2008 Woodie Awards
Reality Television Fools, Emotionally Hurts Viewing Public
Karen Aman
Issue date: 8/25/04 Section: OPINIONS
- Page 1 of 1
Television ratings confirm that overwhelming amounts of viewers find reality shows highly entertaining.
Whether the setting contains competing tribes on an island, or Malibu bachelor selecting his future wife, audiences have turned reality shows into ritualistic events.
Listening to people that discuss these programs is what is entertaining.
Some people seem to live vicariously through the characters.
Some of these shows do appear to offer many opportunities to witness candid reactions to completely unplanned, unsavory, strained situations.
And do they really enjoy all that gossiping? Or the personal attacks, rejections, humiliations?
Does watching this behavior fulfill a sense of entitlement to their own negative feelings?
Does their envy of lavish, tropical settings help them to ignore their own, ordinary, uneventful lives?
I worry that the glamorous wardrobes and expensive cars paraded by them might influence their sense of self and intentions in life.
Maybe their spirits or senses are challenged by the risky situations and vulnerable positions that are so pervasive in the reality shows.
Audiences seem to fall right into the world of unfolding competitions and serendipitous circumstances that are so seamlessly presented.
How do they become so rapt in the emotions of tension and conflict that seem to be so strategically played?
They are entranced because they are taken through the personal histories and profiles of strangers.
They are invited to judge the decisions of dependent teammates, potential spouses, and unbelievable makeovers.
They relate. They laugh, punish, moderate, cheer, and chastise. They are fans, they are proud, and they hope that their team wins.
And they are naïve.
Someone! Please tell them that the producers of these dramas are only in it for the ratings and they don't care if anyone gets hurt.
Perfect conversations, congruous episodes, wonderfully-timed awkward moments, emotional tragedy, and eloquent proposals, does not one take make.
The scenes are scripted and directed and edited.
Suspense, jealousy, fun, excitement, and cliché are all part of the architecture when building a winning reality show.
Settings, voyeurism, contention, clashing personalities, ego, and promises of the future, are embedded, not by coincidence, in the conceptualizing of these events.
Reality shows are not real!
Whether the setting contains competing tribes on an island, or Malibu bachelor selecting his future wife, audiences have turned reality shows into ritualistic events.
Listening to people that discuss these programs is what is entertaining.
Some people seem to live vicariously through the characters.
Some of these shows do appear to offer many opportunities to witness candid reactions to completely unplanned, unsavory, strained situations.
And do they really enjoy all that gossiping? Or the personal attacks, rejections, humiliations?
Does watching this behavior fulfill a sense of entitlement to their own negative feelings?
Does their envy of lavish, tropical settings help them to ignore their own, ordinary, uneventful lives?
I worry that the glamorous wardrobes and expensive cars paraded by them might influence their sense of self and intentions in life.
Maybe their spirits or senses are challenged by the risky situations and vulnerable positions that are so pervasive in the reality shows.
Audiences seem to fall right into the world of unfolding competitions and serendipitous circumstances that are so seamlessly presented.
How do they become so rapt in the emotions of tension and conflict that seem to be so strategically played?
They are entranced because they are taken through the personal histories and profiles of strangers.
They are invited to judge the decisions of dependent teammates, potential spouses, and unbelievable makeovers.
They relate. They laugh, punish, moderate, cheer, and chastise. They are fans, they are proud, and they hope that their team wins.
And they are naïve.
Someone! Please tell them that the producers of these dramas are only in it for the ratings and they don't care if anyone gets hurt.
Perfect conversations, congruous episodes, wonderfully-timed awkward moments, emotional tragedy, and eloquent proposals, does not one take make.
The scenes are scripted and directed and edited.
Suspense, jealousy, fun, excitement, and cliché are all part of the architecture when building a winning reality show.
Settings, voyeurism, contention, clashing personalities, ego, and promises of the future, are embedded, not by coincidence, in the conceptualizing of these events.
Reality shows are not real!