Reality TV Doesn't Really Reflect Reality...

No matter how much I like to watch reality TV shows, my Mass Comm class has really made me realize that if you look closely at these shows, they don't really reflect real life.

Throughout the semester, we are reading Media Literacy by W. James Potter. In Chapter 5, the author makes the point that we live in two worlds: the real world and the media world. However, sometimes the lines become blurred between the two. As we become overwhelmed by a mixture of media messages, I think many people can confuse the two worlds as being the same. I think the quote below from the new season of the reality show Survivor: Fans vs. Favorites demonstrates one combining the real world with the media world.

During one of the early segments of the show, Alexis, a motivational speaker, on the Fan team said:

I think the fans versus favorites setup is the ultimate challenge because we have the favorites who have obviously played the game before, coming in here with experience. But at the same time you have us (the fans) and we know their game. We know not only their strengths but weaknesses too. So I think that puts us at a huge advantage.

Alexis is trying to inspire her team by giving them a glimpse of hope. She seems to believe that she knows the "favorite" players' strengths and weaknesses because she's a die-hard Survivor fan, who has seen all the episodes. Here is the problem...she doesn't really know these players like she thinks she does. She's never lived with them in the real world; she's only knows them through the media world. By watching Survivor, Alexis may have learned a lot about these characters, but the shows aren't accurate depictions of what really happened while the shows were being filmed.

Through the process of post-production, the show's producers are able to develop Survivor into what they think will attract the most audience members, into what is most exciting to watch. For all the hours upon hours of footage that is shot, only a small percentage is used in the actual show and shown to the public. Viewers do not get to see what really goes on "behind the scenes." In that sense, I don't think audience members can say they really know any of the "favorite" players well enough to understand their strengths and weaknesses.

The media would have us believe that we do know these past Survivor players. In today's world, television has become our "magic window" to the real world, or so we think. However, I think as long as we just rely on television as a source of entertainment and realize the real motives behind the show, we all will be fine. Unfortunately, you can't trust what's on television to depict reality...