Reality TV
Remaking Television Culture
Published on 1. December 2008
Book
Hardback
400 pages
978-0-8147-5733-8 (ISBN)
Description
A collection of eight essays that parse out the seemingly unprecedented rise of reality television
The Apprentice. Project Runway. The Bachelor. My Life on the D-list. Extreme Makeover. American Idol. It is virtually impossible to turn on a television without coming across some sort of reality programming. Yet, while this genre has rapidly moved from the fringes of television culture to its lucrative core, critical attention has not kept pace.
Beginning by unearthing its historical roots in early reality shows like Candid Camera and wending its way through An American Family and The Real World to the most recent crop of reality programs, Reality TV, now updated with eight new essays, is one of the first books to address the economic, visual, cultural, audience, and new media dimensions of reality television and has become the standard in the field. The essays provide a complex and comprehensive picture of how and why this genre emerged, what it means, how it differs from earlier television programming, and how it engages societies, industries, and individuals. Topics range from the blending of fact and fiction, to the uses of viewer labor and "interactivity," to issues of surveillance, gender performativity, hyper-commercialism, and generic parody.
By spanning reality television's origins in the late 1940s to its current overwhelming popularity, Reality TV demonstrates both the tenacity of the format and its enduring ability to speak to our changing political and social desires and anxieties.
The Apprentice. Project Runway. The Bachelor. My Life on the D-list. Extreme Makeover. American Idol. It is virtually impossible to turn on a television without coming across some sort of reality programming. Yet, while this genre has rapidly moved from the fringes of television culture to its lucrative core, critical attention has not kept pace.
Beginning by unearthing its historical roots in early reality shows like Candid Camera and wending its way through An American Family and The Real World to the most recent crop of reality programs, Reality TV, now updated with eight new essays, is one of the first books to address the economic, visual, cultural, audience, and new media dimensions of reality television and has become the standard in the field. The essays provide a complex and comprehensive picture of how and why this genre emerged, what it means, how it differs from earlier television programming, and how it engages societies, industries, and individuals. Topics range from the blending of fact and fiction, to the uses of viewer labor and "interactivity," to issues of surveillance, gender performativity, hyper-commercialism, and generic parody.
By spanning reality television's origins in the late 1940s to its current overwhelming popularity, Reality TV demonstrates both the tenacity of the format and its enduring ability to speak to our changing political and social desires and anxieties.
Reviews / Votes
"Since reality television began to flood TV screens, we've had to deal with another phenomenon: a renewed debate about what is 'fun' versus what is 'good for you.' The essays in this volume enlighten that discussion and take us beyond it. They provide both the record of a strange moment in history and a contribution to contemporary cultural politics." - Toby Miller,editor of Television & New Media "The book explores the genre's institutional and sociopolitical development, its place in the cultural landscape, and how it serves as a source of meaning and pleasure." (NYU Today) "Reality TV manages to cover a range of ideas and concepts about the genre . . . All watchers of reality TVeven those ashamed to admit itwould benefit from reading this text, if only to shake some of the preconceived ideas about the influence of Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie's The Simple Life" (M/C Reviews) "Offers the most insightful and significant scholarly analysis to date of the changes taking place in the economic "globalization" of television production. A delight to read, laced with wit and humor." (Choice)More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Trade binding
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
708 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8147-5733-8 (9780814757338)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
04/2004
New York University Press
€120.99
Available for download
Persons
Susan Murray is Associate Professor of Media, Culture and Communication at New York University. She is the author of Hitch Your Antenna to the Stars: Early Television and Broadcast Stardom.
Laurie Ouellette is jointly appointed as Professor of Communication Studies and Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature. She is the author of Lifestyle TV (2016) co-editor (with Jonathan Gray) of Keywords in Media Studies (2017), co-author of Better Living Through Reality TV: Television and Post-Welfare Citizenship (2008), author of Viewers Like You? How Public Television Failed the People (2002), co-editor of Reality TV: Remaking Television Culture (2009), editor of The Media Studies Reader (2012), and editor of A Companion to Reality Television (2014).
Laurie Ouellette is jointly appointed as Professor of Communication Studies and Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature. She is the author of Lifestyle TV (2016) co-editor (with Jonathan Gray) of Keywords in Media Studies (2017), co-author of Better Living Through Reality TV: Television and Post-Welfare Citizenship (2008), author of Viewers Like You? How Public Television Failed the People (2002), co-editor of Reality TV: Remaking Television Culture (2009), editor of The Media Studies Reader (2012), and editor of A Companion to Reality Television (2014).
Content
Acknowledgments Introduction Laurie Ouellette and Susan Murray Part I Genre * 1 "Stanley Milgram, Allen Funt and Me" Anna McCarthy * 2 Performing the Real: Documentary Diversions (with Afterword) John Corner * 3 "I Think We Need a New Name for It" Susan Murray * 4 Teaching Us to Fake It Nick Couldry * 5 Extraordinarily Ordinary Derek Kompare Part II Industry 6 The Political Economic Origins of Reali-TV Chad Raphael * 7 Television 2.0 Ted Magder * 8 Hoaxing the "Real" Alison Hearn * 9 Global TV Realities John McMurria Part III Culture and Power * 10 Country Hicks and Urban Cliques Jon Kraszewski * 11 "Take Responsibility for Yourself" Laurie Ouellette * 12 Belabored Reality Heather Hendershot * 13 Cinderella Burps Jonathan Gray * 14 The Comedic Treatment of Reality: Kathy Griffin Heather Osborne-Thompson Part IV Interactivity * 15 Melancholy, Merit, and Merchandise Amber Watts * 16 Visceral Literacy Mark Andrejevic 17 Buying into American Idol Henry Jenkins About the Contributors Index