Reality TV: The Tearing Down of Society Essay

As of today, television has become one of the most popular sources for entertainment over the world. In our generation, reality tv have one of the highest rates on television; But have you ever wonder what type of impact this has on our generation? In fact, reality tv promote a dangerous stereotype in many different ways. For an example, the tv show “Jersey shore” give the Latin-American a bad image. In addition, others will have a bad perspective on how New Jersey is viewed to the world. Therefore, reality tv promotes a dangerous stereotype on cultures, genders and norms over the world.

Reality television is an addicting phenomenon that graces millions of televisions daily. From shows like Keeping Up with the Kardashians, Life of Kylie, and Love and Hip Hop to series like My Strange Addiction, Hoarders, and My 600-lb Life, reality TV has left its mark and impacted today’s society in more ways than one. It has slithered into mass media to dominate lives and focus on “real” events or situations that have long term effects on its viewers. This brand of television serves as a reflection of society and often exploits its participants if not glamorizes a certain lifestyle that may seem unattainable to its viewers. For example, the Kardashians represent success and the achievement of the American dream that, to many, is elusive. Through the dramatization of mental illness, Hoarders exploits its viewers and reinforces the perception of these people as outsiders which lead to further marginalization and hiding of hoarding behavior.

argues that reality television has a bad influence on society. Reality television today gives people another excuse to be lazy and not better themselves. He uses sarcasm through the article. Also, he spoke about how reality television only praises the bad and the devious.

"Reality TV is set up to make people entertaining. A good person with values and principles is not good television" a quote by Ronda Rousey a mixed martial arts artist. Many people believe or want to believe that reality tv is true, but many other people avoid it for the fact that it is obviously fake. I personally don't watch reality tv but for the sake of this essay, I watched a few episodes of many television series to see and determine what I think about them. The point of this essay is to prove how fake reality tv is and I have succeeded in accomplishing that. Most of the reality shows have the camera crew all up in people's business or "secret" cameras placed in which people don’t know about them yet keep

Some of the most popular television shows in today’s society are The Biggest Looser, Jersey Shore, and Big Brother. These programs and many others are classified as reality television. Reality television’s main purpose is to attempt to portray ordinary people in unscripted situations. Recently, however, many of these shows have achieved in creating the complete opposite, and have earned an immense amount of criticism as a result. Reality television programs are detrimental to society because they influence bad behavior among teenagers, do not produce authentic real life situations, and they humiliate many of the characters.

Do you know the guiltiest pleasure of the American public? Two simple words reveal all—reality TV. This new segment of the TV industry began with pioneering shows like MTV’s The Real World and CBS’s Survivor. Switch on primetime television nowadays, and you will become bombarded by and addicted to numerous shows all based on “real” life. There are the heartwarming tales of childbirth on TLC, melodramas of second-rate celebrities on Celebrity Mole, and a look into a completely dysfunctional family on The Osbornes. Yet, out of all these entertaining reality shows arises the newest low for popular culture, a program based on the idea of a rich man or woman in search of

In the past 15 years, the world of television has gone from having its first reality TV show to now having over 300. Although reality television was meant to make TV more like regular life, it is actually wreaking havoc on today’s society perception of real life by wrongly combining entertainment material with “real” life. In Brave New World people in the society go to watch “feelies”, a type of movie/television show unaware that the feelies purpose is to alter the citizens version of reality. Reality Television has several advantages and positive effects on today's society especially that it can give people a more relatable entertainment.

This research will focus on the negative impact of reality TV and analyse facts and examples of influence from reality TV shows. The information provided and studies are referred from year 2000 till present hence it will be based on most recent popular reality TV shows.

With a click of a button, we can see the whole world in our living room on a high definition wide screen. One of the many things that appears on television is reality shows. Reality TV has taken the world by storm, gaining the interest of an audience from all around the globe. These shows normally consist of people who have never been on TV or untrained actors/actresses who are trying to gain a foothold in the cinematic industry. Little did they know that they were in for more than they signed up for.

Shows like Keeping Up With the Kardashians, The Bachelor and The Real Housewives have been taking the country by storm with the unscripted, outrageously unpredictable stories of ordinary people from around the country. Americans spend thirty three percent of their free time watching television and sixty seven percent of the shows are reality television (Reality Television:a Shocking Statistic). The average American watches five hours of television a day, that means they spend three and a half hours a day watching reality television. This shows that reality television is affecting everyone's everyday lives. Reality television is harmful to our society because it promotes stereotypes, it leaves a lasting impression on young susceptible minds,

Reality TV is one of the most dominate TV genres of the twenty-first century. Audiences become enveloped in the intertwining and interesting stories of life, but is reality TV really depicting real life situations? In the case of “Big Brother” and “The Real Housewives of NJ” these reality TV shows do not truly depict reality.

For close to a decade, the ethics behind the existence of reality TV have been questioned. While there are ardent viewers of reality TV, researchers and other scholars disapprove them, and claim that the world would have been in a better place. Reality TV shows, especially in America, are extremely profitable to media owners, and this has increased their popularity in the recent years. The main target audience for these shows are teenagers and women, who spend a lot of time discussing about them, even hours after the shows. Most of the reality shows in America and other parts of the world have common ideas. The most fundamental aspect of most reality TV shows is that they display people who go through embarrassing, painful and humiliating ordeals. This is what the reality shows expect their audiences to be entertained, and presumably laugh at the situations the people go through. For this reason and many more, it has been found that they are more detrimental than entertaining to the society, and therefore, the world would be in a better place without them (Pozner 89-91).

In the article Reality TV: Should We Really Watch? Elizabeth Larkins argues with the integrity of the genre of reality TV shows. She describes how watching one’s embarrassment or pain on TV and finding it humorous is wrong morally and mentally. Larkins describes how reality TV all began with one of the oldest reality shows “Candid Camera.” This show would broadcast hidden cameras of people in embarrassing or painful situations. It was a huge success, which ultimately started the popularity of the reality genre on television. Larkins also points out that most reality shows do not actually have any ‘reality’ in them. The producers of these shows cut and edit most of the scenes, skewing the actual reality. Larkins also discusses that reality shows portray racial stereotypes. She goes on and gives examples of several characters in real reality shows and how they depict racial stereotypes. Larkins concludes her essay with discussing how viewers should uphold a moral responsibility by not supporting these types of shows. She explains that the shows are made to make money and they do not uphold any type of honor or integrity.

Another study is created to examine the realness of reality television shows. It is implemented because people are becoming concern that “reality” shows are often scripted and they do not necessary indicate reality. Although the source does not explicitly explain why people’s perception of the realness of reality show is important, it reveals if a reality television has an impact on viewers’ behavior, then these shows will be considered as real. Based on these studies, researchers conclude the category of each reality show will determine whether there is a positive or negative

The days of traditional television shows, movies and plays are slowly coming to an end. Many people have replaced scripted shows with favorite actors with reality television. Reality television has introduced viewers to a cast of regular people they can relate to, and some of whom they are fond of or mimic in their day-to-day life basis. Reality television has however been on the receiving end of endless criticism. Critics maintain that it has “overwhelmingly turned young girls into divas and young men into bodybuilders ”. Despite this rapid transition in media that has led many to an inclination toprefer reality television rather than the traditional television shows, movies and plays, which was the case many years back, critics feel that the social, moral fabric is eroding at an extremely high rate . Certainly, this criticism aid in shaping reality television as we shall see in this study .