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Week 6: Sia Caldwell

What is the philosophy of cosmicism and how is it used to convey a sense of dread in The Colour out of Space?

Cosmicism is the literally philosophy developed and used by the American author H.P Lovecraft in his weird philosophic horror fiction. According to Duran (2016) the philosophy of cosmicism that Lovecraft established states that “there is no recognizable divine presence, such as a god, in the universe, and that humans are particularly insignificant in the larger scheme of intergalactic existence, and perhaps are just a small species projecting their own mental idolatries onto the vast cosmos.” In other words; Humans are insignificant in comparison to the cosmos and the cosmos is too significant that it is incomparable to anything.

Lovecrafts used the following principles to produce and create his universe:

  • No divine presence in the universe.
  • Human beings are insignificant in intergalactic existence.
  • Human beings are like insects when referred to on a universe level.
  • The universe is ancient including the stars.
  • Characters can realize they are too powerless to build change. (Klu, 2019).

Slatten (2016) claims that many critics and scholars believed cosmicism was an important factor in Lovecrafts fictional universe; Cthulu Mythos. The stories are mature horror fiction based on an ancient time where earth was inhabited by something utterly alien-intelligent that was inconceivable and unexplainable to the human mind and science (Slåtten, 2016). Lovecrafts stories are all connected by non-human beings, fictional characters and reoccurring themes that evoke horror by relying on ‘the insignificance of humanity in the universe’ (Slåtten, 2016) and Duran (2016) believes that cosmos horror is also about the human beings physical and mental fragility. Lovecraft professed that ‘All his tales are based foundation of which human laws, interests and emotions have no validity or worth in the vast cosmos’ (Slåtten, 2016). Lovecraft created these stories as he believed that there was much more to the world, life, universe than simple human beings, he was curious for more and hungered to explore the hidden and unknown (Duran, 2016). “Pleasure to me is wonder—the unexplored, the unexpected, the thing that is hidden and the changeless thing that lurks behind superficial mutability” (H.P. Lovecraft Quotes, n.d).

The philosophy of cosmicism conveys a sense of dread in 2019 film adaption of Lovecrafts The Colour out of Space by introducing an extra-terrestrial entitie known as ‘The Colour’  the human family have no knowledge of what it is and what is to come. ‘The Colour’ took control of not only the characters sanity but also the film as a whole. What I mean by this is that ‘The Colour’ became the central character of the film and everything that happened, the sequences and the people in the film all became revolved around it. This initiated fear the characters couldn’t anticipate what would happen and neither could the audience. This leads me to the deforming of organic matter, this was completely unexpected and very intense to watch. Something people assumed to be insignificant and nothing ended up being powerful, monstrous and terrifying. ‘The Colour’ distorted time, changed the characters perception of reality and drew them into this void of uncertainty while living in solitude and being isolated. Then they were tortured and killed one by one all while insanity and madness were haunting them because of the contaminated water. The philosophy of cosmicism was crafted implausibly well in this film. There was no God visible aiding the characters, ‘The Colour’ proved that it had immense power over the human beings and environment, it showed humans were insignificant, weak and helpless creatures and the characters realized that they were powerless towards this unknown entity and could not change anything. ‘The Colour out of space’ was an exceptional movie that shared with us the fear of the unknown and unexpected. 

“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown” (H.P. Lovecraft Quotes, n.d).

Duran, M. (2016, October 31). The Real Horror of Lovecraft’s Cosmicism. Retrieved September 03, 2020, from https://www.mikeduran.com/2016/10/31/the-real-horror-of-lovecrafts-cosmicism/

Greenham, E. (2013). Neocosmicism: God and the Void. Retrieved September 03, 2020, from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/c3c2/4ee0847fdbbf06ec861243faecf37cec3055.pdf

H.P. Lovecraft Quotes (Author of The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories). (n.d.). Retrieved September 03, 2020, from https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/9494.H_P_Lovecraft

Klu, R. (2019, March 04). Principals of Cosmicism (Lovecraftian Fiction). Retrieved September 03, 2020, from https://booksandmor.com/2019/03/06/principals-of-cosmicism-lovecraftian-fiction/

Slåtten, K. Ø. (2016, May). Humans in a Hostile Cosmos. Science, Cosmicism and Race in H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. Retrieved September 05, 2020.

Week 5: Sia Caldwell

What is the ‘shōjo’ and how does it often function in anime?

