The usage of such a historically significant
event to illustrate the "passion for the real" helped me to better
understand the concept. If we take time to break down September 11, the
"show" aspect of the act becomes more clear. Yes, terrorists clearly
aimed to attack America but the medium was spectacular. Such event was meant to
be transmitted and suddenly, millions of people had access to the "real
thing". Although the majority of us were nowhere near New York when it
happened, we are still able to visually describe the scene and I can bet most
of us would classify it as the "real thing" except it really
isn't. If transmission was not a thing, the event would not have been
close to forming a part of our reality. I think that this relates back to the
concept of “reproduction”. Now, anything can be part of our reality based on
mere exposure to a replica of it. It feels close to us; this is why movies
about these events are so popular. I think we have extended the meaning of “relatable”.
Going off
this idea, it is easy to understand the appeal of "reality TV".
Reality connotes closeness to us. There seems to be higher identification and a
smaller distance between the content and the audience. Driven by capitalism and
consumerism, we are flooded with media claiming to depict "reality"
and then we give into attaining such depictions. It seems normal and attainable.
Going a little of tangent, this reading
made me think of the impact of Keeping with the Kardashians. Because of the
show's popularity, hundreds of lifestyle/fashion trends (which one needs to
spend to be a part of) have erupted. Mundane life is pretty boring, and watching "normal" people on TV is pretty cool, no wonder we want to be as cool as them.
Hi Luci! I really agree with you statement. I believe that thanks to our advanced technology, we are able to televise any event instantly. I feel that it is so important to understand and see the “real thing” so then we can have some sort of validation. When it comes to reality TV, it is a way of entertainment that makes us better understand a sense of another version or reality. Still, I do believe that the aspect of entertainment now a days makes reality tv somewhat fake. As an example, for signing reality tv shows such as The Voice, The X Factor and American Idol, have a gigant process of pre-auditions to select their participants that do not even air. And what is more unreliable is that the own producers choose those particpants that usually make a joke out of themselves just so it can be more entertaining and have more views when the first round of participants air. Just like Arthur said, “ are destined to have little credibility”; “they have no guarantee of an audience” (41), Reality TV has a very biased misconception on what reality is. They believe that in order to have a reliable and constant audience they need to create a new ‘desired’ reality out of the real reality. This also makes me think, what type of conservatives are the audiences of this shows, young conservatives, old conservatism or neoconservatives? I liked the example you gave of the Kardashian. It is incredible how their show has greatly impacted our society. Nowadays, people will do anything to follow their trends or strive for their lifestyle which is pretty fantasy like if you think about it. Even worse, by following their fame, we encourage them to keep promoting their materialist and societal lifestyle. Sorry if there are any Kardashian fans reading this!
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