Reality TV E-Book

June Deery

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Serie: PCPS - Polity Key Concepts in Philosophy series
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 340

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

Reality TV has changed television and changed reality, even if we are not among the millions who watch. Written for a broad audience, this accessible overview addresses questions such as:  How real is reality TV? How do its programs represent gender, sex, class, and race? How does reality TV relate to politics, to consumer society, to surveillance?  What kind of ethics are on display? Drawing on current media research and the author’s own analysis, this study encompasses the history and evolution of reality television, its production of reflexive selves and ordinary celebrity, its advertising and commercialization, and its spearheading of new relations between television and social media.

To dismiss this programming as trivial is easy. Deery demonstrates that reality television merits serious attention and her incisive analysis will interest students in media studies, cultural studies, politics, sociology, and anyone who is simply curious about this global phenomenon.

Leseprobe

Contents

Cover

Dedication

Title Page

Copyright

Acknowledgments

1. Introduction: Definitions, History, Critiques

Is reality TV a genre?

Ethical concerns

Categorizing reality TV

History

Recent trends

Reality TV and fictional drama

Marketing and grammar

Scholarly approaches

Notes

2. Reality Status

Defining reality TV

Real elements

Staged Elements

The attraction of the real

Reality TV and documentary

Theatrum mundi

Extra-ordinary

Reality TV and real life: three phases

Recent trends

Ordinary celebrity

Conclusion

Notes

3. Social Television: Reality TV and New Media

The producer’s role

Viewer activity

Temporal dislocations

Multiple perspectives

Reunion implosion

Conclusion

Notes

4. Advertising and Commercialization

Economics of production

Production staff

Participants

Integrated advertising

Product placement

Sponsors and donors

Web integration

Commodifying personal relationships

Consumer society

High consumption

Low consumption

Business opportunity

Conclusion

Notes

5. Gender and Race

Self-as-project

Identity and consumption

Gender

Race

Conclusion

Notes

6. Class

Class on reality TV

Working class

The American redneck

Middle class

Nouveau riche

Upper class

Conclusion

Notes

7. Politics

Neoliberalism and governmentality

Surveillance

Globalism

Nationalism

Democratization

Conclusion

Notes

References

Index

Guide

Cover

Table of Contents

Begin Reading

Pages

ii

iii

iv

vi

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

36

37

38

39

40

41

42

43

44

45

46

47

48

49

50

51

52

53

54

55

56

57

58

59

60

61

62

63

64

65

66

67

68

69

70

71

72

73

74

75

76

77

78

79

80

81

82

83

84

85

86

87

88

89

90

91

92

93

94

95

96

97

98

99

100

101

102

103

104

105

106

107

108

109

110

111

112

113

114

115

116

117

118

119

120

121

122

123

124

125

126

127

128

129

130

131

132

133

134

135

136

137

138

139

140

141

142

143

144

145

146

147

148

149

150

151

152

153

154

155

156

157

158

159

160

161

162

163

164

165

166

167

175

176

177

178

179

180

181

182

183

184

185

186

187

188

189

190

191

192

193

194

195

196

197

198

199

200

For Alanna, John, and Doug

Reality TV

June Deery

polity

Copyright © June Deery 2015

The right of June Deery to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First published in 2015 by Polity Press

Polity Press65 Bridge StreetCambridge CB2 1UR, UK

Polity Press350 Main StreetMalden, MA 02148, USA

All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-9042-1

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Deery, June.

Reality TV / June Deery.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-7456-5242-9 (hardback: alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-0-7456-5243-6 (pbk.: alk. paper) 1. Reality television programs--History and criticism. I. Title.

PN1992.8.R43D44 2015

791.45’309--dc23

2014035165

The publisher has used its best endeavours to ensure that the URLs for external websites referred to in this book are correct and active at the time of going to press. However, the publisher has no responsibility for the websites and can make no guarantee that a site will remain live or that the content is or will remain appropriate.

Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked the publisher will be pleased to include any necessary credits in any subsequent reprint or edition.

