from George
Orwell's 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, a dystopia in which Big Brother can always spy on the
inhabitants of the dictatorship he heads through their television sets, with the slogan "Big Brother is
watching you."
B) Outline the developments of reality television locally, nationally and
globally
Many ‘reality television’ shows have their creative roots in Britain and the USA. Despite their initial
creation in these western countries, the format of the shows is frequently sold around the world and local
persons, society, culture and environment alter the show to ensure that there is local and national
widespread appeal.
E.g. Big Brother (Big Bosses) in India
Bigg Boss is a reality show where celebrity contestants stay in a single house for about three months,
with no connection to the outside world. They are overseen by a mysterious person known as 'Bigg
Boss', whose only presence in the house is through his voice.
While all the rules have never been told to the audience, the most prominent ones are clearly seen. The
inmates are not permitted to talk in any other language than Hindi. They are not supposed to tamper
with any of the electronic equipment or any other thing in the House. They cannot leave the House at any
time except when permitted to. They cannot discuss the nomination process with anyone.
To see various social and cultural adaptations follow the link below:
Celebrities NOT sex on show on Big Bosses (in India Express)
http://www.expressindia.com/news/fullstory.php?newsid=76895
2. ROLE OF MYTHOLOGY IN THE CREATION AND PERPETUATION OF
REALITY TELEVISION
See ‘reality television’ group case studies.
Despite the ‘reality’ tag, many of these shows prime purpose is to entertain and construct a
parasocial connection with viewers. This is often achieved through producers and directors
‘deliberately’ selecting ‘cast-type’ contestants whilst artificially altering situations in order to increase
drama= interest. Often the mythology of the show being ‘reality’ is created and maintained by:
- 24 hour streaming of the show via internet
- filming contestants in ALL situations (e.g. shower, bed etc)
3. THE CONSUMPTION OF POPULAR CULTURE
- identify the consumers of reality television
Consumption of reality television varies according to the SPECIFIC television series. See group case
studies for specific examples.
- identify the process of consumption of reality television
Technology has dramatically altered the genre of reality television both in HOW the genre has
evolved and the INTERACTIVE ways consumers can gain access to the product.
E.g. Extract from newspaper article TECHNOLOGY; Camcorders and PC's Shape
Aesthetics of 'Reality' TV
If you think cultural critics are aghast over the social implications of the ''reality'' television craze, listen to
what camera-wielding purists have to say about the technical quality of some of the video vérité
programs now being spewed into the nation's living rooms.
''Incredibly shoddy production values,'' said Alan Raymond, a co-director of an early version of reality
programming: the 12-part ''American Family'' series broadcast by PBS in 1973. Mr. Raymond, who with
his wife, Susan, made that acclaimed and controversial PBS series about the real-life Loud family, was
recently coaxed by his 14-year-old son into watching the contemporary reality series ''Surreal Life'' on
WB network. ''The Surreal Life,'' which has now run its course, monitored a group of past-their-prime
celebrities who shared a house for 10 days.
Watching the show, Mr. Raymond cared little about about whether the group could help Brande
Roderick, a desperate and dateless former Playmate of the Year, find a suitable man. Instead, Mr.
Raymond found himself fascinated by what he considered the low-rent way the show was made.
''I swore that half of it was shot with camera sound, not a separate sound mike,'' Mr. Raymond said. ''I
said to myself, 'How cheap this is; how amazing that it's become acceptable that people will watch it.' It's
almost like the content supersedes everything to do with the artistry of the making of the show.''
But maybe his 14-year-old son, who edits his own short films on a laptop computer, saw something that
Mr. Raymond, an Academy Award-winning film documentarian now in his 50's, did not.
Two decades into the home-video era, the idea of being on television and shooting television has
become second nature to an entire generation of viewers. That may help explain not only the pool of
people willing to be televised under any number of potentially humiliating circumstances, but also the
standing army of videographers ready to capture it all on tape.
The technology of shooting and editing video has become so affordable and accessible that it almost
seems as if anyone on the street can make a television show these days. That may be why, in the view
of the auteurs, anyone on the street is making television shows these days.
- examine the role of the media in the consumption and interaction
The mass media (newspapers, radio, television, internet etc) can have BOTH a POSITIVE & NEGATIVE
impact on the perpetuation of ‘reality television’ as a popular culture (consumption and interaction).