The Japanese word ‘shoujo’ stands for ‘little girl’ ‘girl’ or ‘maiden’ in English (Hoyt, 2020).

shoujo anime is created for an audience of young females and teenage girls ageing from 7 to 18 years old but anyone can enjoy the shoujo series. (Angle, 2018)

According to Angle (2018) shoujo anime usually has a storyline and plot based on romance. in particular a large amount of shoujo anime are centered with a main storyline of idealistic high school romance from the young girl’s character point of view. This is perfect for its young female audience as the young females and teenagers are able to relate to the main character, setting and plot. There is also a popular subgenre called maho shojo meaning magical girl which is very popular. This sub-genre of anime heroines have magical powers, fight evil and have great transformation sequences and costumes (Angle, 2018). Most anime usually consists of 24 half an hour episode and can involve not only romance but comedy, fantasy, magic etc.

Some of the common themes are “love at first sight” or “one sided crushes” (Angle, 2018).

The characters deal with some kind self-conflict, things such as complexes, popularity or new schools. They discover love but sometimes the heroines are naïve and don’t actually understand what love is. There are a few common personalities that the male protagonist has in shoujo anime, for example; the bad guy who protects the girl because he loves her, the guy who quietly watches and protects the girl and the guy who has loved the girl since they were little kids. There are also common female protagonist characters; shy girls, tough girls, naïve girls and girls with a one-sided crush (Hoyt, 2020).

I have personally watched over 60 shoujo anime series myself, I went through quite an obsession during high school. Shoujo anime presented me with a fantasy high school life that I didn’t have and so it gave me something to look forward to, it was always exciting, and the themes and plots were sometimes similar, however the storylines and characters always had their own individual uniqueness. Some of my favourites are Special A, fruit baskets, Kimi ni Todoke, Cardcaptor Sakura, and Kaichou wa Maid-sama.

References:

Hoyt, N. (2020, February 19). What Does Shoujo Mean in Anime? Retrieved August 29, 2020, from https://japanesetactics.com/what-does-shoujo-mean-in-anime

Shounen, Shoujo, Seinen, Josei. (2019, March 18). Retrieved August 29, 2020, from https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2016/07/shounen-shoujo-seinen-josei.html

Angle, J (2018, May 28). What is Shoujo [Definition, Meaning]. Retrieved August 29, 2020, from https://honeysanime.com/what-is-shoujo-definition-meaning/

Week 4: Sia Caldwell

What was the cultural impact of Akira (1988), and why does it occupy a key place in the canon of anime greats?

Akira is a cyberpunk thriller anime film created in 1988 by Katsuhiro Otomo is known to be one of the most important animations of all time (Taylor, 2016). The influential impact Akira would have on the film industry worldwide was unforeseen and to this day it is legendary because of its original and fresh introduction of an animation film for a more mature audience (Clark, 2018). Akira is the pinnacle of its genre and was made during the Cel animation days which meant no computers were used but instead extremely detailed paintings. Akira provided Japanese anime and Anime for mature audiences with recognition and started a culture where people worldwide were hungry for more (Covill, 2017).

Before Akira the animation industry only created films marketed towards children, one of the major companies being Disney (Clark, 2018). Therefore, the film Akira indefinitely shook up the animation industry due to its successful presentation offering something new and different. Although, it wasn’t only the film industry that Akira shook up, the fresh film added to the pop culture entirely (Clark, 2018). According to Covill (2017) “Many films, shows, and even musicians have referenced the iconic anime.” Some of these being Micheal Jackson, Kanye West stranger things and the Duffer brothers. Thankfully, Akira presented mature themes opening the door for shows like the Simpsons and Archer (Clark, 2018).

The deep plot, inventive narratives, intense detail and artistic styles Otomo used and the risks that he took to create and produce Akira gave birth to endless ideas for other artists. This has all helped craft and continue to inspire the current fiction worlds we have today worldwide.

References:

Clark, K. (2018, April 24). How ‘Akira’ Changed the World of Animation Forever. Retrieved August 25, 2020, from https://www.fandom.com/articles/why-akira-was-such-a-groundbreaking-film

Covill, M. (2017, May 03). ‘Akira’ Is Frequently Cited as Influential. Why Is That? Retrieved August 25, 2020, from https://filmschoolrejects.com/akira-influence-12cb6d84c0bc/

Mountfort, P. (2020). Pop genres anime 1 Akira [PowerPoint Slides]. Blackboard. https://blackboard.aut.ac.nz/ 

Taylor, T. (2016, May 31). How Akira sent shockwaves through pop culture and changed it. Retrieved August 25, 2020, from https://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/31328/1/akira-anime-studio-ghibli-kanye-west-michael-jackson-pop-culture

Week 3: Sia Caldwell

What gaps are there in Hergé’s representations of women?

