What do you actually know about reality TV? Is it “real” or “fake”? The effect of Reality TV on children and young adults is a topic not often discussed in today’s society. These thoughts haven’t been expressed to its full content, showing both sides of the situation and for you to make your decision. Reality TV has affected everyone in a one way or another, but mainly affects children and young adults since their minds aren’t fully developed yet. People in today’s society are affected by the things we see and incorporate them into our day to day lives in some way. In today’s society everything you see, hear, and read it true regardless of where it started. Many people don’t really know how ‘reality TV’ actually works, how it influences our pop culture, and why people it’s more believable than their day to day lives.
Reality TV according to Oxford Dictionaries, is “television programs in which real people are continuously filmed, designed to be entertaining than informative.” Also on HowStuffWorks they define reality TV as “unscripted programming that doesn’t employ actors and focuses on footage of real events or situations.” Unlike dramas, sitcoms, and documentaries, reality TV relies on the cameras getting everything filmed and captured as it occurs. “This is Your Life”, was technically the first reality TV show in the early 1950’s, originally starting as a broadcast on the radio in the late 1940’s. “The Original Amateur Hour”(1948) set the stage for our modern talent shows such as “Star Search”, “American Idol”, “The Voice”, “Americas Got Talent” and many others.
In 1973, a different type of reality show premiered called “An American Family”. This show was a 12-episode documentary, filming the Loud family’s everyday lif...
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...com/culture-traditions/tv-and-culture/reality-tvs-influence-on-culture.htm> 24 January 2014.
Perritano, John. "10 Ways Television Has Changed the Way We Talk" 11 March 2011. HowStuffWorks.com. 23 January 2014.
Cassidy, Sarah. "Teenagers Beguiled by False Dreams of Instant Fame on Reality TV." The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, 13 Jan. 2006. Web. 19 Jan. 2014.
"Definition of Reality TV in English:." Reality TV: Definition of Reality TV in Oxford Dictionary (American English) (US). Oxford Dictionaries, n.d. Web. 26 Jan. 2014.
"Lance Loud! A Death in An American Family." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 26 Jan. 2014.
Cline, Austin. "Ethics of Reality TV: Should We Watch?" Ethics of Reality TV: Should We Watch? N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Jan. 2014.
Thompson, Robert. "How MTV's 'Real World' Paved the Way for Reality Television 20 Years Ago." Fox News. FOX News Network, 3 June 2012. Web. 23 Jan. 2014.
American families depicted in television comedy shows outwardly appear as stereotypical characters. Extreme contrasting types are used to exaggerate real life: wealthy or poor, urban or rural, and sophisticated or naïve. This is not only for entertainment value, it seems: the characteristics of these families can represent the diversity within the families across our nation. As a show develops it can reach out to the audience by touching on more realistic values. A demonstration of how a television family deals with an issue can make that family appear to be even more similar to each other and comparable to real American families as well. In this paper, the Cosby show and Rosanne will be compared.
In the Time’s article, “Why Reality TV Is Good for Us,” author James Poniewozik discusses the rapid growth of reality television shows, as well as their recent popularity and success. According to Poniewozik, reality shows involve a huge chunk of the entertainment industry that succeeds because of their audiences’ astonishment and disgust regarding the exaggerated events that take place on the shows (Poniewozik)
...sold worldwide. This makes teenagers and other young adults do unruly things to try and gain their own spot in the limelight. Even though reality television is supposed to be this great source of entertainment and may make us happy at the moment, if not watched carefully and really thought about it could ruin someone’s life with its negative values.
How Reality TV affects the audience and the characters who were participating into it? Does it really give knowledge to people who were watching and supporting? Or is it just the sake of money and exposing their appearance on television? When it comes to watching television, people at home can choose which types of program they want to want for many reasons. Some people look to television for inspiration; others want to be kept informed about their surroundings and the world. In the article entitled, “Reality TV and Culture” by Jack Perry, he argues, there are some good points to how reality television are formed and offered. Perry explains that, not all of the shows are designed to encourage and promote dangerous and unrealistic. However,
The emergence and soon popularity of reality TV in some degree demonstrates the huge market of selling “real experience” through exposing “realities” of privacy, relationship between players, etc. (Deery 2004 in TV program area.). However, reality TV may not be intrinsically “real” though almost all involved players are unprofessional actors and programs are usually highly inscribed. Players are actually selected carefully (e.g. audition or interviews) and constrained by various signed agreements and all filmed scene sections are delicately edited with special purposes, making reality TV kind of erasing reality and fiction together (Bingchun & George (2003)).
