a) Thesis: Reality television cannot be taken as real because there are many different aspects that make it unlike the real world including the people, the settings, the forced emotions, the editing, and the scripts.
b) Necessary steps for argument: I'm not really sure what this part is asking... In preparing to defend my thesis, I searched for a lot of supporting evidence. When using this evidence in my paper, I tried to write good analyzations of it so that it would obvious to the reader how the evidence backs up by thesis. In my paper, I analyze the people, the places, the scripts, the editing, the voiceovers, and the presence of cameras and how all these factors contribute to making reality TV unlike real life.
c) Types of sources: Some of my sources are books and some are internet articles. I have also used a video clip to get more information about editing in reality TV. All of the internet articles that I am using back up my thesis. The books I found have a different focus regarding reality TV but they make some points that are relavent to what I am writing about.
d) My favorite source is the one that attacks The Hills. It makes fun of everything. It bashes how Lauren got her job, how she didn't get fired, and how everything is scripted.
e) One interesting thing that I learned from my topic: I learned a lot more about reality TV shows in general. Now when I watch them, I can't stop laughing because I can sort of tell where it has been manipulated. Specifically from Reality is Only An Illusion, Writers Say, I learned that the writers that are used for reality shows are not called writers. Instead they are referred to as "story editors." I thought this was really funny because they are trying to cover their tracks.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Thesis for Research Paper
Reality television cannot be taken in as real because there are many different aspects that make it unlike the real world including the people, the settings, the forced emotions, the editing, and the scripts.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
"Reality" TV
1. I like that this blog is about the topic we're discussing in class right now...it makes it easier to think of things to write based on the articles. I thought it was funny how everything we put up on the board today was in quotation marks..."."
2. There is an audience for reality TV but it is not defined as one group of people. Instead, the audience is composed of different groups of people who are looking for different things from what they are watching. As stated by Terry Morrow in the article "Reality for 'The Hills' Comes Heavily Scripted": "For adults, you can laugh at the inane idea that this is supposed to be a reality show. For teens and tweens, it's a show in which they can dream of a fantasy adulthood." Morrow is showing how reality TV shows have many different audiences each watching the shows for reasons that best suit them. The adults can see that it is not reality, but it is still a nice escape from their real lives. Adults can also relate to the problems and therefore realize that people put on pedestals still struggle with the everyday problems that average people face. For teens, and as Morrow calls them "tweens," they get a vision of the future and see what life has the possibility of becoming. Morrow says this in the context of 'The Hills,' but this can be broadened to fit most reality TV shows. Reality TV appeals to all types of audiences and bring a different message to each. It is not necessarily trying to be convincing of a particular message, but striving to get people connected with the drama and emotion so that they get hooked on what is going on in the lives of these other people.
2. There is an audience for reality TV but it is not defined as one group of people. Instead, the audience is composed of different groups of people who are looking for different things from what they are watching. As stated by Terry Morrow in the article "Reality for 'The Hills' Comes Heavily Scripted": "For adults, you can laugh at the inane idea that this is supposed to be a reality show. For teens and tweens, it's a show in which they can dream of a fantasy adulthood." Morrow is showing how reality TV shows have many different audiences each watching the shows for reasons that best suit them. The adults can see that it is not reality, but it is still a nice escape from their real lives. Adults can also relate to the problems and therefore realize that people put on pedestals still struggle with the everyday problems that average people face. For teens, and as Morrow calls them "tweens," they get a vision of the future and see what life has the possibility of becoming. Morrow says this in the context of 'The Hills,' but this can be broadened to fit most reality TV shows. Reality TV appeals to all types of audiences and bring a different message to each. It is not necessarily trying to be convincing of a particular message, but striving to get people connected with the drama and emotion so that they get hooked on what is going on in the lives of these other people.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Take Charge Assignment
1. To tell the truth, I am a little nervous about searching out my own topic to argue about. It's hard enough to find the right articles and references, but now I first have to come up with a topic....so I decided (for now) to think about the differences between reality TV and reality.
2. Reality TV does not give a good representation of reality. The people that they choose for the shows are considered to be "average" people. Except for the part where they were chosen very carefully to best fit the need of emotion for the show. These "average" people are placed in strange environments that don't reflect real life. Then we watch on TV what their "normal" lives are supposed to be like. It just does not reflect real life problems in the same way that most people experience them. The producers of reality TV series admit to saying that they reinact scenes or add in sound effects and the like ot make it more dramatic. The contestants themselves admit to having acted more emotional on the show than they usually would have. So why do we keep seeing these shows on TV? The producers would say because that is what we, as the audience, want to see, but that is not necessarily the case. I read an article that gave statistics about how many people think that there are too many reality TV shows aired. People want to see more news on TV, not a fake representation of what life is like.
2. Reality TV does not give a good representation of reality. The people that they choose for the shows are considered to be "average" people. Except for the part where they were chosen very carefully to best fit the need of emotion for the show. These "average" people are placed in strange environments that don't reflect real life. Then we watch on TV what their "normal" lives are supposed to be like. It just does not reflect real life problems in the same way that most people experience them. The producers of reality TV series admit to saying that they reinact scenes or add in sound effects and the like ot make it more dramatic. The contestants themselves admit to having acted more emotional on the show than they usually would have. So why do we keep seeing these shows on TV? The producers would say because that is what we, as the audience, want to see, but that is not necessarily the case. I read an article that gave statistics about how many people think that there are too many reality TV shows aired. People want to see more news on TV, not a fake representation of what life is like.
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Which Media Do You Trust?
1) I thought this was an interesting article. It was giving statistics about people trusting the media or gov't. Then the author turned around and said that these numbers couldn't be trusted. I thought that was pretty cool. I wasn't expecting that.
2) This article is testing the credibility of the media but at the same time it is saying that articles and authors need to be analyzed individually. A person cannot say that they do not trust blogs because some are written by very knowledgable people in the area they are discussing.
When the author first gives the statistics about people who trust the media, he counter argues himself by giving evidence of the unreliability of the source of the poll. This is how he then forms his argument into saying that people should not generalize but look at individual articles. The author uses quotes from David Schlesinger and Gary Kebbel as evidence in his argument. What they have said supports the author's claim, if those two sources themselves are reliable.
People can still fall into trusting untrue material even if they judge the information individually. A blogger can give the appearance that they are knowledgable on a subject and truely they may not be therefore giving false information.
2) This article is testing the credibility of the media but at the same time it is saying that articles and authors need to be analyzed individually. A person cannot say that they do not trust blogs because some are written by very knowledgable people in the area they are discussing.
When the author first gives the statistics about people who trust the media, he counter argues himself by giving evidence of the unreliability of the source of the poll. This is how he then forms his argument into saying that people should not generalize but look at individual articles. The author uses quotes from David Schlesinger and Gary Kebbel as evidence in his argument. What they have said supports the author's claim, if those two sources themselves are reliable.
People can still fall into trusting untrue material even if they judge the information individually. A blogger can give the appearance that they are knowledgable on a subject and truely they may not be therefore giving false information.
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