Week 4 -Reality TV
From Jacquelyn Arcy’s article and Todd Graham’s and Auli Hajru’s article, reality TV is manipulated by producers to make ‘good TV’ and spark up ‘political talk’.
Reality producers rely on the ‘money shot’ – “a televised moment of emotional upheaval” (Arcy, 2018), in order for audiences at home to discuss with their family and friends online. People watching from home love reality TV as it’s a way to escape their own reality, as in secrecy most people enjoy watching other people’s lives and hearing, seeing drama unfold. As the reality stars are also active on social media ‘fans’ are able to interact and further investigate what is shown on the screen. Most celebrities all have a distinct digital presence, reality stars are different in this way because they must obtain their online identity as the character they are revealed as on screen, as it’s portrayed in their contracts (Arcy, 2018). As “reality participants are viewed as expendable celetoids, a celebrity whose fame is brief and constructed by the media” viewers are able to enjoy the show when aired and once finished move on to the next exciting reality TV show. Behind the scenes, audiences are blinded by the fact the characters shown on air are manipulated into sketchy contracts, an extremely competitive working environment with the promise of luxury and fame (Arcy, 2018).
The internet provides a ‘cultivating a public sphere’ (Graham and Hajru, 2011), where users are free to speak their mind equally and hide behind a screen, able to discuss political issues shown/spoken about on reality TV, the show can provoke the citizen in us and make us participate in public discussion (Graham and Hajru, 2011). Pop culture should be understood as part of politics, as individuals live through the culture, and the cultural values operate in politics.
References
Arcy, J., 2018. The digital money shot: Twitter wars,The Real Housewives, and transmedia storytelling. Celebrity Studies, 9(4), pp.487-502.
Graham, T. and Hajru, A., 2011. Reality TV as a trigger of everyday political talk in the net-based public sphere. European Journal of Communication, 26(1), pp.18-32.