Throughout the adventures of Tintin there are very few female characters. One of the woman characters that seems to have some sort of a character is Biana Castafiore. However, she is represented as an oblivious and foolish woman. Herge supposedly created The adventures of Tintin with a masculine dominance but was not intentionally trying to bring any disrespect to woman by creating mostly men characters. (Ideology of Tintin, n.d.). Herge insisted that ‘for him, women had nothing to do in a world like Tintin’s, which is the realm of male friendship….’ (Ideology of Tintin, n.d.).

However, by creating this setting with a male dominance it presents a disturbance to modern day readers. Tintin was written in 1929 so it’s understandable that the time and opinions of woman were different then, but it was a comic written for children and it displays a majority of the female characters ranging from mothers, caregivers, wives, nurses, maids or housekeepers. “In many of Hergé’s albums there is an almost total absence of female characters, and the only women we do see are background characters who do not speak” (Mountfort, 2020). Unfortunately, these characters don’t actually have very much development physically, mentally and emotionally. By creating prejudice female characters in his comics, Herge appears as ignorant towards feminism and woman rights.

Herge’s representation of women in his comics inforce the idea that men are dominant, that women are inferior. It leads us to believe that his perspectives are prejudice and that woman are not capable of that of man and they have roles in society they must fulfill. This would seem ridiculous in today’s society and if comics presenting such ideals, prejudice and opinions were printed for children they would not be tolerated.

References:

Ideology of Tintin. (n.d.). Retrieved August 20, 2020, from        

https://tintin.fandom.com/wiki/Ideology_of_Tintin

Mountfort, P. (2020). Tintin, gender and desire. Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics.

Week 2: Sia Caldwell

What issues do his albums raise in terms of representation of ‘race’, and particularly ethnic and cultural stereotyping?

The adventures of Tintin were created by a cartoonist named George Remi also known as Herge on paper. This was created with a series of 24 bande dessinee albums resulting in success and becoming one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century. However, these comics have become and been a big controversy due to the representation of race and other cultural stereotyping.

A few issues that I came across are listed below:

1.The drawings and representations of Jews were very stereotypical. Herge gave the Jewish characters large long noses, thick lips and presented them as overweight and in the need of classes. All of his Jewish characters were never the stars of the comic, they were much rather the scheming money lending type of characters.

2.Objectification is a very big problem, One picture shows Tintin supposedly finding or coming across a red Indian. “Look Snowy… A real Red Indian.” Tintin is well dressed, standing, holding a camera while looking down on the man sitting on the ground in a blanket outside. From this here we can tell that it’s a symbol of white supremacy. The old man resembles homeless people and from this it suggests that homeless people aren’t white but the natives and indigenous.

3. Tintin travels to the Congo as a colonist and teaches geography to the indigenous, however he describes the Congo as Belgian. Implying that their land is no theirs and that they cannot identify it their way.  On Tintins journey he ‘is in need of a boy’ this labels slavery and proves the hierarchy Europeans had over the non-Europeans. Tintin is worshipped like a deity, he instructs, demands and speaks down to the people while they reply in broken English and work hard. “me tired!” In the comic there are shrines of the Congo people bowing and worshipping Tintin, however the language used presents them to be unintelligent. “and if you not good, you never be like Tintin!” “Me never before see…..” These lines are degrading and don’t show any respect as it stereotypes that the Congo people are unable to speak the supposed ‘proper’ English.

There are many, many, many ways to unpack the issues within Tintin and with a deep analysis the problems that only seemed like a few pictures and words can become very controversial and an uproar in this modern-day society. The representation of race in Herges The adventures of Tintin does not represent that everyone is equal. It degrades and dehumanizes non-Europeans and it presents an obvious white supremacy and hierarchy.

Week 1: Sia Caldwell

How has the academic reception of popular genres changed over time?

Popular genres also known as mass literature was an ignored literature that refers to a wide range of new media. Some of these include anime, manga, adventure, fantasy and science fiction. Pop genres uses formulaic plot structures, where the characters face difficulties and have to overcome obstacles that result in a victorious and predictable ending. Pop genres also comprises of two dimensional characters that don’t fit into the classic literature known characters. It is also known that pop genres are multi modal meaning that they make use of visual and audio elements as well. Thankfully, this has contributed to technological development and the expansion in new media.