Reality based television has a broad landscape ranging from competitive game-like shows to programs following the daily lives of a group of people. Every major network now has some form of reality programming because these programs are high in viewership and require low costs for production. The genre’s shows provide audiences with a first-hand look into the lives of everyday people, which creates resonance among viewers because they feel like they can relate to the characters on screen (Hasinoff, 2008). Since the majority of modern reality stars start out as unknowns, frequent viewers of reality television have essentially bought into the belief that they too can achieve overnight fame by appearing on a popular show (Mendible, 2004). According to Mendible’s evaluation i...
In today 's society, television is one of the greatest entertainment, and currently reality televisions have become the most commonly watched television programs. Reality tv, beside being entertaining , it has effected society in a negative
Reality Television has changed television in a way that no one could have imagined. Being the one of the most talked about genre in history, it is seen by millions of viewers. It has more ratings than any other kind of show (Breyer 16). From its start, there have been many Reality Television shows. Shows like The Real World, Survivor, Big Brother, and Jersey Shore. All of these give off a negative portrayal of reality. While Americans watch these shows, it seems that the show is real life, but in reality, no pun intended, before the show is even filmed, it’s written, edited, and produced (Breyer 21). Writers humiliate and degrade people just for the plot of the show, making their private lives public (Breyer 16).
Reality television has become nearly unavoidable and American society is more affected by reality television than they realize. Society can be shaped from reality TV in many ways like the way people act, and also the way people can perceive a problem. I never really could have thought just some of the stuff we watch on television like Big Brother, could be impacting us in any way. I always thought the reason people said reality television is bad for us was because we would get addicted and not want to leave the couch. I started to research reality television by looking up what could be the potential impact and I was shocked by the results that were good and bad. Coming from the article by John Perritano he says “Many say reality TV has put
Papacharissi, Z & Mendelson, AL 2007, ‘An exploratory study of reality appeal: Uses and Gratifications of reality TV shows’, Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, vol. 51, issue 2, June, pp. 355-370.
Many reality TV shows are driving young kids to be driven by money and fame. Our reality television makes us seem ignorant to other countries. Young viewers of these reality TV shows do not realize that most of the shows are often scripted and are not “real”. Although the programming of reality TV can be highly entertaining, it is important to be aware of the messages, and values that these shows often portray. Since reality TV has such a strong foothold in American pop culture, it is likely not going anywhere or changing its content any time soon.
In this day and age, there isn’t hardly a person who doesn’t watch some form of reality television. Whether it is an adrenaline pumping baking competition, a talent based show with singing and dancing, or the pure entertainment of a day in the life of celebrities most everyone watches some form of reality television. There seems to be a few different sides of reality TV that make it so entertaining for people to watch. There seems to be the shows that lure people in because of the motivational aspect, the drama, or the deep down genuine appearance. However, most people are oblivious to the fact that the screen they are watching isn’t usually what actually happens in real life. James Poniewozik explains the manipulation going on behind the camera
One of the main reasons for watching reality TV is to provide people with entertainment. To an extent, the majority of society has a desire to explore what goes on in the world around them. People like watching drama that occurs on public television. “Insults, temper tantrums, selfishness, gross behavior, and plain old stupidity- these are the main ingredients for most of today’s reality TV shows. Guess who is watching them? Millions of viewers just like you” (Cohen). “Viewers cannot seem to get enough of the torture, embarrassment, temptation, and above all, drama of other regular, everyday people being placed in unrealistic settings and manipulated for the world to see” (Pontius). These two quotes state that the reason that the majority of our society watches these shows, is that they are entertained by the supposed reality that is portrayed.
The creation of television broadcasting changed the way the world interacted, making it one of the most successful and important innovation. The Entertainment industry brought Reality TV to America, changing and evolving along with the changes in society. The concept of Reality TV is to show the struggles of real people or actors without scripts, surprising, and terrifying many of its viewers. The television content has changed over the years reflecting the changes in society; the Reality Shows are becoming more obscene, controversial, and competitive.