The article Reality
Television Benefits Society More than Scripted Television Does discusses
the controversy surrounding the supposed social value that reality television (TV)
has over scripted TV. This article raises the question of whether this claim is
actually well-supported, and more importantly, whether this argument even
matters.
Hirschorn states that reality TV contains the best factors
of scripted TV and documentaries, without the downsides of both.
He claims that scripted TV is not realistic, and does not
contain the "emotional truths" that reality TV contains, which are
derived from the truths of real life. However, this claim is opposed by the actuality
that most people view television for entertainment, not to gain some sort of moral
or emotional guidance.
Additionally, he states that documentaries are not
objective, since they are designed to support a certain view, while reality TV
is objective. This is another misconception, as producers of reality television
programs influence what portions of the actors' lives make it into the show,
and to an extent, producers influence the contents of the show by manipulating
the situations that actors are placed into, in order to make more interesting shows.
This is hardly objective.
The cost difference between producing reality and scripted TV
is a point that Hirschorn uses to point out the benefits of reality TV. Reality
TV has much lower production costs than scripted television programming, so
networks are able to allocate the saved money to better fund scripted
programming.
One of the main reasons he believes that reality television
is better than scripted television is the content: reality TV discusses sensitive
real-world subjects. For example, shows such as Real Housewives provide insight into the upsetting actualities of
the seemingly perfect upper middle class. The families also face similar issues
as other classes. This does prove to be beneficial to society, but it still
goes beyond the main point of reality television: entertainment.
Hirschorn states, "The best moments found on reality TV
are unscriptable, or beyond the grasp of most scriptwriters." He attempts
to show the positives of reality TV compared to other forms of television, as
well as reality TV's supposed moral superiority, by stating that it is the only
form that truly connects with viewers actual lives. However, this disregards
the fact that producers of the reality TV shows specifically select which
content to air, in order to attract more viewers attention. Although they may
not be scripted, they are still not exactly representative of real life.
Although reality TV may provide societal benefits through
its discussion or real-world issues, that is not the main reason they are so
popular. The entertainment value of reality television has led to the skyrocket
in viewership. It is up to the viewers to decide what they watch, and if they
choose to view reality television, so be it.
Ultimately, producers create reality television in order to
attract more viewers, and to make more money, not for any sort of moral
guidance for viewers. Therefore, the issue of whether reality television is
beneficial to society is a pointless issue.
I really liked reading this because its exactly how I feel about reality tv. I really don’t care for it but I do agree that it isn’t really reality. Ive seen a few reality tv shows and every time I watched them, no matter what channel, they always seemed so obviously scripted in some parts and I really didn’t like that. Although some people really do connect more to reality tv because of the “reality” aspect of it, I would rather see reality tv that had more reality to it and wasn’t so scripted. Saying that reality tv is like the combination of scripted tv and documentary’s was the perfect way to explain what this kind of reality tv is these days.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, I believe that neither reality nor scripted television benefits society in any way. Both types of media put certain thoughts and beliefs into our minds of how life supposedly is. Most of the time when watching reality or scripted television shows, the truth is stretched and everything is over dramatized. Not every aspect of their lives is shown, only the parts that the producers want to display. For example, the show Keeping up with the Kardashians has a very common and popular outlook produced by people. Almost everybody that you ask would say that these girls are “brats” and get everything handed to them. This may or may not be true, but regardless we will never really know. The show rarely ever displays times when they’re actually working or laying around with no make-up on. At the end of the day, producers only put clips out there that they know will attract more and more viewers. The article below that I found also states that reality television ultimately just glamorizes ordinary people for their negative values, morals, and looks just for attention. Though this is true in many cases, we will never really know these people’s true lives outside of the camera unless we are there ourselves.
ReplyDeletehttp://elitedaily.com/life/culture/detrimental-culture-tv/
DeleteOk so I'm replying to Shayda's response:
You're saying that television as a whole isn't beneficial in any way for society right? The purpose of television is to entertain and inform the masses right? I get it, the Grammy’s aren’t the most important thing in the world, BUT, television has and does play a huge part in the evolution of society. You argue that people don’t see the real individuals that have TV shows, that they’re merely “painted” characters. I can’t say I disagree but how does that make television beneficial/not beneficial? In my opinion, who cares? Let’s let society watch pointless shows, we’ve been doing it since the 50’s! Additionally, we all know that reality TV sells and what sells makes money and whatever makes money is staying! I can’t see the Kardashians going anywhere for the next decade or so.
