Missing Video: India’s first reality show (Voice Recording of Award
ceremony graced by Lata Mangeshkar)
Missing Video: India’s first reality show (Video of Meri Awaz Suno prize
ceremony)
What are reality shows?
“Unabashedly commercial genre united
less by aesthetic rules or certainties than
by the fusion of popular entertainment with
a self-conscious claim to the discourse of
the real. This coupling . . . Is what has
made reality TV an important generic
forum for a range of institutional and
cultural developments
(Murray & Ouellette, 2004, pp 22).
Growth of
Reality TV
TYPES OF
REALITY
SHOWS
INDIAN REALITY TV
Missing Video: Slideshow of India’s reality show names with Viva (first
reality TV music band of girls) album’s first song recording playing in
background.
POPULARITY
of
Reality TV
Producers
•
•
•
•
Cost
Revenue
TRP ratings of channels
Dishing out what customers want
Missing Video: Reality TV is a cash register – Money aspects
VIEWERS
• As spectacle of humiliation
and grief?
– Jade Goody
• Insights into human
psychology?
Hear out Dr. John Paterson,
Dean of Education
• Emotions?
issues
Non - Reality
Missing Video: Writers and editors of famous reality shows reveal the
truth behind the so-called “unscripted shows”
So What is it really?
• Debra Seagal’s notes on American Detective
• John Langley, executive producer COPS
calls it "recutting or refinessing“
• Dr. William Beard, University of Alberta
professor of film and media studies
• The Dating Experiment – Adam Sandler
• Jeff Bartsch – Editor – Blind Date
BUT
VIEWERS AREN’T FOOLS
INSTANT CELEBRITY
Missing Video: Above is Ashutosh’s (First Roadies winner) application
for the show. He reveals in this video what happens behind the scenes
RACISM
Missing Video: Jade Goody abusing Shilpa Shetty
IMPACT
of
Reality TV
Missing Video: Shorts of MTV Indian Reality Show – Get Gorgeous 5
Missing Video: Big Boss scripted fighting by Rahul Mahajan
IMPACT
Cultural indicators and Cultivation
– Ettema and Whitney 1994
Mean World Syndrome
– Gerbner (1994)
Cultivation Analysis
– Signorielli and Morgan 1990
Impact cont..
The more people watch television, and hence
are exposed to these distortions of reality, the
more they will come to view the real world as
similar to the world portrayed on television and
thus perceive a greater real-world incidence of
the over-represented entities
So what do we do?
• Producers censor their own
content
• Promote better breed of
reality shows
– But will these sell?
(Fountainhead)
Missing Video: CNN – IBN news caster talks about audience preferences: TRP
ratings for a show where female stripper attempts to become a news anchor are
higher than Lead India
Reality TV – Why or Why Not?
• Escape reality or manifest destiny
• Orwell Vs Huxley