Popular genres was not recognized as pure literature until much later in time due to the classical literature like Shakespeare everyone was used to during the earlier time period. However, literature has changed over time, specifically with the evolvement of technology this has incredibly helped popular genres be further exposed throughout the media on various mediums such as comics, film, short stories and novels etc. helping receive the acknowledgement it should. Thankfully, due to the increasing popularity of popular genres, academics realized that the popular genre literature was equally important and therefore needed to be shared, studied and spoken about. Thus, popular genres have been included in academic papers and are now studied in universities with academic papers and curriculums providing students with the rich history of its development. This has been a huge development for multi-media, new media and production companies that can create and produce the new kinds of literature that all audiences are able to read and watch today.

  1. What might the value be of studying them?

The value of studying popular genres is quite hard to define, just like how it is hard to define popular genres in one sentence. It’s important because it opens an entire new world to literature and to a new audience as well. There are new fantasies, new creative ideas, imaginary worlds and realms that are different and can be appreciated by different people. It gives students the opportunity to learn about the endless imagination authors have and produces art through literature that should also be acknowledged for its content differences. Modern day society has changed, technology has changed, time has changed therefore it is only normal that literature changes to. This proves that there’s not only one way to writing literature, and that the creativity of new ideas, themes, concepts, relationships and issues popular genres includes can be written in many forms. Popular genres record the changing of culture and society and distributes it through its variety of mediums to share with audiences. To me, valuing popular genres, means to value creativity and imagination through literature.

Week 12 Question

  1. Can reality tv still be thought of as a genre given the high level of hybridity that exists?

Reality TV today is far from its name, considering the emergence of several of its subgenres that have begun to blur the distinction between authenticity and traditional television programs. Various plots, styles, and situations are crossbred to create hybrid programs in reality TV which confound the attempt to singularise reality TV as a popular genre (Hill, 2005; Wood, 2004). Reality television that ranges from lifestyle to game shows are known as unscripted programs. However the mix and match of such programs also raises the question of whether or not such hybrid televised programs are credible.

The emergence of reality TV was initially concerned with portrayal of ordinary life situations; with time the genre developed subcategories such as factual programming, fictional programming, entertainment, and advertisement (Wood, 2004). Characteristics of each create a distinct world in which events take place; with such differences can the origin of hybridization in reality television be recognised (Wood, 2004). Kilborn (1994) also defines hybridised reality TV as ‘a hybrid mix of presenter talk, verité material, dramatic reconstruction and various forms of audience participation’. The conjuring of real situations accounts for losing details that prove authenticity, and with time this genre has witnessed intense hybrid versions of televised reality (Wood, 2004). It is argued by Wood (2004) that televised reality as a genre have merged traditional subgenres in order to sustain media sensationalism and survive in the transient nature of traditional television. With the change in peaks in television programming, reality TV has transformed into sites of pure entertainment, such as re-enactments, which are dramas based on ‘real’ people, and diversions that show ‘unseen’ footages of occupational and domestic lifestyles of elite or celebrities (Wood, 2004).

Factual programming in modern day reality television has changed from simple broadcast of news, current affairs, and documentaries to name a few, to imaginative portrayals that digress from factual information and rely more on features in event that have the potential to elicit public response and demand (Wood, 2004). Fictional programming consists of characters and a world within its own confines; its events are conjured to mirror reality (Wood, 2004). Entertainment as a hinge has taken over the aforementioned subgenres, and variations in modern reality TV tend to structure around the element of entertainment. Lastly with advertisements, the traditional form of its television are simple 30-60 seconds of marketing a product (Wood, 2004). On the contrary, modern hybridisation has caused a change in the manner of marketing products on air; the birth of infomercials encompass more elements of pleasure and testimonials about the product rather than factual discourse of the product (Wood, 2004).

It would seem futile to attempt to singularise reality television into a definable genre, as we can see multiple origins of its hybridisation that have confounded critics and analysts. Nonetheless reality television remains at the top with other televised programs and would perhaps continue to incorporate elements of reality.

References

Hill, A. (2005). Reality TV: Audiences and popular factual television. Routledge.

