1)How have the documentary genres ‘Direct Cinema’ or
‘cinéma vérité influenced reality TV and the presentation of the ‘real’?
Discuss in the context of a contemporary reality TV show.
2)How does Hill define reality TV? Describe his definitions in the context of a contemporary Reality TV show.
3)What has the early docudrama (e.g. Cathy Come Home) contributed to the development of Reality TV? Discuss in the context of a contemporary reality TV show.
2)How does Hill define reality TV? Describe his definitions in the context of a contemporary Reality TV show.
3)What has the early docudrama (e.g. Cathy Come Home) contributed to the development of Reality TV? Discuss in the context of a contemporary reality TV show.
ReplyDeleteHow does Hill define Reality TV? Describe his definitions in the context of a contemporary Reality TV show.
According to Hill (2005), Reality TV can be described as a “range of popular factual programming” In other words, Reality TV is a genre which essentially documents ‘unscripted’ real-life situations. Unlike film, Reality TV doesn’t employ actors, instead, it focuses on footage of real events or situations.
The initial period of reality TV mainly focuses on ‘on-scene footage of law and order or emergency services’, cases in point are Cops, America’s Most Wanted. The focus of reality TV was then transformed after the show “Survivor” premiered (Chow, Moore, Yahr, 2015). The success of the show which premiered 16 years ago lies in its ability to entertain its viewers by retaining elements of physical challenges with the addition of the idea of survival to its participants, where they are required to test their physical, emotional and mental strength.
“Survivor” opened the floodgates for other reality TV shows as it transformed the way people watch reality television. People are now watching modern reality TV for character identification and entertainments. Connor (2005) states that people begin to enjoy reality shows after they learn enough about the participants to begin to identify the social relation, she stated that this process “allowed people to define themselves through social comparison.” Perhaps this the reason why reality shows such as Keeping up with the Kardashians and the Bachelor as the people in these shows are subjected to social comparison by the audience.
Hill (2005) mentioned that “there is no definition of reality programming, but many competing definitions of what has come to be called the reality genre.” For me, this means that the meaning of reality TV is constantly changing depending on what the audience want to see. This can be seen through the evolution of reality TV from hand-held cameras following Cops who are ‘real-life’ people to watching ‘celebrities’ living their day-to-day lives”
Reference:
Chow, E., Moore, C., & Yahr, E. (2015, May 29). How we went from 'Survivor' to more than 300 reality shows: A complete guide. Retrieved October 26, 2016, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/entertainment/reality-tv-shows/
Connor, P. (2005, August 17). Why Do We Tune In To Reality TV? Retrieved October 26, 2016, from http://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-do-we-tune-in-to-reality-tv/2/
Hill, A. (2005) The reality genre. In A. Hill, Reality TV: Audiences and Popular Factual Television. (pp. 14 – 40). Oxon: Routledge.
Hi Keren,
DeleteI've done the same question and i agree with you that that reality tv is a genre that is hard to define due to the broadness of the topics it can cover. We can see shows such as 'Survivor' and other game shows like it are entirely different from the likes of the Kardashians however they are both in the reality tv genre. The only real way to define it is real life situations filmed for television.
I'd like to add something here more because I've done the same question as well.
DeleteA reality TV is used with a variety of techniques: non-professional actors, unscripted dialogue, surveillance footage, hand-held cameras, seeing events unfold as they are happening in front of the camera.
According to Hills (2005), “The television industry is a good place to chat the changing genre of reality TV. Television thrives on new formats, and, as the previous chapter shows, television often cannabilises itself, feeding off successful genres and formats in order to create new hybrid programmes (p.42).
The new hybrid formats want to show real events in an entertaining style to attract a wide TV audience, which gain advertising revenues thesedays.
I’d like to tell the difference between reality TV and documentary because there is no evident distinction between them. It’s clear that they do have in common: both are affected by the environment, especially the place where they are being shot (my thought...)
Reality TV is based on unscripted condition, and it isn’t for education or social reform. Usually, reality TV is focused on the individual event, unimportant issues for entertainment. While documentary is focused on one specific aim and more serious. For example, it’s like a kind of attempt to look into a culture of people for educational purposes.
Reality TV is not always showing the true things to audiences. As reality TV has changed its features, it has a number of different genres: survival programmes, audition programmes, dating game shows, and fishing shows. The reality TV focused to sensationalize the situations to make revenue. In order to trigger viewer’s curiosities, the recent reality TV seems to be more commercial.
References
Hill, A. (2005) The reality genre. In A. Hill, Reality TV: Audiences and Popular Factual Television. (pp. 14 – 40). Oxon: Routledge.
Reality TV VS Documentary. Retrieved from https://imbringingsexyblog.wordpress.com/2011/03/13/reality-tv-vs-documentary/ [Web blog post]
How does Hill define reality TV? Describe his definitions in the context of a contemporary Reality TV show.
ReplyDeleteAnnette Hill in her 2005 book ‘Reality TV’ describes the genre as “Popular factual programming” (pg40) and “Popular entertainment”. Reality TV is, in general, created with the intention to entertain the viewer by showing them real people in extraordinary circumstances.
Hill (2005) states “Reality TV is a catch-all category that includes a wide range of entertainment programmes about real people.”(pg39) The nature of the genre makes it one of the broadest genres to define due to the fact that anything that is filmed with real people can be classed as ‘Reality TV’.
In terms of its place in the spectrum of genres, Hill states “Sometimes called popular factual television, reality TV is located in border territories, between information and entertainment, documentary and drama.” (pg39)
While some reality TV can be seen as high culture (documentaries etc) much of the modern material is seen as trashy and low culture. Hill (2005) comments that “Reality TV is often shorthand for what people think is wrong with modern culture – time wasting” (pg3) This however is not Hills opinion of the genre as a whole, only that select part.
Part of the reason why we have so much reality TV at the moment is due to its ease of production and low cost. Hill (2005) states “The rise of reality TV came at a time when networks were looking for a quick fix solution to economic problems within the cultural industries”
With all this information it is clear that there are no set conventions for reality TV other than the fact it has to be made with real people. There is also no set target audience due to the genres fluid spectrum. Throughout Hills work, she defines the genre as a broad and wide ranging but centred around the theme of reality.
References:
Hill, A. (2005). Reality TV: Audiences and popular factual television. London: Routledge.