Would you ever eat a plate of worms? Or perhaps stay trapped in a box and let rats crawl all over you. If that is not intense enough for you maybe eating buffalo testicles would be more pleasing. These are just some of the horrific stunts television is showing on a variety of shows. Ask yourself the question is TV really good or bad? There have been articles debating this subject such as Steven Johnson’s "Watching TV Makes You Smarter" who is pro watching TV and encourages it. He feels that it gets peoples brains to work and they draw some sort of connection to the people on the show. Then there is Dana Stevens who writes an article called "Thinking Outside the Idiot Box" who makes it seem as if she is also against watching TV, then at the end of the article she says, "....watching television is definitely a smart thing to do- I get paid for it"(Graff 234). She is a big supporter of TV Turnoff Week and thinks that turning off the television would not make a person any dumber. This gives me the impression she may be neutral about TV only because watching it, is her source of income. There was however one article that stood out to me. That was "Reality Television: Oxymoron" by George F. Will. He is definatly against television. He thinks that some shows have gone too far as to what they portray as entertainment. Will feels as if these shows are degrading our society. Reading Will’s article, it made me think about what kind of extremes networks are willing to go to as the competition becomes more fierce to be number one.
In June 2001 there was an intriguing article published in the Washington Post. This article was called “Reality Television: Oxymoron” by George F. Will. Will, in his piece, starts by talking about a guy named Fred ...
... middle of paper ...
...op priority for networks even if that means having to degrade our society in the process. Because of these shows our culture is being looked down upon. People need to be alerted to what some television is really doing to them. The least we can do is get rid of the bad shows, because I know that not every show is driving our society to the bottom. Not all shows are horrific like the ones I have just described in my paper, but watching television is not entirely good either seeing it is not the most active things a person could be doing. Hopefully our next generation will not be corrupted with this same kind of entertainment. If society is not careful or does not start doing something about these kinds of shows, pretty soon they are going to be laughing and finding pleasure in someone killing themselves. Is that what kind of future you would really like to live in?
A lot of people watch reality TV nowadays. It is like they are being addicted to Reality TV. Our author Cynthia Frisby (2015) said in her article “Getting Real with Reality TV” that people are finding the Reality TV interesting. Cynthia Frisby is associate professor of advertising at the University of Missouri School of Journalism and co-editor of Journalism. The author has really wide variety of experience in writing. The author’s article shows that Reality TV is captivating attention of the people by showing support with statistics, shows the benefits of the reality television, and targets a specific audience.
Maybe you want to eat worm-based cakes, or fish eyeballs, or even jump off of a building-- but through the television glass, even the scariest of moments of reality can be entertaining. In the article “Reality Television: Oxymoron,” George F. Will speaks about television desensitizing people to important issues. Many shows broadcast are very violent, causing a domino effect resulting in darker and darker shows designed to compete. George F. Will agrees; reality television is more mainstream drama than “reality.”
One of the culprits of criminal behavior is T.V. violence. Violent programs may have a negative influence on those individuals who are already violence-prone, or children who are living through vulnerable periods of their development. Adult violent offenders tend to have shown certain personality features as children, ?one being they tended to have viewed violence on television.? The amount of violence on television continues to grow. ?A typical child watched on television one thousand murders and twenty five thousand acts of violence before finishing elementary school.? When displayed this often, how can people not become desensitized to criminal acts? ?By allowing this type of material to be openly exposed to the public we are endangering safety and society?s values.? Without control of what material is delivered to the masses, we cannot expect people to have a proper sense of right and wrong as they will constantly see the horrific things that happen in the false reality of the media and become immune to feelings of disgust toward such atrocious deeds in real life. Controlling what is viewed on television is the responsibility of the government in order to decrease violence in the real world.
Reality Television has changed television in a way that no one could have imagined. Being the one of the most talked about genre in history, it is seen by millions of viewers. It has more ratings than any other kind of show (Breyer 16). From its start, there have been many Reality Television shows. Shows like The Real World, Survivor, Big Brother, and Jersey Shore. All of these give off a negative portrayal of reality. While Americans watch these shows, it seems that the show is real life, but in reality, no pun intended, before the show is even filmed, it’s written, edited, and produced (Breyer 21). Writers humiliate and degrade people just for the plot of the show, making their private lives public (Breyer 16).