For further information on Polity, visit our website: politybooks.com

Acknowledgments

I am very grateful to friends and colleagues at Rensselaer who in the last few years have offered encouragement and advice: especially Ellen Esrock, Katya Haskins, Jim Zappen, Pat Search, and Debbie Kaminski. Thanks also to Patricia Murphy for keeping me in touch with the British scene, as well as our past. A sabbatical enabled me to get this project off the ground and I wish to acknowledge this gift of time and support from Dean Mary Simoni and RPI.

My thanks go to Laurie Ouellette, Misha Kavka, James Hay, Vicki Mayer, and John Corner for their inspiration, encouragement, and correspondence regarding reality TV and to Brenda Weber for organizing a stimulating conference devoted to the subject. I am grateful to Britney Summit-Gil and Jackie Bowler for feedback on the introduction and to Mark Maiellaro and Xander Cesari for their technical help. I also wish to thank the anonymous reviewers who helped me improve the manuscript and the understanding editorial staff at Polity, especially Andrea Drugan, Elen Griffiths and Ian Tuttle. It was a pleasure working with you and I appreciate your being so decent about word limits and deadlines. To Heather, Paul, and everyone at Ellis Oncology Radiology, my thanks for being extraordinarily kind and upbeat during a difficult time. Thanks also to my extended family in Northern Ireland for their good wishes and good craic.

Final thanks I owe to Alanna and John for tolerating people who write books and to Doug who has witnessed another difficult birth.

Also thanks, John, for all the fish.

1Introduction: Definitions, History, Critiques

I’m not here to make friends. The tribe has spoken. You’re fired! I believe in being honest. She has no class. He’s not being real. She just threw me under the bus. Move that bus! I can’t believe it’s me/my living room/my car. I’ve learned a lot about myself. She is not here for the right reasons. Will you accept this rose? I did it for the experience. I have a friend who’s an expert. Make it work. It’s my day! Is this your dress? Watch out bitches! This isn’t the last you’ll hear from me …

These catchphrases are heard day after day on screens around the world. Many would recognize them as the voices of reality TV, a type of programming that whether enjoyed or criticized or both has affected television in each of the areas of production, distribution and consumption. So how did this happen and why is it important?

Reality TV is important in the most basic terms because it pervades TV schedules around the world and has, as a consequence, entered all kinds of popular and elite discourse, from personal blogs to presidential politics.1 To dismiss reality TV because of its often trivial content would be to miss its significance. Some individual programs are of high quality, are well-conceived, or are provocative in important ways; most, on the other hand, are not. Nevertheless, it is impact, tenacity, and cultural resonance, not profundity of content, that make reality television worth analyzing. Even if it were to disappear tomorrow, it would be worth knowing why it arose and was so popular. But for so prominent a cultural form, reality TV is not often or easily defined. What is it, and just as interestingly why is it, are questions worth asking. In this study, I offer an overview for those who are looking for a broad assessment of where we are with this attention-grabbing phenomenon. Based on current critical scholarship, I have selected what I believe are the main topics and questions reality TV (RTV) poses for students of the media and of contemporary culture.

Among academics, reality TV is becoming one of the most thoroughly analyzed areas of media production. It brings to the fore issues such as: What is real or fictional, how can we recognize either, and is it disturbing if we can’t? What does it mean to represent the self and what self are we encouraged to represent? How does watching ordinary people on TV relate to surveillance and governance? Is everything in contemporary culture commodifiable? Is the private still a meaningful designation? Is celebrity ordinary? And what is the role of television in a digital, mobile environment? This programming allows us to think about a cluster of contemporary concerns, including the requirement that we all perform – because of surveillance, because of the marketization of everyday life, because of the demand for individual impression management. Reality TV has become emblematic of a contemporary monitoring and commercialization of performed and mediated identities. It grew in a time of transparency, with people posting intimate information about themselves on social media and conducting loud phone conversations in public. But this is also a time when many are spooked at the discovery of governmental and commercial surveillance. People are giving away privacy but are disturbed when it is not their choice. RTV works through some of these tensions and betrayals.