Weekly Analysis 2-1

Pop Culture – Reality TV
This week I will be analyzing reality TV. I am a self proclaimed reality TV junky. I am one of those people who just loves to watch other people live there lives on TV. So I decided to see how real is reality TV, and how much of it is fake. My findings may change my view on reality TV. However, I don’t think anything could really make me stop watching.
Weather you watch Big Brother, The Bachelor, The Real World, The Amazing Race, Intervention, The Hills, The Biggest Loser, America’s Next Top Model, or one of the many other reality shows, at some point what you are watching is very cleverly edited to make it appear to be something it isn’t. According to Ponicwozick (2006) this is called frankenbiting, which from my understanding is where they piece together and or change something someone says or does to make it appear to be something else. Why do they do these things? Well ratings of course. With many accusations flying about reality TV being scripted, where do you draw the line? Well apparently it’s a very thin line. With all the contestants having to sign waivers there isn’t a lot they can do about it. So why do people still voluntarily go on these shows, for fame and money.
While we enjoy reality TV, what we don’t see is the bad side of it. For many people the portrait these shows paint of their contestants is not only inaccurate, but in some cases very damaging in their day to day lives. There is usually a villain on every show, and for the most part it is a serious stretch of who that person really is. Many of these shows have been sued because they have cause serious damage to these contestants. This is the dark side of reality TV that most people don’t know about. According to Peters (2007), the sister of one contestant on Extreme Makeover killed herself because of the guilt she felt about what she said and how it was misconstrued on the show. This is the worst thing that could possible happen, so when is it enough? How far should it go before these shows are held liable for these actions? Well, that is what is being debated every time someone sues one of these shows. With every ruling, more and more laws are put into place. So while I do love reality TV, I have a feeling and I won’t stop watching, I will take everything will a grain of salt. I think we need to realize that we judge these people based on what we see, and we need to not do that, because the way they are portrayed my not be accurate.










References
Peters, J.W. (2007). When reality TV gets too real. New York Times. Retrieved August 29, 2009, from http:nytimes.com/2007/10/08/business/media/08reality.html.
Ponicwozilc, J. (2006). How reality TV fakes it. Time Magazine. Retrieved August 29, 2009, from http:time.com/time/magazine/article.html.
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