Kilborn, R. (1994). ‘How real can you get?’: Recent developments in ‘reality’ television. European Journal of Communication, 9(4), 421-439. doi: 10.1177/0267323194009004003

Wood, B. (2004). A world in retreat: the reconfiguration of hybridity in 20th-century New Zealand television. Media, Culture & Society, 26(1), 45-62.

Can reality TV be thought of as a genre?

Reality television emerged from the rise of documentaries becoming popular forms of media in the middle of the 20th century. Film makers wanted to create something more artistically refreshing, disillusioned by the conventions which cinema had acquired in the wake of bog Hollywood movies. Cinema had become very glamorized and over exaggerated, thus fuelling creators to develop a desire to be candid. They wanted to show what the world was really like, turning away from the over fictionalised concepts of filmmaking. The subjects of these documentaries became ordinary people, showing the mundane, but often  simple beauty of their everyday lives.

 Once television became a popular medium, there was a larger demand for more programmes to be made. With this demand the expanse of the audience also needed to be accommodated to, as these documentaries were no longer just for a niche community who believed in counteracting the effects of cinema. With nine to five jobs becoming the most conventional way of life for most people in the middle of the 20th century, watching television in the evening and on weekends became a very popular and relaxing form of entertainment. People often wanted to see programmes they could relate to, featuring the lives of people who were similar to them. The natural  curiosity about other people lives and the appeal of relatability is what created a platform for documentaries to evolve into reality television.

It was the 1990s and beginning of the 21st century which set the scene for reality TV to become what it has today. The demand and popularity expanded the confines and boundaries of what could be created and the way it is marketed. Reality TV became a business of it’s own within the realm of the entertainment industry. This meant the producers felt they had to mould and orchestrate what they were creating in order to make it the most profitable. Reality TV still focused on portraying fact, but it became a more fictionalised and performative portrayal. People appearing in reality tv programmes have acquired fame and recognition and are known as reality television stars, receiving media coverage and public attention. The irony of reality tv birthing celebrities and causing media storms is the same glamorization that the original documentary makers were trying to counteract.

The 21st century also brought the hybridization of reality television. With a much larger audience to cater to, more and more reality television  programmes were made, touching on many different themes and fields of interest. “As many commentators have argued, however, over the latter part of the 20th century its content increasingly departed from any such sense of the mundane. These departures were signalled in particular by the advent of hybridizations that cut across the categories into which programming is customarily divided. Television’s cultural forms have lost their former rigidity and are increasingly confounded.” There are so many different types of reality tv programmes, including shows about emergency services, game shows, talk shows, docu-soaps, docu-soap surveillance, survival shows, dating shows and the list goes on. One of the main dividing aspects about all these shows is how much they are based on fact and how fictionalized they are. Because of all the different fields of interest subcategories and subgenres, it is impossible to define reality television as one genre.

References :

Wood, B. (2004) A World in Retreat: The Reconfiguration of Hybridity in 20th-Century New Zealand Television. Media, Culture & Society, 26(1), 45-62. doi:10.1177/0163443704039709

Week 8 Questions

3. To what extent can narratology, translation and adaptation studies aid us in understanding cosplay ?

According to Onega and Landa (2014), narratology is the science of narrative. Formerly restricted to the structure and analysis of narrative, it now encompasses gender studies, psychoanalysis, reader-response criticism and ideological critique. Narratology is a multi-disciplinary study of narrative which compromises and integrates the creative text of many discourses and critiques that involve narrative forms of representation that are both literary and non-literary such as advertisement, merchandises, lyrical poems, films, history and dramas (Onega, S., & Landa, J., 2014). In relation to cosplay, according to Mountfort et al. (2018) cosplay is the “dressing up and performing as characters from popular media” translating and adapting their costumes into our world and thus creating a new narrative text.

Using narratology in relation to cosplay, “Fan cultures […] contain many material practices that use the text as a starting point for new forms of play and productivity” (Lamerichs, N., 2018), meaning that both material and text used by Cosers is often used in conjunction to understanding and interpreting their popular media texts. From this combination of creative text and material, the Cosers are crafting their own stories or fabula, and opening discourse among the wider communities through Costume and Role play, broadening the narrative texts of their individual medias and even combining them with other fandoms of their choosing as their Cosplay characters meet and interact both with other Cosplay characters as well as “real world” fans of their creative texts.

