What is Real?
Reality TV is a growing genre of TV that was meant to reflect the lives of real people. However, there is a large amount of opposition to these shows, mostly because of their inappropriate content. They are considered low-brow and trashy. Shows like Jersey Shore, Dance Moms, Toddlers and Tiaras, The Real World, and Extreme Couponers, are primarily about crazy people. The premise is not "real life" but "real-life crazies."
If the first main criticism of reality TV its shallowness, the second main criticism is "it's not really real." It must be scripted. It must be set up. But what is real? Are you saying that there aren't enough crazy people out there to make all these shows? I beg to differ. Name five crazy people you know. Name five crazy family members you know. Do you tell your friends stories about these people for entertainment purposes? Well, there you go.
Reality TV is about putting crazy people to good use--entertainment. If you were going to take the craziest person of these ten people and make a show, would you write a script for him? Could you come up with funnier things for him to say than what he would think up himself? Probably not. Everybody knows somebody that you would describe as, "You just never know what she'll do/say next." This is the magic of reality TV. This is why people watch it. It's a train wreck you can't look away from. This is real.
But come on, there's tons of "producers" that are probably writers for each of these shows. Yes, producers set things up. But real-life situations are set up too. Many great stories come from situations that are set up by others: office parties, family reunions, interviews, appointments. Every holiday is a social set up--Christmas brings gift drama, New Years brings party drama, Valentine's Day love drama, and so on. Formal occasions and social obligations are artificial gatherings, but they often create the best stories. You might list anyone who has invited you to a party as a producer of your reality show.
I believe some things are scripted. The individual interviews that allow each person to comment on the action may be questionable. Sometimes it is quite obvious that they are being fed questions or prompts. Sometimes it sounds downright rehearsed, a composed narration about what they want to happen next. But let's think about the parallels to real-life situations. Don't people question or prompt you to explain the events in your life? When your mom calls or you are catching up with friends, you give them commentary about what happened, edited for time, content, and style. You are presenting your real life to them. They weren't there, you might not be totally reliable, but your story to them is undoubtedly real. Even if you practiced in your head over and over the right way to put something lightly. Your story is still real.
Well, that's different. I'm not crazy, my stories aren't crazy, so there's no comparison. Shows about celebrities, like Kendra, Ice Loves Coco, or any of the Kardashian shows, revolve around family drama, hyping up each episode and exaggerating each situation. These shows aren't to present a certain type of crazy, but to allow ordinary people to gawk at famous families that have drama just like their own. The exaggeration doesn't make them not real because family drama really does get exaggerated. Think about the last conflict that occurred in your family. Maybe it was a big deal for one day or for one person, but you've pretty much forgotten about it. If someone was filming your family, they would select the days and people that would make the most dramatic and therefore most entertaining. Your great aunt has a different version of what happened than your teenage cousin, but the great aunt's was much funnier. Is it a lie to only show her opinion? Where does that fall on the real to fake spectrum?
It takes months for these shows to come out; it can be odd to see a sunny summer day at the Jersey Shore when it's a cold day in November. This can distance the viewer and make them doubt its "real"-ness. Reality shows have hours and hours of footage that are carefully selected and edited. Reality shows don't show every minute or every day or every week in the subjects' lives. There is no footage of them doing anything boring. Real life isn't set up in episode format with a thickening plot, a climax, and a conclusion. Episodes are crafted my film editors and producers to create the most entertaining stories. Well, that's hardly real--things are left out and changed around and exaggerated.
But let's go back to the craziest person you know. Do you see them when they grocery shop, get ready for work, or do laundry? Probably not. You see them at different times for different reasons, but the time you've spent with them that actually sticks with you is when they've done something crazy. You tell your friends the stories of crazy things they did, not the boring things they did. "Guess what? I saw that crazy guy last night at a party!" "What did he do?" "Well... nothing this time..." "But I thought he was the crazy guy." "Yeah, have you I told you about the time that he..." and so on. You remember things and talk about things according to how interesting they are, not according to how "real" they are.
When you look back at your own life, you remember and value the entertaining parts, the dramatic parts, and stuff of interesting stories. Taking real life and making it into episodes is not lying, it's art. A photograph captures a moment and makes a point, but it leaves things out. Is it lying? An autobiography is written in a biased way, often for reputational gain. Are the words on the pages false? A memoir is select stories from an author's past, connected to each other and commented on. Do we consider it fiction?
Reality TV may be scripted, set up, edited, and twisted around but so is real life. It might be trashy and frivolous, but so are your favorite stories about the people you know.