Weeks 11 and 12: Reality TV
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.
The definition of docudrama is “a film or television programme based on true events, presented in a dramatised form” (Collins, 2017). According to Hill (2005), docudramas are a influence to reality TV. For example, BBC’s Cathy Come Home is a one of many shows that use a fictional setting and characters to tell a real situation about homelessness to the audience (Lamb, 2016). In early television, it was only the news that covered social issues until Cathy Come Home was broadcasted and used real people to tell their stories and side of the social issues. It also created discussion from the public around the issues it presented.
ReplyDeleteContemporary reality television shows focuses their shows on these ‘characters’ and how they interact in a soap opera manner with moments of melodrama, clashes of personalities and cliffhangers. Shows such as as Benefit Street emphasise on these types of traits such as the exaggerated personalities of the people and their conflicts. (Lamb, 2016).
References
Collins. (2017). Docudrama definition and meaning. In Collins English Dictionary. Retrieved from https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/docudrama
Hill, A. (2005) The rise of reality TV. In A. Hill, Reality TV: Audiences and Popular Factual Television. (pp. 15 – 40). Oxon: Routledge.
Lamb, B. (2016). Cathy Come Off Benefits: A comparative ideological analysis of Cathy Come Home and Benefits Street. Journalism and Discourse Studies, (2). Retrieved from https://blackboard.aut.ac.nz/bbcswebdav/pid-4184868-dt-content-rid-7224428_4/institution/Papers/ENGL602/Publish/Cathy%20Come%20Off%20Benefits_%20A%20comparative%20ideological%20analysis%20of%20Cathy%20Come%20Home%20and%20Benefits%20Street.pdf
ReplyDeleteBoth Direct Cinema and Cinéma Vérité were developed in the 1960’s. While similar, the main difference between the Maysles brothers Direct Cinema and Jean Rouch’s Cinéma Vérité was to do with the documentarian’s participation. In Direct Cinema, traditionally the documentarian was simply an objective observer – the scene played out on camera with no interference from the film crew (Nam, 2015). In contrast, Cinéma Vérité, French for ‘film truth’ involves the film maker when necessary. This lends itself to interview style pieces where the film maker or presenter asks questions to provoke answers out of their subjects (Nam, 2015).
However, more recently where we have mass amounts of media available to consume, reality programming has had to develop further to keep audiences entertained – often combining hybrid programmes that fit into a multitude of genres (Hill, 2005).
How these techniques are used to present the ‘real’ to the audience can both be seen in Keeping up with the Kardashians (2007 - present). The programme uses a mixture of observational ‘direct cinema’-esque filming to present the ‘real’ Kardashian family life to the audience, and interview style piece to cameras with different members of the family to get an insiders perspective of how the individuals feel, or what they think about the observations shown on camera – which leans more toward techniques used in Cinéma Vérité.
While both of these techniques are used to show us a ‘reality’ of the Kardashian’s family life, there is constant contention around how truthful this view really is, and how much of it is fabricated. With producers including Kris Jenner (‘mom-ager’ to the Kardashian offspring, and participant) and the Kardashian sisters being Executive Producers at various stages throughout the series (IMdB, 2017) the series is sure to only show what the Kardashian family want to be seen. The degree of fabrication is unknown, but with the Kardashian family exploiting and loving their life in the public eye, there is surely some amount of dramatics ‘put on’ for the viewers.
IMdB. (2017). Keeping up with the Kardashians. Retrieved 23 October 2017 from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1086761/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt
Hill, A. (2005). The reality genre. In A. Hill, Reality TV: Audiences and Popular Factual Television. Pp.14-40. Oxon: Routledge.
Nam, Y. (2015) Cinéma Vérité Vs. Direct Cinema: An Introduction. Retrieved 23 October 2017 from: https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/cinema-verite-vs-direct-cinema-an-introduction/
2)How does Hill define reality TV? Describe his definitions in the context of a contemporary Reality TV show.
ReplyDeleteHills, 2005, establishes that there is a lot of variety when it comes to reality television, due to the hybridity of multiple genres being encompassed into one, thus making it difficult to categorise what exactly defines reality television. He states that, “The category of reality TV is commonly used to describe a range of popular factual programming. There are a variety of styles and techniques associated with reality TV,” (p.
Furthermore, Hills argues, that reality shows range from anything from having paid, professional actors, including unscripted dialogue, capturing real life events, or even using fly on the wall technique, to name a few examples.
He highlights that the definition of the word “reality” in reality television has changed over the past decade. Whereas previously, reality television was mostly in regards to shows about factual, real life, documented events, like nature, law and order, as well as crime and emergency show, reality shows now are a representation of quite literally “anything and everything,” ranging from anything from life to death.
Hills, categorises reality television into three sub-categories.
The first is informational based reality shows, that focuses on crime and law and order - referred to as infotainment shows. These include programmes like "60 minutes," or "20/20". While these types of reality shows were mainly used in the earlier days of reality television, they are still very much present.
The second category of reality television that Hills identifies, are docu-soaps. These are television series that follow the daily lifestyles of individuals or groups of people. These include shows like; "Keeping up with the Kardashians," "Dance Moms," and “The Real Housewives.”
The third type of category is referred to as reality gameshows. These include gameshows and competitions, which lead a person to some sort of reward or prize at the end, and include programmes like “The X Factor,” “Survivor,” or even “Ninja Warrior.”
Hills states that despite it’s name, reality television does not actually have to be factual, and suggests that due to the ever growing popularity of reality shows, there is a lot of questioning regarding the authenticity and reliability of these reality programmes, with many viewers wondering just how much of the television show is fake, with producers taking raw footage and manipulating it, just to boost viewer ratings and interests.
Arguably docu-soaps, are perhaps the most popular sub-category of reality television, with Hills suggesting that we engage better with these types of reality programming as there is an “appeal of entertainment stories about real people caught on camera,” (p.38). Thus, this has contributed to the rise of production channels like Bravo TV, which are increasingly producing new reality shows. Shows like “Keeping up with the Kardashians,” “Dance Moms,” as well as “The Real Housewives,” often create a two-part series at the end of each season, where the reality stars are interviewed, regarding the events that occurred during the show. In multiple instances across shows including; Shahs of Sunset, The Real housewives of New York, Keeping up with the Kardashians, Catfish and Dance Moms, many of the reality stars have spoken out about how footage had been manipulated by editors to make events look a certain way. “Dance Moms” star stated that footage of her was constantly manipulated to make her look “crazy.” In a similar instant, in a 2016 Youtube interview with reality star, Stephanie Pratt, admitted to being encouraged by the producers to engage in fights and break ups, in order to make the show more entertaining.
DeleteReferences:
DailyMail. (2016, November 16). Stephanie Pratt confirms The Hills WAS scripted. Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3942754/Stephanie-Pratt-confirms-Hills-scripted-reveals-just-real-reality-television-actually-is.html
Hill, A. (2005) The reality genre. In A. Hill, Reality TV: Audiences and Popular Factual Television. (pp. 14 – 40). Oxon: Rutledge
New York Post. (2015, October 18). How the Kardashians exploit and destroy for reality ratings. Retrieved from http://nypost.com/2015/10/18/how-the-kardashians-destroy-peoples-lives-for-reality-ratings/