Volume:6, Issue: 1
May. 1, 2014
May. 1, 2014
KEY WORDS: reality show, values, world outlook, media literacy, a hermeneutic analysis.
ABSTRACT: In this paper the author demonstrates the way how such a popular television genre as the reality show can be used to develop the media literacy of young people who make up the target audience of the majority of reality TV.
The reality show has become a television genre, a kind of an entertainment television programming and /or online program. The first reality show in history of television is considered to be the American program Candid Camera (1948). However, in European countries reality TV reached its popularity in the 1990s, and in Russia – since 2001 (Behind the Glass). Although today this television genre includes a variety of forms, in general, the action taking place can be characterized as following: a group of participants (“ordinary” people, not professional actors) lives in a limited space; their life is continuously filmed by candid/open cameras; as a rule, the aim of such show is getting a prize, so the characters become rivals, and the game nature makes the show attractive both for participants and for the audience. Common people get the chance to become new celebrities.
In spite of the fact that producers of such shows usually declare the absence of a script and reality of all happening, in fact the writers of a show use distinct mechanisms of directing the process, starting from the casting stage of future show heroes (selection of certain “characters”, based on psychological and intellectual type of candidates) to scripted scenes and edited montages of the show for TV (for example, a reaction of a person towards the words/actions of another one may have been cut out of the episode, filmed on the previous day, in a different context). Researching the problem of cultural self-identification of reality show participants E. Gutsal came to conclusion that cultural space of a reality is a kind of synthesis of the inner and outer world of a person, his ethical and aesthetical attitudes and activity. Thus, a person’s behavior is interacting with all the components of the cultural space, and it means that the reality show’s influence as a relatively new television genre on world outlook and spiritual position of a modern person is yet ahead of us to evaluate (Gutsal, 2008).
A notable Russian researcher of forms and methods of television impact, Anna Novikova, emphasizes “a television show is “an art” reality, a representation of reality, created with the montage of attractions (Eisenstein – A.L.) …Participants of a reality show are offered specific game rules, which make them express these or those character traits in order to make these attractions more numerous …In order to make a reality show develop smoothly and fast, it has to have a distinctly written script” (Novikova, 2008, p.183). Some reality show producers also make this observation.
Reality shows have become so popular; they are now divided into sub-genres, such as a competition, a romance, talk show, business games, experimental games, etc. TV tends to develop in the following directions (provided examples are the shows broadcast on Russian TV with Russian participants):
Reality shows (especially first two categories) are subject to harsh criticism for insulting morality, for “absence of concrete value, for encouraging infantilism and even intellectual disability of participants and audiences, for developing the eagerness to undress in public or auto-erotism” (Novikova, 2008, p.180). Lots of critics announce that reality shows have a harmful impact on teenagers because their values and attitudes are not fully formed yet, and they are in the process of finding ideals and role models. As a vivid illustration, there is an extremely popular with a certain group of the youth, House 2, which has existed since 2004 and is included into the Guinness Book of Records as the most long-lasting reality program in the history of television. In House-2 a so-called “ordinary person” who usually is a consumer of a show, gets the chance to become a show producer reflecting his/her world. But what kind of the world is it? “The show really depicts the reality. It serves as a mirror that presents an individual who cannot live and cannot play, the state which is considered normal by him/her. Conversations of young people in House-2 are boring, rude, and primitive. Sentences are full of unbelievable cliches, shallowness, and vulgarity. This is frightening,” V. Kolotaev thinks (Kolotaev, 2009). A linguist S. Urazova agrees: “Reality show programs actively and persistently integrate into the social being concepts, ideological and moral categories of lumpen marginal strata, and the latter combined with the speech peculiarities of such people leads the society to degradation” (Urazova, 2008).
“It seems to me, that a reality show is a game that became a real life for its participants,” claims the ex-host of the project, Kseniya Sobchak. “They do everything very sincerely, not understanding that sometimes they act like characters of Brazilian soap operas. They accepted this game “in reality” (quoted from: Gutsal, 2008). Such “game in reality” is dangerous not only for its participants but for the audience of the show, because young and attractive television heroes set role models; a role model becomes an object for copying for millions of teens. As a result, their attitudes and behavior change. Participants get prizes and gifts (cars, apartments, luxury vacations) for their behavior that also reinforces the reality show’s image of successful people.
