Reality TV and the American Dream, Essay Example

Entertainment is undoubtedly one of the most important facets of human life. The invention of film led to the creation of an entertainment movement that has since dominated the global stage; the movie industry. While modern film depicts a considerable growth in the film making industry, there exists one form of innovation within the film industry that has rapidly defined the 21^st century, reality TV shows.

Background Information

The notion of televised life gained much popularity in the late 1940s, with the pioneer reality TV show Candid Camera by Allen Funt (Skeggs and Wood). Funt is largely regarded as the pioneer of proper reality television with the show, which involved a hidden camera that would show how people would react to pranks. This laid the foundation of the reality TV genre to grow. While the genre evolved gradually, certain elements of the genre were innovatively applied to birth new genres related to reality TV.

One of the major elements of reality TV is the fact that it is unscripted. Filming unscripted situations was a concept that was quickly adopted to suit other interesting situations. One of the major adaptations of the concept was in the creation of game shows. In 1950, the game show “What’s My Line” premiered in the United States. This laid a foundation for others like “I’ve Got a Secret” and “To Tell the Truth” in 1952 and 1956 respectively (Murray and Ouellette).

Another genre that emerged in the 1950s included the documentary series. These mainly involved a whole camera crew taking the viewer out of the studio and into the real world. “You Asked For It” that premiered in 1950 took the viewer to out to the wild to see remarkable phenomena as well as marvelous sites.

One of the greatest advances that was realized in reality TV was in 1973. A reality television show called “An American Family” premiered on PBS. This reality television show focused on a specific family, the Louds. The Loud family had a number of family secrets that were displayed on film on a daily basis. Some of the startling revelations included the decision by the parents to divorce and their son coming out about his sexual orientation, the fact that he was gay (Kavka). This laid the foundation for some of the most influential reality TV shows.

Impact on the American Society

Reality TV thrives on two elements that define it, unscripted situations and real events. These unscripted situations usually generate the element of drama owing to the mystery in not knowing what may happen next. All the reality TV shows that laid a foundation for the modern day shows all shared one quality with the modern day shows; a reality-soap genre (Murray and Ouellette). These shows found a captivating story line in many hours of videotaped real life events. This was helped by careful editing and writing of the show.

The reality TV genre have one unique difference from traditional documentaries, they have the ability to move from mere observation to storytelling. This is the key element that allows for viewer captivation. However, these reality TV shows have had an adverse effect on society, particularly the American society. Over time, the entertainment industry has evolved to become more than just entertainment; it has become an important tool of influence.

For a considerable time, entertainment has become the number one determinant of what’s popular, trendy and acceptable. The entertainment industry currently shapes people’s views, attitudes towards specific issues and social morals. As the reality TV genre blossomed in the late 1990s, aspects of marketing became engrained in the film making business. One aspect of marketing was implemented in film making; “the consumer does not know that they want until you show them”. Reality television characters have since become stars in real life owing to the lifestyle they play on national television.

Statistically, Die-hard reality TV fans are largely responsible for the surge that reality TV has received in the United States over the past decade. About 45% of Americans watch reality TV shows and programs of those, 27% consider themselves reality TV die-hard fans. Women make up 64% of the realty TV shows diehard fans. 58% of reality TV show diehard fans come from the middle- to low-income brackets (Skeggs and Wood).

The entertainment industry has since the new millennium embraced the concept of reality TV shows. These shows depict celebrities in their everyday life, the glamour and challenges associated with their day-to-day activities. This has influenced the perception of America as to the definition of the American Dream. This flashy lifestyles has evolved to define the American dream.

There exist numerous versions of the American dream as do Americans themselves. However, the most popular one and the one that is synonymous with all the versions of the American dream is one where one would obtain all material things that would lead to the ultimate state of joy and happiness. These material things would be obtained through a good and solid education, which would lead one to gain a good and well-paying job and finally obtaining the material things that pertain to the American dream (Hanson and White).

James Truslow in his 1931 publication, The Epic of America, depicts the American dream as the hope of a land where life could be better, fuller and richer for all, everyone with opportunities according to their achievement or ability (Adams). He defines the ideal American dream as a quest for fulfilment as opposed to the quest for material wealth. He defines the American Dream as a state of social order where all should be able to attain maximum realization and fulfilment regardless of background or history.

However the American dream is self-destructing. This is because as many strived to provide a better and comfortable life for their families, they would soon get engulfed in the drive and ambition and end up losing touch with their families and their spouses they supposedly cherish. While a close-knit, happy family is at the center of the American dream, however the principles of career always appear to conflict with this concept of family. This is because the lifestyle that a career demanded always ended up leaving little to no time for personal interaction with family and friends. This was a trap, a prison of sorts, which one could not get time to interact with the very people they sought to give a good life, leaving one’s personal fulfilment unattended to

Popular culture in the United States has become fixated with the predominantly fabricated lifestyle depicted by most reality TV stars. Most of the information received from reality TV has since become skewed to favor specific ideologies within society. As human beings find it increasingly difficult to achieve that ultimate level of perfection, the imperfection in human life becomes more appealing. As reality TV is pivoted on the depiction of unscripted live events, with the most dramatic and arguably most interesting bits generated from instances of failure, conflict and bad behavior.

This has left the American society susceptible to a number of ideologies that have since shaped the landscape of the American Dream. As many families have found less time together, the youth have turned to television to provide a peak, and at most time, a guide into the real world. As modern day reality stars are mostly famous entertainment personalities such as actors, high profile sports personalities and super models, the flashy lifestyle is mostly depicted. The youth have since become driven and overtaken by the notion of instant fame and wealth. This can be generally be attributed to the increase in crime rates and other social vices within the United States.

Reality TV has inherently made society worse. As more and more people become fixated in the false ideology of instant fame and wealth, core family values have since been eroded creating a society full of vices not initially experienced. One of the most considerable and evident effects is the general deterioration in the behavior of the youth. While these effects are considerably significant, they were not initially foreseen during the innovation of the genre.

Works Cited

Adams, James T. The epic of America. Boston: Little, Brown, and Co., 1931. Print.

Hanson, Sandra L and John K White. The American Dream in the 21st Century. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2011. Internet Source.

Kavka, Misha. Reality television, affect and intimacy : reality matters. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. Print.

Murray, Susan and Laurie Ouellette. Reality TV : remaking television culture. New York: New York University Press, 2009. Print.

Skeggs, Beverly and Helen Wood. Reality television and class. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. Print.