In my opinion, there is no way that a reality tv show can teach a person life lessons. I would also much rather be an actress on a show about the upper-middle class, as opposed to be a reality tv star on a show about the upper-middle class and have my whole life exploited. I think reality tv is really entertaining because some of the footage is outrageous, but at the same time the producers definitely instigate some of the footage. My friend was on a reality show and she told me the producers were making them break stuff in a house and making it seem like some crazy party was going on when really there was not really anything happening. The only lesson that reality tv has taught me is to not be on a reality tv show because you will probably embarrass yourself and you will probably not be able to get a job. In conclusion, a few of the meaningful lessons I have learned came from scripted shows and movies, not reality television.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the fact that reality TV shows may provide social benefits, but that it is not the main reason why they remain popular in today’s generation. I believe that reality television shows are popular because they are entertaining to watch, not because they teach the audience lessons or give moral guidance. I personally don’t feel that this topic is really an issue. The issue is whether or not reality television shows benefit society more than scripted television shows do. Either way, the main goal of the producers of both reality TV shows and scripted TV shows is to gain views and to make money off those views. It doesn’t matter if they’re scripted or non-scripted, if it’s entertaining, people will watch it. I also think this “issue” is not really an issue because over time, reality television shows are becoming more and more scripted so, to me, there really is no difference.
ReplyDelete"Therefore, the issue of whether reality television is beneficial to society is a pointless issue." What a wonderful way to bring the blog to an end.
ReplyDeleteThe points made make it seem like there is no really way to prove if either one benefits society as a whole. It is very clear that both reality television and scripted television are very beneficial to the producers, but cannot really be proven as beneficial to anyone else. Reality television has some qualities that can almost be seen as a fallacy in itself. It can be very deceptive by only playing some clips of the entire shoot to trigger emotions.
I remember when the reality show, Laguna Beach, became popular at my school. That just meant that I had to watch it in order to see what all the hype was about. Except, I sat there, just a kid, thinking, why am I watching these girls talk about their problems? In what way is it beneficial for me to watch girls sit at coffee shops and talk about other people? This show was clearly scripted, even though it was a technically a reality show. On the other hand, and though it is very embarrassing, I absolutely adore the family from Here Comes Honey Boo Boo; a reality show that is not scripted. Obviously, the family has its faults, such as their health. However, “Mama” June has taught her family to accept other and themselves as they are – a quality I think many of us could take away. My favorite is when Alana is talking about her newborn niece, who was born with an extra finger. She says, “I wish I had an extra finger so I could grab more cheese balls.”
ReplyDeleteA lot of these "reality" shows aren't reality at all, If everyone in New Jersey that lived on the shore acted like the stars in Jersey Shore it would be out of hand. Same goes for other shows such as The Real World and Buckwild, not even acts the way it is portrayed in the show. However scripted shows seem to be a little more funny then anything and usually provide entertainment instead of benefits and education. Personally, I watch a scripted show "The Big Bang Theory" and think it is absolutely hilarious and that show is scripted so it doesn't really have any value besides entertainment. If you are looking for a life lesson or the way life is lived in different places, you should go outside and see how it is lived and visit different places in the world not just believe what you see on television. You won't learn much from the silly shows that producers make in hopes to get paid.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion the argument that reality television is more beneficial than scripted television is a bunch of bologna. The claims that reality television shows provide more realistic situations and emotional truths are thwarted by the fact that the reality of these “reality” shows is questionable. We don’t truly know how much of what is presented to us is actually true. Additionally, the art of creating a scripted television show has been long practiced and the best of writers and actors are chosen to these shows realistic interesting and relatable to everyday people. With enough work some producers could even create a completely scripted reality television show without the public knowing. I was okay with reality television when it was first starting up but now that it has taken over the television industry some of the shows I see make me question my hope in the human race.
ReplyDelete-Bri Lee
I disagree because I do not think reality television benefits society more that scripted television. I feel like with reality shows, the issues it involves are not really relatable and seem random and not common issues everyone goes through. With scripted television, I find that I learn a lot more because even though the problems are made up, they are common problems and the way they deal with the problems can be learned from and replicated if it were to ever occur to viewer. For example, the scripted television show Full house would always have that little talk between Danny and one of his daughters. As a child watching this show, I learned alot and related to the problems DJ, Stephanie, or Michelle were going through. Personally, I never found any of the problems people on reality tv went through to be beneficial, even though those problems actually occured and are considered more "real".
ReplyDeleteI feel it is easy to say, that most television audiences are looking to fulfill their entertainment needs in the programs that they watch. Sure there are viewers watching for other various reasons, however they do not make up the majority. For this reason, I feel that many reality TV producers have started to focus on the entertainment aspect of their shows, rather than true reality. When reality TV becomes scripted, it completely takes away from the previous advantages that were mentioned in this article. The emotional truths that these shows claim to have is just as unreal as in your average scripted television program. I feel that Hirschorn's arguments are made somewhat invalid, due to this concept. Not all reality shows are scripted, in fact, I enjoy certain reality shows which I feel are genuine. An example would be survivor man, which is a show that I feel is true reality for the most part, and I can therefore enjoy.
ReplyDelete