Personal Reflection
This project began as I was in the thick of the most recent season of The Bachelor. I convened every Monday with a friend or two and my TV, and commentated my way through each of the thirteen episodes. I would say that I personally viewed this show as a source of pure and mindless entertainment--mocking much of what ABC was trying to sell as the making of true love. Regardless, I diligently consumed every minute of Season 21, picking my favorite contestants, in addition to the women I couldn't stand to see on my screen for another week. When presented with the opportunity of conducting my own media-related research project, I chose reality television as my basis with the single question of "Why?" guiding my way.
While I've learned even more than I had expected throughout this process, at the end of my project, I now have more questions than ever. With more time, I would look into the roots of reality television, where mass interest can really be traced to and why, and the leading networks in the reality television field, to say the least. I know you may be asking yourself why I didn't look into these questions to begin with, but I did! And I'm sorry to say that there's very little research available to the public on the field of reality television to date. The sources that I found were invaluable, and I'm very proud of what I've produced, but I was disappointed to find the lack of academic sources related to my topic.
Reality television is a source of such consumption in this day and age that I truly expected to be able to simply and easily conduct this project at the click of a mouse and clack of my keyboard. I was surprised by the amount of footwork I had to do in terms of finding viable sources. I met with various librarians who suggested various ways to search various databases and even walked me through several of those processes.
Given the prominence of franchises like Keeping Up with the Kardashians, I had initially planned on anchoring my project there. I find the transition of Bruce Jenner to Caitlyn Jenner infinitely interesting, and was determined to incorporate that into my project in some way, shape, or form. I was thrilled upon finally watching the notorious 20/20 interview with Diane Sawyer, when Jenner discussed the reality television trail that inevitably follows him.* I was shocked to find that members of the public had the audacity to question the ethics behind his transition--some even dared to accuse him of undergoing this transformation as a ploy to further his fame. While he violently denounced such accusations, there is something to be said about the biographical reality television spinoff that came from Jenner's transition, I Am Cait.
On an even larger scale, the question of "what is left as sacred" arises. Reality television manages to run the gamut of topics, and it appears that the more intimate and personal the subject, the more success it garners. What does that say about us as consumers? What does it say about us as human beings? As a society, we've turned watching other people's struggles (and rarely successes) into a form of mass commodification and consumption. What does that say about us?
But even as I wax philosophical, I still know that I'm still just as likely to turn on the TV and find an episode of a various reality television show to watch. So, what does that say about me?
*At the time of the interview, Jenner was still using the personal pronouns he, him, his.
While I've learned even more than I had expected throughout this process, at the end of my project, I now have more questions than ever. With more time, I would look into the roots of reality television, where mass interest can really be traced to and why, and the leading networks in the reality television field, to say the least. I know you may be asking yourself why I didn't look into these questions to begin with, but I did! And I'm sorry to say that there's very little research available to the public on the field of reality television to date. The sources that I found were invaluable, and I'm very proud of what I've produced, but I was disappointed to find the lack of academic sources related to my topic.
Reality television is a source of such consumption in this day and age that I truly expected to be able to simply and easily conduct this project at the click of a mouse and clack of my keyboard. I was surprised by the amount of footwork I had to do in terms of finding viable sources. I met with various librarians who suggested various ways to search various databases and even walked me through several of those processes.
Given the prominence of franchises like Keeping Up with the Kardashians, I had initially planned on anchoring my project there. I find the transition of Bruce Jenner to Caitlyn Jenner infinitely interesting, and was determined to incorporate that into my project in some way, shape, or form. I was thrilled upon finally watching the notorious 20/20 interview with Diane Sawyer, when Jenner discussed the reality television trail that inevitably follows him.* I was shocked to find that members of the public had the audacity to question the ethics behind his transition--some even dared to accuse him of undergoing this transformation as a ploy to further his fame. While he violently denounced such accusations, there is something to be said about the biographical reality television spinoff that came from Jenner's transition, I Am Cait.
On an even larger scale, the question of "what is left as sacred" arises. Reality television manages to run the gamut of topics, and it appears that the more intimate and personal the subject, the more success it garners. What does that say about us as consumers? What does it say about us as human beings? As a society, we've turned watching other people's struggles (and rarely successes) into a form of mass commodification and consumption. What does that say about us?
But even as I wax philosophical, I still know that I'm still just as likely to turn on the TV and find an episode of a various reality television show to watch. So, what does that say about me?
*At the time of the interview, Jenner was still using the personal pronouns he, him, his.