Let’s recall that according to the cultivation hypothesis of George Gerbner (1967), viewers who watch television for a long time and often, after a while have their world perception approximating the image of reality which they see on the screen. Long-term influence of behavior models in television programs causes a phenomenon which researchers call “mainstreaming” (Bryant, 2004, 130). Thus, images spread by the participants, more exactly, social roles that they chose on their own or with the help of producers, are transmitted to the society and set certain norms of social behavior. Moreover, the abundance of reality shows on television produces the illusion that life is a sheer entertainment.
Scrutinizing this problem, A. Novikova admits that “a regular television viewer without any mental deviations, as well as a reader of certain type of literature and a spectator of theatre farces, will never take everything happening on the screen at its face value and will not perceive it as an instruction for action. The attractiveness of reality shows and trash programs is linked to the fact that they help to lessen daily stresses in people” (Novikova, 2008, p.187). But watching a reality show is not only entertainment and decreasing the stress level; it is also a way to think, to analyze the fantasies and to realize what our culture is missing, and what it needs. I cannot agree more with Professor Vladimir Kolotaev who thinks that the very fact of existence and success of such projects as House-2 is a “diagnosis of the disastrous condition of the society. It is a signal that one has to do something not only with the picture but with the reality as well” (Kolotaev, 2009).
The fact that mass culture has a huge educational potential, does not need to be proven any longer. Mass media today are some of the most important mechanisms of human socialization, translating values, setting norms and standards, dictating lifestyles and behavior patterns.
Unfortunately, on a television screen today we encounter the process of “helping” people with lowering their life standards (as stated by a historian and cultural studies researcher V. Zvereva). Naturally, mass media impact is not the same on different types of audiences. Their degree of impact depends on various factors including the receiver’s level of education, intellect, income and other social factors; on psychological peculiarities of a person, and of course, on age. For instance, life and problems of the characters of the widely discussed and criticized House-2 or Vacations in Mexico will most probably not attract the attention of a person who reads magazines Forbes, Cinema Art, or watches business channels or the channel Culture. At the same time, his/her teenage son or daughter may watch these shows and even relate to the characters. Obviously, there is a growing necessity in the development of analytical and critical thinking towards any media texts. Our society needs media-literate people, who can perceive, interpret, analyze, and evaluate mass media products.
As an example, let us examine one of the newest (for us) reality shows with its launch on Russian TV in March 2013 (while in the USA it was started in 2002) – The Bachelor. The plot and the aim of the program is explicitly demonstrated on the television channel website: “Handsome, rich and famous Bachelor is travelling with 26 young ladies. The aim is to find his true love. Only one participant will make it to the final and will get the proposal from the Bachelor. Each of the ladies will do everything possible, and beyond.” The first “handsome, rich and famous” Bachelor on Russian TV was a football player Evgeny Levchenko.
The first season consisted of 15 episodes. Each episode’s structure includes individual and ‘group’ dates with contestants and ‘the rose ceremony’ during which ladies who are going to continue participating in the show are given a rose by the Bachelor, and the one without it, has to leave the program.
A hermeneutic analysis can begin with theepisode when only seven out of 26 participants are left. As is known, a hermeneutic analysis of the cultural context is the process of interpretation of a media text; cultural, historical factors, influencing the point of view of the media agency/author and the audience. This kind of analysis implies understanding a media text via associating it with the cultural tradition and reality, and penetrating into the logic of a media text, as well as considering artistic images in their historical and cultural context, when the subject matter is the media system and its functions in the society, interaction with a reader, media language and its usage (Fedorov, 2012, 2013).
Further on we offer the analysis of a single episode, and we are going to distinguish three rows or systems of this media text based on the ideas of Silverblatt and Fedorov (Silverblatt, 2001; 2014; Fedorov, 2013).
