My Article this week was titled “Reality
Television Benefits Society More than Scripted Television Does” and I don’t really
know what to think of it. I mean it is true, reality TV is taking over many
networks and our society is slowly transitioning their preferences to watching shows
that show some sort of truth (hypothetically speaking of course). I mean many people
use reality television as an outlet to things they are missing in their own
lives. Whether they like to see people making fools of themselves on national
television, or whether they like to see the way a certain individual or group
of people lives their lives. How many times have you caught yourself watching a
television show like Catfish the
television show or Teen Mom and
found yourself questioning why these people choose to put their personal lives
out there in-front of the whole world only to be made fun of or criticized for
certain actions that you have made in your life. It’s amazing how much of
ourselves we, as a society, are willing to show the world. Personally I would
not want to show my life events for everyone to see merely for pure
entertainment. However, I can pretty much safely assume that there have been at
least one or more television shows that you can relate yourself to. You may not
be able to relate to the whole situation of the person or the television show
but I guarantee there was a personal story that related in some way to you. Whether
you understand how the person is feeling because you might have felt similarly
to them or maybe a person story touched home and made you reminisce on your
past and inspired you to do something. Who knows? All I’m trying to say is that
reality TV has made a huge impact on our society in a sense that its more
relatable to our personal lives than scripted television shows like The Walking
Dead (one of my favorite TV shows) where we have no way of relating to zombies (well
maybe when waking up for 7:30 classes ha-ha). But all jokes aside we watch TV
because we are typically bored and need something interesting to pass the time
by and what better way to do this than watching a couple of episodes of Ridiculousness or Guy Code? TV in all honesty is mindless entertainment in the end. Whether
we spend that time watching things that in one way or another relate personally
to us, or we spend that time watching shows that have no chance of ever being real.
We all have our personal favorites and after talking to some of my friends, reality
TV does provide more entertainment that scripted shows. Maybe it’s because
sometimes scripted TV shows seem too predictable. Real quick after reading this
next sentence I really want you to try this. I want you to try and think about
a television show that YOU personally would enjoy watching all the time no
matter what; think about a plot, how the characters act, maybe the type of
genre, just think about the perfect TV show. You got it? Alright now I can
almost guarantee there is a show out or there has been a show that encompasses
everything you wanted. I can also pretty much guarantee there have been
multiple different TV shows that follow your criteria. My point is that there
is not one show that is something entirely new, it has to have some
characteristic of a show that has already been made and aired sometime in the
past. I feel like with reality TV follows this same idea to an extent. Though the
show may be a knock-off of a past television show, the story and actions of
those who are on it are more than likely something way different than past
people who have been on the show. It gives something new for people to watch
and relate to and that’s the reason why I feel like reality TV is more popular
than scripted TV shows. I know this has been a lot of rambling on about some
things that may seem pointless but all in all I hope you understand what I was
trying to get at.
http://www.psmag.com/blogs/news-blog/reality-tv-warps-viewers-perception-actual-reality-66239/
ReplyDeleteThis is so interesting! This was a study that measured how reality tv is affecting the population. What this shows me is that, although reality tv has been created to connect better with people, it instead has made people more alike. But this can be seen as a bad thing. The study shows that more people think that women have more sex partners, are more aggressive, and are more likely to break up with their partner. None of these are particularly true, as it depends on personal factors….but the study proves the relationship of reality tv to societies portrayals.
This made me think of how they are canceling a certain Teen Mom show, whether it is Teen Mom 2 or 3. Apparently, there has been studies showing that because of this show, more teen girls want to or are trying to get pregnant. They see these girls on TV acting bratty and selfish and raising their children in sometimes very bad environments just to get paid a substantial amount of money. These young girls look to this show as a sort of source of role models, which can be one of the worst popular things they could do. Also they can see that as Teen Mom 2 is airing for another season on television, a decent amount of the girls in the groups are getting pregnant again without ever solving any of the issues that they faced as 16 year old, immature girls. Of course there are certain exceptions, but for the most part, this is what is shown on TV and this is what young girls are looking up to.
