Reality Television
by Christopher T. Brons
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Okay, I am as guilty as the next person is. I confess that I do watch these reality television shows. When MTV's Real World came out - I was there. Road Rules - I would not miss it. That was a long time ago though. Now Reality Television runs the gamut of possibilities. The Emmy's have even created a category for these shows because they are so popular. The way I see it there are two different types of Reality Television. 1) The show that would put you in a survival role. 2) The show that would put you in a fantasy role. I pose this question to you: What makes us so interested in these shows? Let's look at a few of the shows and see if we can figure out the attraction. Survivor - We all have the fantasy of seeing if we could handle extreme situations. Survivor is about as extreme as you can get when it comes to Reality Television. Take sixteen strangers and desert them with nothing short of a few supplies. Then ask them to get a long with each other while stabbing each other in the back. Then if you want food you either have to win it in challenges or find it wherever they stranded you. We all like to think that we can handle situation of being stranded. Amazing Race - This is a no-brainer. You get to travel all over the world. You get to run and push people out of the way. You can be as rude as you want because your destiny is in your own hands - no one else's. The bottom line though is that you get to see a lot of our beautiful world. American Idol - Be honest now - how many times have you cranked up the radio and stood in front of the mirror singing into a hair brush or stapler. We all like to think that we could be discovered because after all there is no one that can sing in the shower like me. Mole - Okay, when was the last time you were sitting in the theatre watching a murder mystery? Admit it - the whole time you are trying to place together the clues and figure out who did it before everyone else around you. We always like to think that we can figure out who the bad guy is. The shows go on and on and on. It seems every week there is a new version to a show that is already out there. Can you tell me what happened to meeting someone at the grocery store? Now we are shipping our parents off to a Reality Television show to meet some person from across the country (Who Wants to Marry My Dad). We live a lie in front of America in order to make somebody "love" us and then we tell them we would rather have money than them (For Love or Money). Then we allow ourselves to be trapped inside of a house while America watches us basically party - and you know what that includes (Big Brother). Is Reality Television good or bad for us? That probably depends on the person and where they are. I think you can find good and bad in the shows. Some more bad than others. Some more good than others. The bottom line is that we watch them to get away from the "reality" of our own lives. We attempt to live our lives through these shows wishing that we could be exactly where they are. |