Using the Model of Framing in Reality Television to Effectively Promote Projects

January 6, 1973, famous anthropologist Margaret Mead published an essay in TV Guide in which she addressed her view of PBS’s series “An American Family.” This series was groundbreaking during that time because is followed the Loud’s, a California family who were neither actors nor public figures just average middle-class family, which was unheard of at the time. The Louds were filmed for seven months and the product was twelve one-hour episodes which showed everything from the monotony of their everyday life to the corrosion of Bill and Pat Loud’s marriage. Meade called this series “a new kind of art form” and marveled at the shows ability to show the drama and entertainment value of the average human condition. Forty years later, as Meade had predicted, reality based television and films have become more understood, respected and prevalent in our modern culture. Extreme success stories of documentaries such as Justin Bieber’s 2011 “Never Say Never” and countless reality shows indicates that a celebrity’s presence , musicians particularly, on reality media channels can change audience’s perceptions, promote new material and help them to stay relevant in the public eye. These “reality” documentaries and TV shows present the audience with carefully edited material that conveys only a fraction of that individual’s personality and character yet has profound effects audience perception and acceptance. The British boy band One Direction is a prime example of how using the model of framing in reality television shows and documentaries effectively promotes projects, molds the opinions of audiences, allows artist to appear more open and relatable and leads to extreme monetary success.
One Direction’s is a group of five boys ranging f...

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...curately portrays personality was compressed into nuggets of reality that the producers wished to convey. This truth however has no effect on the awareness of the audience who for the most part accept the edidt performance as full reality and base their perceptions of the contestants on that. According to Charles Fairchild (2007) “ ‘Idol’ relationships are not limited to familiar musician-fan binaries, but grow and evolve into a series of intimate, active relationships that stretch well beyond the life of the show” (p.355). In his research he examined Australian Idol, a singing completion similar to X-Factor, and how by using the interactive selection build an affective investment in contestants that last past the conclusion of the series. This can be applied to explain their continued success after the show concluded despite they fact they that they came in third.