Deletehttp://elitedaily.com/life/culture/detrimental-culture-tv/
ReplyDeleteMany people say that reality TV is detrimental to our culture because of how stupid and superficial the content of the shows are. They think it is negatively affecting our society because of the cultural phenomenon that happen because of a popular show (Shows like Jersey Shore and Desperate Housewives). Reality TV has definitely taken over television networks because of how popular it has become. I agree that I personally would not expose my private life to the world but so many people today want to. I think people watch it because it is relatable and then in other cases it is just entertaining. Everyone has their group of reality shows that they love to watch because it is personal to them and what they like. Even though it is not all real everyone loves to watch it because it is so easy to get hooked on a reality TV show.
I definitely agree that I wouldn't want to expose my personal life on something like reality television, mainly because it just feels like a major invasion of privacy to me, but there are a lot of younger people out there who watch these types of shows and would die to be on a reality show. I also agree that people watch reality television because it's just flat out entertaining, but I have to disagree with you when you say people watch it because it's relatable to them. I personally think that so many people watch these shows like Catfish or Jersey Shore because their own lives are nothing like those of the people on the shows. I feel as though the audience likes the idea of experiencing these wild things they see on TV without having to actually experience them on their own, which is how I feel about Jersey Shore or another show like The Real World; I don't think there will ever be a time in my life where I'm living in a house full of crazy, loud people that I've never met before. But seeing other people do that is indeed entertaining to me.
DeleteI don't think I would put my life out there for the world to know, I know our world is all about drama so people eat this up, but no thank you. I think it's ridiculous and honestly, little kids are watching these shows and reenacting what they see. Not smart. I mean, that also goes with bad parenting which is a totally different subject, but still, I see no need and no benefit other than for the producers and those who are dying to get their 15 minutes of fame. What happened to the good times? The 90's and early 200's where everything was all good and still pretty classy? why honey boo boo? Why snooki? Why stupid youtube videos like girl eats tampon? WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY???? HAVE SOME CLASS PEOPLE.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with what you are saying. I feel like reality TV is getting out of hand. I miss the early 2000s when TV was actually enjoyable. People are getting rich off of acting like idiots. There are so many shows where it consists of people acting like fools, drinking and partying. It is also putting off a bad impression for younger kinds. They are watching these shows and wanting to be just like them. People should not be making a lot of money and staring on TV just because they were pregnant at 16 or constantly party and drink. I find myself flipping through the channels and it is reality show after reality show. It has gotten to the point where I don’t really watch TV anymore.
Deletehttp://www.theclause.org/collide/2012/10/the-reality-of-reality-tv/
ReplyDeleteThis article is very interesting because it shows that the majority of the people watching television are more interested in reality t.v. shows than major political events. One reason I think that this is the case is that people would rather watch something that is relatable to their lives opposed to things that are going on around them. In the past few years the amount of people that frequently watch reality t.v. shows has skyrocketed. I believe this is due to fact that the reality t.v. shows that are being aired now are more relatable to everyday life and more or less are about interesting things. I find it completely ridiculous that people would rather watch t.v. shows about car towing and child beauty pageants compared to things that concern the future of their country.
I agree that reality TV is more popular or you could say would be picked by someone rather than scripted TV. This being said we tend to relate these people/things to our own lives, and put ourselves in the situation and reflect on it. I agree with what Destiny is saying, that putting your life out in the open for the world to see is something I would never do but we also have to think about the kind of person that is doing so. There are many different kinds of people and some like to be center of attention and enjoy these kind of dramas. As for us, we would never be happy with people commenting on your every move but that goes along with the fame. Also, we have to think that as our world becomes more modernized, the television has to also change with it or else no one would watch it. Producers find what people are most interested or what is happening on the world and base it off of that.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you Shelby. Reality TV is taking over television and it is impacting everyones life. I am guilty and do watch it because watching other peoples lives is interesting to me but I don't let it impact the way I act. I personally would never put my life on television, I don't want cameras following me around all day long recording my everyday life. I agree with you shelby on that we must look at the type of people putting their lives on TV. These people are drama seeking people and love to start drama. These type are interesting to watch and also it is humorous to watch their drama.
