Rija Faisal
Can reality tv still be thought of as a genre given the high level of hybridity that exists?
Over time, the genre of reality TV has evolved to include a number of different genres and concepts through hybridization. There are many different types of reality TV programmes around these days ( competitions, celebrity lifestyle, game shows, to name a few), and these programmes all take on different styles and various sorts of formats. Because there is such a vast variety of the types of reality TV shows, tracing the history of the genre of reality TV and pinpointing it to a single point of origin is quite difficult. And because such a high level of hybridity exists within the realm of reality TV, the question arises of whether or not we can even consider reality TV to be its own genre, given that so many genres blend together to create this one, single genre that we know as reality TV.
It can indeed be difficult to say exactly what the genre of reality has evolved into. Though it started out as a genre of its own kind, it has developed into a discourse of debate. Nowadays, reality TV has adopted many different sorts of formats, revealing the rapid frequency with which it changes. This frequency with which reality TV changes, is, according to Hill (2005), “an example of how television cannibalizes itself in order to survive”. He states that this is how television “draws upon existing genres to create successful hybrid programmes”. Then, this, in turn, is what leads to an entirely new genre being created.
While the genre of reality TV comprises of an abundance of different types of formats, these, on the whole, can be viewed as being chain-linked to each other. It does not really matter what sort of a reality TV programme one is watching ( be it a dating show, a dance competition show, etc), the commonality between all these is that they are meant for providing entertainment to the mass audience.
Hill (2005) further states that trying to create an ideal notion of what the genre of reality TV truly is and which other sub-genres fit under its banner is “a fruitless effort”. We cannot force the reality TV genre to fit under one specific, special category. Reality TV is a genre in its own right, and while it it true that it has certainly changed and evolved over the years, and that individual types of reality TV pogrammes have sprung up from its branches, that does not take away the title of reality TV as its own popular genre.
References
Wood, B. (2004) A World in Retreat The Reconfiguration o Hybridity in 20th Century New Zealand Television Media Culture and Society DOI: 10.1177/0163443704039709
Hill, A,. (2005) Reality TV: Audiences and Popular Factual Television, London, Routledge
Pop Genres 2020 