Through understanding Cosplay through narratology, translation and adaption, Cosers are able to take their creations to new realms, adapting popular characters, concepts or models from one fandom and into another as “creative reinterpretation[‘s]” (Mountfort et el., 2018) via producing “Hello Kitty Darth Vaders, steampunk Bobba Fetts, and zombie Jedi” (Mountfort et el., 2018).

References

Lamerichs, N. (2018). Productive fandom: Intermediality and affective reception in fan cultures. Amsterdam University Press.

Mountfort, P., Peirson-Smith, A., & Geczy, A. (2018). Planet cosplay: Costume play, identity and global fandom. Blackboard. https://blackboard.aut.ac.nz/

Onega, S., & Landa, J. (2014). Narratology: An introduction. Routledge.

Week 11 question

1.  How real is reality TV?

Reality TV is often questioned for its authenticity. Ranging in subgenres and such as sports, technology, survival, competitions, and social environments to name a few, reality TV is known to be televised around people’s lives. Thanks to media sensationalism, reality TV in the twenty-first century revolves more around dramatized scenarios and footage of participants in apparent ‘structured situations’(Hill, 2005). The emergence of reality tv circa 1950s were subgenres of documentaries, game shows, and crime shows. Until 1980s reality TV remained true to its name before it become a global sensation. In the early 2000s, novel subgenres such as docusoaps, dating shows, and celebrity-like series, as a mixture of American and European cultures, emerged which began to blur the line between the real and the fake. This indistinction led to audiences and critics questioning the popular genre’s credibility.

The factor of authenticity in reality tv lies in its structure and audience perception (Hill, 2005). Key attributes of reality tv include unscripted dialogues between actors, on camera and off camera which is captured through surveillance on sets (Biressi & Nunn, 2005). Much of the situations that are captured live are oftentimes dramatized; simple scenarios such as disagreements between participants are dramatically enhanced with exaggeration of tone and intensity in dialogue delivery (Killborn, 1994). Another factor that contributes to the apparent ‘realness’ is structured environments. Programs such as Big Brother and Temptation Island place participants in simulations in order to test cooperation and compatibility (Bell-Jordan, 2008; Escoffery, 2014). Under the subgenres alike crime, technological, and medical programming, for example Diesel Brothers, Mythbusters, Hoarders to name a few, footages are often authentic as real life issues and challenges are captured and people of the show attempt to solve or apply techniques to approaching an issue (Killborn, 1994; Parton, 2018).

Critics have often approached Reality TV with arguments that probe with foundations of various programming. Bell-Jordan (2008) argues that modern reality TV programmes have become breeding grounds for dispute between participants, which contribute to the apparent display of ‘realness’. More grave than the heightened drama is the representation of struggle and disagreements that occur when participants cohabit; the site of negative situations become a language, or a type of perceived reality for young viewers (Bell-Jordan, 2008; Biressi & Nunn, 2005). Mundane interactions are often over edited or the passing of time in situations are cut short to intense moments, as producers often emphasise that the factor of civility is removed to expose the ‘truth’ of human life under cohabitation (Bell-Jordan, 2008). Audience perception is key possibility throughout modern reality programs as they indirectly invite audience judgment and inference into certain situations that are set up (Killborn, 1994). One example is Crimewatch UK, wherein crime scenes held in public are dramatically heightened to elicit public response; this attribute can also be known as experimentation as actors of the show interact with the oblivious public to witness true and unscripted reactions (Killborn, 1994).

Modern Reality TV is constantly critiqued for its portrayal of over glamorous lives of participants despite the attempt to display ‘real’ scenarios. Moreover, many such programs have become sites of unnecessary disputes that are overtly distressing for viewers, but are still on the run as drama attracts attention from the viewing public.

References

Bell-Jordan, K. E. (2008) Black.White. and a Survivor of The Real World: Constructions of Race on Reality TV. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 25(4), 353-372. doi: 10.1080/15295030802327725

Biressi, A. & Nunn, N. (2005). Real Lives, documentary approaches. In Reality TV: realism and revelation. (pp. 35-58) London: Wallflower.

Escoffery, D. S. (Ed.). (2014). How real is reality TV?: Essays on representation and truth. McFarland.

Hill, A. (2005). Reality TV: Audiences and popular factual television. Routledge.

Kilborn, R. (1994). ‘How real can you get?’: Recent developments in ‘reality’ television. European Journal of Communication, 9(4), 421-439. doi: 10.1177/0267323194009004003

Parton, J. (2018). 8 fakest reality shows. https://screenrant.com/reality-tv-shows-fake-real/