Deletehttp://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/rankin-full-stop/2014/jan/6/reality-tv-what-does-it-say-about-society-watches/
ReplyDeleteI found this article very attention grabbing and something interesting to link because it provides an interesting perspective to the above story. American entertainment has become increasingly dependent on reality television, there is no doubt about it. But is the content in these shows providing a noticeable influence on today's youth and their approach to the world? In the article it says "increasing numbers of young people are now looking to these programs for cues to live in the world". This could be a very valid point, if you look at today's society we can see how much reality television ties into our everyday lives whether it be through social media, every day discussion, and it is plastered all over the internet; all of these are sources that have a heavy influence on our youth these days. And it's not like the derogatory actions that make reality television what it is are helping to create a positive effect...
http://voices.yahoo.com/the-benefits-reality-tv-outweigh-costs-7143.html
ReplyDeleteI really liked this article because it highlighted the many benefits of reality t.v. Reality t.v. has had a large impact on entertainment we see today. Almost every channel nowadays has to do with reality. More and more reality shows are being aired due to the amount of attention they receive. I myself enjoy reality t.v. shows very much because I can relate to them. This is something I share with many other people in the world. Reality shows are fun and interesting to watch because everyone can relate to them. They exhibit common realistic behavior that we all understand. I do not find scripted shows to be enjoyable because most of the time you can figure out what is going to happen. There never seems to be surprises and most scripted shows are unrealistic. Reality shows have and will continue to have an influence on everyday life.
The term “reality television” in this day and age seems rather misleading and incorrect in presentation. It doesn’t necessarily seem beneficial to society because of how much it is twisted, and different from reality. Modern reality television seems to twist much of what reality is truly like. The producers seem to enjoy stretching truth for the sake of more publicity of their show, which makes sense in the monetary sense. However, this does not stray from the fact that reality television is not a completely accurate representation of true reality. Often, many concepts and norms are exaggerated and romanticized to seem more extreme and intense than they actually are. On the other hand, scripted television has the capability of mimicking reality, and with money and good actors, this is fully capable of pulling off. As long as the producer of the scripted television is able to develop a good script, and produces the film/show masterfully, it could be highly beneficial to society. They could press ideologies of modern society that are not typically seen, and could even reflect modern events in their media. Sure, it is scripted, but it is accurate scripting that is derived directly from current events and culture.
ReplyDeleteI feel as though both scripted and non-scripted television shows can benefit the public, it just depends on the content in the show. For instance every time i find myself watching Teen Mom I always think about how hard it must be for kids to raise kids. Also you see the struggles they face and (for me) can realize that you know what NOT to do. But scripted television also usually has a strong message (depending on the show) somewhere hidden in there and can be enjoyed to watch by many.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with you. As much as I hate to admit to it, especially right now, I do watch quite a bit of reality TV. Not so much because I can relate to it, but because it’s more entertaining to watch then a large part of the scripted TV shows. I think bringing up Teen Mom was a very good idea. A lot of people see Teen Mom as a very bad show and say that it promotes teen pregnancy. However, if you’ve ever actually watch an episode of Teen Mom, you will see that almost every commercial break begins and every episode ends with a message about preventing teen pregnancy and educating yourself about sex. I can see how parents might think that it’s promoting teen pregnancy from the outside, but if you’ve ever watched it you can tell that it’s doing the opposite. MTV is showing girls and all their viewers that teen pregnancy is NOT easy. It’s showing the reality of a bad situation. I think that its great there are girls out there who advocate about safe sex practices and about the difficulty of teen pregnancy. I think it’s important for people to see the real side of what it’s like to be a teen mom, for example, so they can know that they DON’T want to be in their situation.
DeleteI agree that reality TV probably is the most popular "genre" of television today. I also agree that people watch these shows to see people do things, they would never do. It's almost like a thrill, getting the things you lack, by watching others do it. There are a lot of stupid, ignorant, pointless shows on air, but they are still on air because people continue to watch them. Whether it is comedy, or just pure entertainment to people, they still watch the shows. I personally do not think I could have camera crew following me around and airing my dirty laundry for the whole world to see. Props to those that can!
ReplyDelete