The other members of my family have discovered their latest
obsession: reality television. Every night, it seems, they will turn on Netflix
and flick over to the latest episode of DC Cupcakes, a truly awful show about a
cupcake shop in the capital state fulfilling orders. As I type this, they’re
going on their third mental This comes on the heels of their other obsessions
like the even more routine Cake Boss or
the mental-health tragedy cases of Hoarders:
Buried Alive. Their desire to use free time to watch reality television
makes absolutely no sense to me.
Cultural critics of reality television have often been
dismissed as elitists ignoring the reality of the arts: the pleasure principle.
I’m all for pleasure. But they’re watching cupcakes get made. Television could
show you literally anything happening in the world right now and they’re
showing you some slightly drama-inflated women make cupcakes. And people watch
it. Avidly. It’s like some sort of bizarre capitalist fantasy, where the luxury
time that we spend our job money supporting is spent on watching other people
at their jobs. Marx would have something to say about this.
I’ve been thinking about what motivates the reality TV
market. To me, there are some obvious reasons that people watch such
counter-intuitively popular shows:
Being better than the
profiled characters. Viewers of
Honey Boo Boo or Hoarders: Buried Alive get a sense of reinforcement of their
own normalcy. I may have some things going bad for me, but hey, at least I’m
functioning and have some standards of taste. (Of course, you could argue that
the one with less taste is the one who watches tasteless activites, not the one
doing them, but there you have it.)
Being worse than the
profiled characters. All art-
including reality television shows- has an aspect of fantasy to it. The ladies
of DC Cupcakes open their show by
declaring that they “left their corporate jobs” and “followed their dreams” to
start a bakery. Just as a reader of sci-fi dreams how cool it would be to have
kickass gadgets, the viewer engages in a happy escapism from a dull corporate
life.
Competition. Whatever
the context, people enjoy watching competition. I remember how much I got into
the one season of American Idol that I watched. To be honest, in my mind,
elections play out much like a competitive reality show, but with characters I
have stronger feelings about. I would guess that those who watch sports get a
similar kick from it.
Redemption. The
story of overcoming adversity and immorality and returning to functioning
society is just as present in reality television as anywhere. It’s the story of
classic poetry, country lyrics, and crime dramas in equal shares. And it’s what
viewers of Hoarders and Intervention turn on their TVs to hear.
Morbid curiosity. Here,
I’m thinking of shows like Fear Factor. Yes, I remember Fear Factor from when I
was in third grade or so. It was that big. The sheer number of emotions
inspired by watching a housewife eat roaches blindfolded on a tightrope, with
no characters or plot attatched, is enough to keep viewers addicted. Augh! Why?
What’s it like? Would I enjoy it? It’s what psychologists talk about as
neophilia- the curiosity that brings humans to entertain even the oddest
notions and relish it. (Thank you, psychology class.)
Talent. All said, the women of DC Cupcakes are really good at making
cupcakes. In the most recent bit I saw, the two were MacGyver-ing a wedding
dress from cupcakes and swimming noodles. People just love watching talented
people do their thing.
I did a bit of searching and found a few other reasons.
Immorality. In
the article “Why America Loves Reality TV” from Psychology Today,[1]
psychologist, a group of psychologists claim that fans of reality TV
enjoyed watching a lack of personal honor. The survey they cited focused on the
TV program Temptation, which focused
on people in the process leading up to adultery. Fans of high-quality television
like Breaking Bad get some of the same kick from watching Walter White’s
descent into methamphetamine-driven madness.
Competition (again). Surveys
backed me up on this one- viewers of reality television are more interested in
revenge than the average viewer.
Prestige. Prestige
is the last thing that comes to my mind in the TV genre that birthed Jersey Shore and Bridalplasty, but viewers of reality television prioritize it
higher than average. The psychologists explain that reality television showcases
essentially overnight transformations from average person to prestigious
superstar, transformations that they can then fantasize about happening to
them.
Blending unreality
and reality. Going back to fantasy: we can fantasize all we want about magic
or sci-fi, but we know they’ll never happen. With reality television, that
barrier’s not there. I’m about as likely to build artificial intelligence as I
am to win American Idol, but people
really don’t understand statistics, and one AI
seems a lot more plausible to me if I’ve watched it happen to real people. It’s
fantasy, but a much deeper form of fantasy than fiction can provide. Columnist
Nicole McDermott points this out in an article on Greatist.[2]
I wonder if reality television could theoretically move up
the artistic status ladder and become an occasionally high-brow art. I don’t
see any real reason someone couldn’t make a really fascinating reality series,
i.e. one actually in touch with reality. It’s got many of the same appealing
aspects, just in different capacities.
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