In summary, the real detriments of reality television far outweigh the artificial claims that some people consider benefits. Reality television is a successful form of entertainment for many people, but no good comes from it. Scripted television shows that are entirely fictional can serve all of the same purposes. They can be just as dramatic, catastrophic, and interesting as reality television shows. It is important that viewers take the time to evaluate and understand the reasons they enjoy reality television. It is essential to become familiar with the statistics of reality television, learn about the process of producing one, and examine the morality of such shows. Presenting contrived situations as reality, promoting unethical values, and presenting humiliation as a form of entertainment are only some of many detriments of reality television shows.
Television has long been a part of American culture. From its conception until today there have been people who believe that television is a waste of time and energy and there have been those in the opposite camp who believe that television should be a part of every American life. There is also a middle ground of people who watch television to keep informed on what’s happening in the world as well as entertained by the latest sitcom, or more popularly today, reality show.
Reality television has a lot to show for our generation and the way society acts. Reality Tv shows are not actually a reality. There are a lot of parts where the plot line is twisted and where they have manipulated people to make them seem like something has happened that actually has not. This shows how we treat others, what we are looking for in life, or the desires we want in life. Some reality shows teach us how we should and should not act. Some of these shows are just a joke and make us laugh because of how ridiculous it is. In these next few paragraphs I am going to categorize the different type of reality shows and how these shows have a positive and negative effect on people. So stop, go sit down, and listen about one of most interesting types of television, maybe even binge out while reading this paper.
Television has its good points as well as its bad points. Some people say T.V. shortens the attention span, causes people to spend money, and takes our attention away from other activities. On the other hand, T.V. does have its good points.
In reading Mark Andrejevic, I realized that our problem with reality television is not that it is immature or corny as a lot of people view it, but it’s complete separation from classical film. Reality television shows often have not only a different
Reality television is now one of the most consumed television genres broadcasted to the general public. Over time, reality television is more about mindless watching, and creating the most unrealistic environment possible, rather than creating a show for an important purpose. Today, shows like Beauty and the Geek, Big Brother, and every other reality show fit into this mold, but when viewed critically, lessons appear. In the case of TV today reality shows depict an altered reality, but even though they are unrealistic they promote important life lessons and messages.
Television isn't all bad. It placates us and creates a comfortable background while we take care of business at home and when we're tired it lulls us to sleep. TV is a companion for the elderly and a convenient babysitter for the young. It makes burglars think we're home when we're not. It entertains us cheaply with live action sports, incomparable performing arts and singular events of the world all in living color. It educates us about everything from the cells in our body to the galaxies in the universe. Besides, what would life be like without TV? Could we stand the silence? How would we relax? What would we do with so much time on our hands?
Big Brother, Survivor, The Apprentice, and The Bachelor: all these programs have one thing in common. They are classified as reality TV shows. This list is just a representative of the literally hundreds of reality TV programs that have eclipsed the TV scene. Reality TV programs have become a popular genre today due to two major reasons. First, they are much cheaper to produce because they do not require expensive actors like fictive drama series. The second and the major reason is that they are believed to depict purported or actual reality thereby assuring their audience that they are seeing life as it really is, without artifice and storytelling expertise. But, how real are Reality TV programs? How real is the reality that they depict? This paper argues that the authenticity of the reality in Reality TV shows is questionable.
Many individuals consider alcohol and drug addiction harmful, but television addiction is a completely different matter. In her article "TV Addiction," Marie Winn contends that TV is a destructive dependence since individuals stay stuck to the TV and don 't associate with others. Winn "TV Addiction" clarifies the meaning of addiction. She gives cases of addictions like drug and liquor. She likewise discusses why addictions are terrible. She additionally discusses how and why TV is a habit. For instance, Winn says, “television experience allows the participant to blot out the real world and enter into a pleasurable and passive mental state”(608). Often TV addicts feel that they ought to accomplish something else as opposed to observing TV, but most of the time they don’t. Winn is correct; as TV addiction promotes unproductive behavior that affects the mental and physical state of an individual and
Beyond our entertainment, reality television is a market that thrives off of profit earning. John Fiske, author of Television Culture, goes behind the scenes of the reality television world to help readers understand how it reaches society as a whole. T.V. programs rely heavily on codes, which people use to interpret the world, and share meanings. “The point is that “reality” is already encoded, or rather the only way we can perceive and make sense of reality is by the codes of our culture . . . What passes for reality in any culture is the product of that culture’s codes, so “reality” is always already encoded, it is never “raw”” (Fiske 5.) Therefore, reality television must abide by these shared meanings, which have been encoded at three
Lehmann, Carolin. “Reality TV: A Blessing or a Curse? An Analysis of the Influence of Reality TV on U.S. Society.” Academia. Edu 5 Nov. 2012. 29 Nov. 2013.