POSITIVE IMPACTS:
- Television: as a form of mass media is crucial to the direct transmission of reality television to
consumers.
- Internet: The internet is enabling people to ‘view’ their favorite reality television programs online, on
demand (and now with mobile phone technology ANYWHERE!) The internet also increases the exposure
of individuals to associated paraphernalia and consumer products. The internet has also enabled
individuals and groups to transmit their own ‘reality’ to a mass audience. E.g. you tube
NEGATIVE IMPACTS:
- Newspapers, Television and Radio: Become a platform to voice public criticism and outrage at a
particular show or reality TV series.
Eg. Big Brother UK Race controversy
Since its beginning in 2000, the concept and implementation of UK edition of the reality game show Big Brother
has regularly been the subject of controversy and criticism among the British public and news media. There have
been various investigations by numerous organisations, including TV watchdogs and the police.
The Celebrity Big Brother racism controversy was a series of events related to incidents of perceived racist
behaviour by contestants on the television series Celebrity Big Brother 2007 shown on British television station
Channel 4. The incidents centred on comments made by contestants on this reality television show, most notably
Big Brother contestant Jade Goody, glamour model Danielle Lloyd, and singer Jo O'Meara, which were directed
towards Indian actress Shilpa Shetty. The screening of these comments on UK television resulted in national
and international media coverage, responses from the UK and Indian governments, and the show's
suspension during the 2008 season. Many agencies and corporations cancelled their contracts with the
housemates accused of racism, citing the allegations as the reason for the terminations. Also, many sponsors of
the Big Brother series cancelled or suspended their sponsorship of the show.
After the show, Goody stated that she understood her comments appeared as racist and apologised for any
offence caused. Shetty later told the media that she forgave Goody. After conducting an investigation, Ofcom ruled
that Channel 4 had breached the Ofcom code of conduct, and statutory sanctions were placed on the network.
The accusations began when Jade Goody's mother, Jackiey Budden, repeatedly referred to Shetty as "the Indian"
while she was on the show because, according to her, she was unable to pronounce her name. However, during
her eviction interview, hostess Davina McCall coerced Jackiey into saying "Shilpa" and Jackiey pronounced it
properly.
After Budden’s eviction, Goody's boyfriend Jack Tweed called Shetty an expletive, with the bleeped-out expletive
variously reported as "****" and "Paki" who should remove objects from the toilet with her teeth.
Many of the accusations were centred on conversations between Danielle Lloyd and Jo O'Meara. On one
occasion, the two women mocked Shetty's accent, and on another occasion Lloyd referred to Shetty as a "dog".
After believing Shilpa had undercooked a chicken, O'Meara generalised that all Indians were thin because they
were "sick all the time" as a result of undercooking their food. Lloyd commented on Shetty applying facial hair
bleaching cream, saying, "she's trying to make her face look white" while O'Meara mocked Shetty's accent, saying,
"Ooh I got a hairy face." In another verbal attack, Lloyd said "do you get stubble?". Jade, Danielle and Jo
repeatedly stated, to each other and the other housemates, that they felt Shilpa was a 'fake' and a 'loser'.
After an argument between Shetty and Goody, witnessed by a giggling O'Meara and Lloyd, Lloyd said she thought
Shetty should "f*** off home". After a similar comment by Goody, Lloyd laughed and approved saying, "That was
fucking fantastic, I loved it" before repeating "I think she should f***off home." She also said Shilpa "can't even
speak English properly anyway". She also mentioned that she didn't like Shetty touching her food because "you
don't know where her hands have been". The next morning, Lloyd spoke to Shetty about the situation, but did not
apologise. During the conversation in the bedroom, Goody entered, sat in front of Lloyd, blocking out Shetty, and
began doing makeup. As Shetty left, Lloyd told Goody that she "tried apologising to her". Later Lloyd said to
Shetty, "I feel really bad, I feel disgusted with myself the way I've treated you and the way I've acted, because I'm
not like that, Shilpa, really, . . . And you can even cook me curry and you can pick the onions out with your fingers".
Goody referred to Shetty as, 'Shilpa Daroopa' and 'Shilpa Papadum'. She later insisted that she had done this with
no intention of racism. She later apologised if her actions had offended anybody. After Goody apologised to Shetty
for her behaviour, Tweed stated that he was very disappointed with Goody for apologising, and called Shetty a
"dick" after previously describing her as a "wanker".
