The journal article that I analyzed is
a book review of “Reality TV: The Work
of Being Watched.”. Mark
Andrejevic. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003. This can be found on pages 1116-1118 of The Journal of Popular Culture.
This book was written to give a
different perspective of Reality Television.
Two groups of people were analyzed by Mark Andrejevic. One group was a group of folks that cannot
wait to settle in and watch their favorite Reality TV show. They wish the people that are skeptical of
Reality TV would just get over trying to figure out if it is “real” or
not. They are looking to enjoy the
entertainment of their show. The other
group are the Reality TV skeptics.
Andrejevic found that both groups have issues.
He decided to research further and
bring out an entirely different perspective.
Instead of tearing apart the shows themselves, he decided to take a look
at the promises and the pitfalls of Reality TV for the viewers.
Andrejevic’s studies found that Reality
TV promises to revolutionalize television and allow normal, everyday people the
ability to be on television and be in the public eye while monopolizing
corporate media. The pitfall of this is
the fact that the surveillance ends up exploiting these same people by modifications
of what is actually shown to the public.
The promise to revolutionalize TV is empty according to Andrejevic.
The author’s study found that people
are manipulated by Reality TV. Most
people that say they are not manipulated by Reality TV unfortunately really
are. These people are in denial.
The author talks about a couple of different
types of Reality TV audiences. One is
the “savvy” Reality TV viewer. Rather
than be manipulated by the culture industries, these viewers enjoy the
entertainment while deconstructing it. (almost a defense mechanism) With this, Andrejevic introduces the problem
of the “savvy” Reality TV viewer. These
viewers are knowledgeable about Reality TV,, however, they “cannot escape the
grip”.
The other type of viewer the author
mentions is the “perceptive” viewer.
Andrejevic did a case study on a fan of the Reality TV show, “Big
Brother”. Big Brother captured “perceptive”
viewers. This show had a 24/7 live feed
of the show by web cam in addition to the multiple times a week show on
TV. The ability to see these folks 24/7
gives full “access to the reality of manipulation” and shows just how contrived
Reality TV is.
I agree with a lot of what Andrejevic
came up with from his studies. Since he
did say he wanted to add a new perspective to analyzing Reality TV, he
certainly did this. I do not believe that
things would have turned out the same if he would have covered some other types
of Reality TV shows.
The empty promise-Reality TV promises
to revolutionalize TV- This point,
according to the author’s studies, is that this is an empty promise because the
surveillance ends up exploiting these people due to modifications with surveillance. “American Idol” and “The Voice” do just the opposite
for their contestants, well, except the outcasts on American Idol. There are stars made from these shows.
Manipulation of the people by Reality
TV- This one might be true with “American Idol” and “The Voice”. There is some type of manipulation in every
Reality TV show because the folks that create the show want you to see certain
things and not see others. I do believe there
is certain scripting and formats that need to be included with these types of
game shows.
Savvy Reality TV viewers- The author
states that these “savvy” viewers enjoy the entertainment while deconstructing
it to keep from being manipulated. These
folks are still around with “American Idol” and “The Voice”. Even with “American Idol”, where normal
people like us vote, there are “savvy” Reality TV viewers out there picking apart
the pieces wondering if the winner is fair and wondering if the show is “staged”. The also seem to be the viewer that enjoys
the show the most!
Perceptive viewers- The author sees these
viewers as the group of folks that are more knowledgeable about Reality
TV. They are able to see the full
manipulation of the programs. These are
the folks that watch the 24/7 live feed webcams. I do believe that these types of viewers
would be able to perform their perceptive viewing tasks with “American Idol”
and “The Voice”.
The analysis is important. Rather than picking apart the television
shows themselves, the author decided to give a perspective of the promises of
Reality TV. The analysis allows us to
think about how people normally perceive Reality TV shows. Also, it brings into perspective the
different audiences and almost gives Reality TV audiences an amount of “skill”
to avoiding manipulation.
My analysis of the words of the author
brought another point to mind that the different types of Reality TV shows do
make a difference to Reality TV perceptions and influences of their audiences.
I love reality TV. My TIVO works hard to save all my favorite shows for me so I can watch them at my leisure.
If
I need to fit myself into a category based on the author of this book, I would
pick a “savvy” viewer because I love to pick the shows apart as I enjoy the
drama. I would keep Reality TV in
perspective and enjoy the entertainment of it all.
Manipulation is a strong word, but I
guess I’ll take it as long as I can still watch.
References
Andrejevic, M., & Lanham, MD. (2010) Reality TV:
The Work of Being Watched. The
Journal
of Popular Culture. 1116-1118.
Sounds like a somewhat interesting article...I love reality T.V so this type of stuff interests me a lot haha. My article was kind of dry but yours was a good pick! Good job!!!
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