A. Historical context
1. What is the period of time of its creation?
Russian television first started to experiment with the reality genre in 2001 (the program “Windows”). The reality show Bachelor has been broadcasted in many countries all over the world since 2002 (over 16 seasons in the U.S.A.). In Russia, the show first appeared in March 2013 on the television channel TNT. A Russian Bachelor was on TV on Sundays at 9:00 p.m. – a very competitive television time. Still the first episode received the record viewer of 14.9 (audience from 14-44) and 28.2 (women aged 18-30). The last episode on air had a share of 14.1 (14-44) and 25.7 (women 18-30) (mediananny.com/intervju/229927).
B. Cultural context
1. Media and popular culture: in what ways does a media text reflect, reinforce, influence and shape cultural values, attitudes, behavior, concerns, and myths?
Istanbul (Bachelor and three contestants) vs. Moscow (four more contestants). Bachelor and three girls are walking around Istanbul. The next scene – Evgeny introduces the girls to his sister and nephews, born in her marriage to a Turkish man. Topics discussed: role of a woman in the East and the West, family values, international marriages, bringing up children. Values declared by the participants are very traditional: love, marriage, children, and family.
In the same episode candidates in Moscow learn boxing basics with the help of a coach. Thus, a fight for the Man is sublimated in physical activity (although not in sparring, but with a punching bag).
Third sequence is filmed in a radio studio where Bachelor is invited with three girls to answer provocative questions and doing some even more provocative tasks (a blindfolded Evgeny must tell the girl by her kiss).
C. Structure and story-telling techniques
The structure, plot, representation, ethics, peculiarities of genre modification, icons, characters can be described as follows:
Age of the participants is 23-31 years old.
Level of education: university degree (both age and a job are shown in subtitles during the scenes with individual interviews).
Social status, job: varies and depends on their profession: there is a lawyer, an engineer, a public relations specialist, a journalist, a make up artist, a businesswoman, and an interpreter.
Family status: single.
Appearance, clothing. All the girls are beautiful, look glamorous both in “everyday” situations, and especially during the rose ceremony (evening gowns, make-up and hair).
Character traits: eachf the seven girls by the 10th episode has asserted a dominating feature (romantic, business-like, funny, shy, serious, jealous, and persevering). The creative producer of the Russian version of the Bachelor, Ekaterina Kostyukova, gives her description of the participants: “How can you compare an active “fellow” girl Dasha Ponomaryova, a “tender flower” Vicka Veshkina, a “Cold Queen” Marina Biryukova, and a “perpetuum mobile” Nadya Mazko? (http://mediananny.com/intervju/2299271). So, each of the young ladies represents a certain stereotype. Nevertheless all them position themselves as sincere and vulnerable.
Now let us try and imagine the world picture that Bachelor creates. What world outlook is represented – optimistic or pessimistic? Are media text characters happy?
In spite of the rose ceremony during which one lady leaves the show for good, the world of Bachelor is optimistic. Young, handsome, educated, professionally successful people travel and enjoy life. According to the show’s ideology, a woman’s happiness is to be chosen by the man. The situation where a man is surrounded by numerous women, and decides with whom to communicate today, and tomorrow, raises unambiguous associative links. In a way, the show is hypocritical about feministic ideas of equal rights and opportunities, and calls on the eastern traditions of a harem.
Do characters have control over their own lives within the show?
Only the main character, Bachelor, decides who stays and who leaves. Female characters are very dependent. Even the ones, who say in front of the camera that they are going to leave without waiting for Evgeny’s decision, still don’t do that.
What is the scale of values according to this outlook?
Youth, beauty, sex appeal, love, family, money, opening the opportunities to travel, be charitable, enjoy oneself – these are the main values of the show’s characters.
Thus, a hermeneutic analysis (which can be considerably deepened by adding the transcript and analysis of conversations, music score of each episode, camera work, etc.) brought to the surface some of the most insightful questions of the show’s viewer, and revealed the essential one – vivid gender stereotyping.
Conclusion. Behavior and images broadcasted by television and brought to the wider society, set certain norms of the social behavior, and shape the world outlook. These norms are controversial, sometimes even alien to the social standards. That is why a reality show as a media text genre should be a topic of study in media education. In the present paper I made an attempt to clarify how a media text belonging to such popular television genre as a reality show can improve media literacy of young audiences.
References
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