Reality And Reality In Television Culture By John Fiske

Beyond our entertainment, reality television is a market that thrives off of profit earning. John Fiske, author of Television Culture, goes behind the scenes of the reality television world to help readers understand how it reaches society as a whole. T.V. programs rely heavily on codes, which people use to interpret the world, and share meanings. “The point is that “reality” is already encoded, or rather the only way we can perceive and make sense of reality is by the codes of our culture . . . What passes for reality in any culture is the product of that culture’s codes, so “reality” is always already encoded, it is never “raw”” (Fiske 5.) Therefore, reality television must abide by these shared meanings, which have been encoded at three

These codes work together to constitute material perceptible to viewers. Social codes are the rules and standards that exist outside of television, such as the way a person appears and acts. Television supports this by using a set of representational codes. Fiske examines the technical codes such as camera work and music, and the storytelling codes, which depict characters, dialogue, and setting. Then there is the ideological code, the underlying meaning within our social acceptability and belief systems. Each aspect of reality T.V. is closely planned by using cultural encodings that suit the audience’s subconscious expectations with the intent to deliver the discourse of the program.

In the early 2000’s, Americans began to recognize obesity as a rising issue in our country. With better access to nutrition awareness and the importance of having a healthy lifestyle, many Americans geared towards a new health kick, or were at least motivated to do so. The Biggest Loser premiered at a time when the media targeted fast food and other unhealthy lifestyle habits America fell guilty to. Part of the shows success, I believe, was due to this new fitness and health fad that became encoded into the daily lives of Americans. The first episode