Friday, May 7, 2010
Reality TV turns to Movie? Supplemental Post 4
With the advent of reality television over the last several years, the way we watch tv has completely changed. We’ve seen couples find their “soul mates,” people make it through hell and back for money, and singing stars find their claim to fame. An interesting phenomenon has been the MTV reality series. Starting with hits like Nick and Jessica’s Newlyweds, Laguna Beach, and taking that into a spin-off of The Hills. Lauren Conrad has been living her life on television over the last five years. She has taken her fame as a true reality tv star and used it to start a clothing line and start a career as an author. In her book LA Candy she describes a young woman who finds fame through a reality tv show, essentially it is her life in a novel. A new phenomenon in cinema seems to be coming from this book; the producers of Twilight have taken on the novel to be adapted into a film. While we have watched many different “art” mediums influence film before, this idea of having a reality television show inspire a film. What does this say about young American audiences? Why are we so intrigued by the lives of others? It will be interesting to see how this film does and where the project goes. Conrad has reported that she doesn’t want to act in the film, but if she had, wouldn’t it have just been The Hills: The Movie?
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The ‘Real’ Reality:
One aspect of our daily lives that tends to get overlooked and underrated is reality television. All too often, if a television program falls into the reality genre it is automatically assumed to be a terrible thing and detrimental to society. Many of us are content to let reality television get taken with a grain of salt, and viewed as silly and insignificant. However, there are many redeeming features that make reality television stand out as worthwhile television programming. One common misconception about reality programming is that, if a show is unscripted, not a lot of thought went into making it. This is simply not the case, and reality programming, when given the chance, can make for some of the most compelling, entertaining, and engaging story telling on the small screen.
Reality television allows new storylines to be explored in a medium where it is often said that nothing is new or original. There are an abundance of scripted dramas and comedies already on the air, many of which have very similar if not exactly the same storylines. This can clearly be seen with CBS’s CSI franchise which now includes CSI: Las Vegas, CSI: Miami, and CSI: New York. What’s engaging about three separate series that are essentially the same show? A similar type of pattern can be seen with scripted comedies. An exceeding high number seem to revolve around some variation of a dysfunctional family, and the comedy that arises from such. While not to argue that scripted programming is not engaging, there is merely a limit to how original or appealing a series can be that focuses on the same plot lines.
Reality programming has a number of different facets and niches including competition, talent search, finding true love, giving back to the community, pure entertainment/shock factor, and social experiments. All of these subsections of reality television offer something different and unique that can’t be done with a traditional scripted show.
Reality programming has the ability to have a positive influence on our society. Talent search reality shows such as American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, and America’s Got Talent introduce fresh talent into the cultural mainstream. It gives artists a chance to share their talent, whom otherwise would not have the opportunity to do so.
Reality programming has the ability to push the envelope of traditional television viewing and bring new forms of interaction between the viewer and the program. Reality shows let audiences have input on the content of the show whether it be from text message voting for contestants, to CBS’s Big Brother, which offers live 24/7 feeds of the show. A viewer can actually watch what is going taking place in real time via the Internet.
While reality shows differ in structure and content, it is hard to say that every single reality show currently on the air has a rightfully deserved slot on your TV guide. However, it is also unfair to stereotype them all as a waste of time. Reality television is a genre not a fad. It is safe to say that as long as networks continue to search for the next big hit, more reality programming will be coming your way.
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