The Black Rectangular Hole
The black rectangular box sitting on your living room shelf tells you how to live your life. It tells you the weather, the news, sports events, etc. We also assume it’s there to entertain us, but it’s also a way to teach us what reality is in a way. The Sound Bite Society written by Jeffrey Scheuer states, “However else we may conceive it, television is first of all, literally, ‘seeing from a distance’ — a system for selecting and transmitting images en masse, within particular technological, cultural, and economic constraints.” Along with the important information, mind-controlling shows consume most of television. The television genre of reality shows is in such high demand because they offer another sense of reality, but there cannot be just one reality that is all-inclusive due to the constant changing of context and people's perceptions. The problem is that the shows are actually further from reality. The producers of these shows, of course, do not want the audience to grasp such differences between reality and the shows they are producing; if this were to happen, it would most likely put the show at risk.
The reality fad is fully underway nowadays. The overly paid producers started such programs like The Real World, Survivor, American Idol, John & Kate Plus 8, etc. due to the reality bandwagon of society. The audience latches onto the program because it essentially deals with real life trials and tribulations. One wouldn’t necessarily travel to Australia and have an affair with ten strangers, but watching this excites the viewers. These reality stars deal with situations we, as the audience, wouldn’t normally be in, but we enjoy seeing the struggles and possible outcome. When viewing a reality show, we seem to associate ourselves with one of the characters that is most similar to you, and then we tend to focus on that one person’s relationships, personality, decisions, and reactions with others. According to Nick Somoski, an avid blogger and former newspaper writer, “I believe the main reason is that people are interested in seeing people just like them compete for big prizes and fame. Americans are just nosy: they like seeing people like them on television put in big situations. Reality TV, by its name, does show the raw ‘realness’ that can't be seen in the normal sitcom and drama.” With this, the public has become scarily obsessed with the nightly programs that it plays a major role in their life decisions. Our addiction has stemmed from merely entertainment to now comparing and contrasting our lives with the lives we see on the shows. When reality shows were born, there were situations that occurred are highly unlikely to actually happen, but they simply served as a big laugh for the viewers. For example, no one in their right mind would ever want to be on Married by America and put the decision for whom you should marry in the hands of America. Now today, the shows are serving as a portrayal of what some now use for their day-to-day lives. For example, MTV’s 16 and Pregnant, which depicts the lives of teenagers going through motherhood, has gained an abundant amount of popularity resulting with teenage girls trying to get themselves pregnant in order to either be on the show or merely firsthand live the difficulties they see on the show. The initial point of this particular program is to show teenage girls what they do not want to happen to them, to show them how not being responsible can lead to harsh consequences and inevitably changing the course of their life. Another MTV show that was introduced to the public last year is notorious for unreal moments throughout the entire season:
The Real Reality
With all this on the table, the question in play is how real are the shows actually? How real are the situations? How real are the characters and their projected persona? Can you seriously associate them to the real reality in the world? CBS’ Survivor, where contestants are stranded on an island and compete in challenges to win prizes, films both opposing teams on the different islands, but seems to only show the parts where everyone is being deceptive and manipulative. There are rarely scenes with celebration, bonding, and funny events. The footage the producers receive from the show is edited, edited, and edited to be the perfect show they want it to be rather than show what was actually happening for a majority of the time. By doing this, the producers search for conflict, relying and playing off of insecurities and fragile emotions. There is supposedly no script involved with Survivor, but by having the producers using the power of editing, they are essentially creating the characters how they want them to be. The characters of the shows are also fully aware of the fact they are being filmed, so of course, some may want to do certain things to try and stand out. With this possibility, some reactions and/or situations may be exaggerated because of having a camera intervene. Having the cameras basically be a character of the show too makes others around it be not completely themselves the entire time.
What is Normal?
The question of normalcy comes into play. What is considered normal in today’s society? Are we the viewers normal or are the characters we watch normal? Normal is defined from the dictionary as, “conforming to a standard: usual, typical, or expect.” The standard we create is what is considered normal; the others who step outside the boundary that is drawn are considered unusual. Is normal cheating on your significant other on several different occasions? Is normal having unlimited amounts of money at your discretion? Is normal trying to manipulate someone to the point where he or she completely breaks down? The reality shows have been known to display this type of so-called reality, the idea of a perfect life. Of course, everyone wishes they could live the life where everything that happens is supposed to happen; everything is just peachy. These new programs overall are challenging the viewers’ perception of what reality really consists of, which then resulting with various levels of reality. Personally, I believe there cannot be one singular level of reality; every individual has their own views on reality, what is normal, what is their perfect life, and what they certainly want out of life.
"Best Thing That Has Ever Happened to Television"
A counterargument suggests that reality television is “the best thing that has ever happened to television in several years”. James Poniewozok’s article “Why Reality TV is Good for Us”, published in Time magazine, states “Yes, viewers are tuning in to Joe Millionaire, The Bachelorette and American Idol by the tens of millions. Yet, to paraphrase Winston Churchill, never have so many watched so much TV with so little good to say about it.” According to Poniewozok, reality television is bringing in buckets of money for the producers and has given the networks a fresh, new face. Throughout all the drama shows and sitcoms, the reality shows bring about more entertainment and has made television even more riveting to watch. I am fully aware of the fact that producers and networks are raking it all in, but that is not the problem. Even Poniewozok eventually admits to the flaw of reality shows; “…yes, we all know that there's little reality in reality TV: those ‘intimate’ dates, for instance, are staged in front of banks of cameras and sweltering floodlights…I realize that comparing even a well-made reality show with, say, The Simpsons is not merely comparing apples with oranges; it's comparing onions with washing machines — no reality show can match the intelligence and layers of well-constructed fiction.”
The Solution? Maybe?
Now for the solution, the public is definitely not going to be chucking their three thousand dollar televisions out the window in order to fix this reality crisis. We simply need to keep our own lives separate from the crazy lives we witness on the television. We cannot pretend our lives are just like the life of some millionaire woman on The Real Housewives of Atlanta; doing this would get us living in a world with identical people living identical lives. Similar to kids’ distinction with video games, we need to draw a clear boundary line between both our own reality and the supposed reality displayed to us through the black hole of television. That line needs to appear especially in the developmental stages of a child, or it will definitely skew the line between imaginary and real life for them as they grow up. An article written by Alice Hall from the Journal of Broadcasting and Entertainment Media stated, “Surveys have consistently indicated that young adults are more likely to watch reality programs than their older counterparts.” The reality programs were originally directed towards adults who can distinguish between their own lives and fake reality, but now the audience mostly consists of young adults and children, thus showing how the boundary for them can in fact be blurred. Because of this, the news circling about how some people are trying to do anything possible to get on a particular show mostly involves young adults. They’re the ones making fools of themselves in order to even have five seconds of fame. Children are still trying to figure out who they are and what their favorite color is; delving into the world of some reality star is not healthy entertainment for a child. With this epidemic of reality, there needs to be a definite disclaimer and/or ratings for the shows in order to keep the parents informed and the children far away from potential inappropriate shows. Even though this is a small step to take, it may be all the parents need to have a wake up call about their children and what they spend their time watching. These projected reality shows are there to offer a different sense of reality for the viewers, but they should be mostly catered to the adults who are intelligent enough to recognize the differences. There is not one single reality because we are constantly evolving, and now the world simply enjoys tuning into the ridiculous lives of ridiculous rich people.