By 20 January, Ofcom received 44,500 complaints from members of the public, while Channel 4 received an
additional 3,000 complaints about racism and bullying by housemates against Shilpa. Channel 4 initially described
the situation as "girly rivalry", but later admitted there had "undoubtedly been a cultural clash between her and
three of the British females in the house".Channel 4 continued to air moments of racism on their show, stating that
the social dynamics of the housemates are part of the story and viewers had the right to see the events portrayed
as accurately as possible.
Various media outlets initially characterised the issue as 'girlish rivalry' but later blamed it on bullying and racism.
As time progressed, the majority of media coverage of Jade became negative, although accusations of racism
were superseded by those of bullying. An editorial published by The Daily Mirror on 18 January 2007 called
'Beauty v Bigot', deplored what they referred to as "disgraceful racist bullying of Big Brother's Shilpa Shetty", and
criticised Channel 4 management for maintaining that there was not a racial element to the bullying. The British
tabloids mostly concentrated on the comments made by Jade, rather than those made by Jack, Danielle and Jo
and the bullying from them. For instance, when Jade and Shilpa were arguing over Oxo cubes, Shilpa pleaded
with Jo for assistance by saying “Jo, I mean, are you going to say something here what is happening here?” - to
which Jo responded by bursting out laughing. Jermaine Jackson, another housemate witnessing the situation, later
said, "When all this was going on I saw Danielle and Jo laughing and then branded them as 'the allies'".
The controversy generated over 300 newspaper articles in Britain, 1,200 in English language newspapers around
the globe, 3,900 foreign language news articles, and 22,000 blog postings on the internet.
Vanni Treves, Channel 4's former Chairman, urged the station to cancel the show even though Big Brother was
Channel 4's most financially successful television programme, accounting for around seven per cent of its total
£800 million advertising income. However Celebrity Big Brother was suspended on 24 August 2007.
PART II will be handed out next lesson (and available on the wiki) and address business,
marketing, control, acceptance, rejection and social change 
4. CONSIDER THE ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY IN THE INTERACTIVE PROCESS
5. EXAMINE THE INFLUENCE OF BUSINESS, MARKETING AND/OR ADVERTISING
Writers for reality television do not receive union pay-scale compensation (award wages) and union
representation, which significantly decreases expenditures for producers and broadcasters. Many of the
actors in reality television are compensated for their appearances.
Product placement, whereby companies and corporations pay to have their products included in
television programming for marketing purposes is highly prevalent in reality television.
The following is a list of television shows with the most instances of product placement (11/07–11/08;
Nielsen Media Research Eight out of the ten are reality television shows.
The Biggest Loser 6,248 products
American Idol, 4,636 products
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition', 3,371
America's Toughest Jobs, 2,807
Deal or No Deal, 2,292
America's Next Top Model, 2,241
Last Comic Standing, 1,993
Kitchen Nightmares 1,853
Hell's Kitchen, 1,807
See the following newspaper articles for FANTASTIC SPECIFIC examples of the influence of business
and marketing:
- Product Placement: The reality of reality television (news.com.au)
http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/television/product-placement-the-reality-of-reality-tv/storye6frfmyi-1226118030979
- Product Placement in Reality Television: An Investigation of Audience Identification and
Program Credibility (University of Adelaide Journal article)
http://digital.library.adelaide.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/2440/64113/2/02main.pdf
6. THE CONTROL OF REALITY TELEVISION
- Identify the stakeholders in the CONROL of popular culture
MEDIA:
GROUPS:
GOVERNMENTS:
FAMILY:
PEERS:
-
Consider the role of official and unofficial censorship (POWER & AUTHORITY)
7.
8.
-
DIFFERENT PERCEPTIONS OF POPULAR CULTURE
identify the resistance to popular culture and introduce examples
consider the ACCEPTANCE AND REJECTION of reality television
THE CONTRIBUTION OF POPULAR CULTURE TO SOCIAL CHANGE
Identify the POSITIVE & NEGATIVE aspects of popular culture that have become part of
society
-
Identify ways in which ‘reality television’ may have contributed to SOCIAL CHANGE (consider
society and culture fundamental concepts)