The illusory everyday: Narratives of pleasure in Australian ‘reality TV’ by Emma Price, BA (Hons) Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Deakin University February 2011 Acknowledgements This project would not have been possible without the following people. First, I would like to thank my supervisors Dr David Ritchie, Dr Keith Beattie and Dr Stephen Goddard for their input throughout the many stages of this research. An extraordinary amount of thanks especially to David for his belief, guidance and many cups of tea over the last three years, and for the faith he has had in me as a student and colleague since my Honours year. Second, this thesis literally would not have been possible without my interview participants. Thanks to Helen Bullough, David Mortimer, Rick McPhee, Lyndal Marks, Tarni James and Asif Zubairy for their time and insight into the television industry and production. Thanks also to all my anonymous viewers for their open and enthusiastic discussions. Thanks also to the anonymous peer reviewers of my conference papers and journal publications, for their insightful feedback on my work as the findings were publicly aired during the research period. This input provided great opportunities to apply and revise the emerging ideas and tangents of the thesis (see Price 2008a, 2008b, 2009a, 2009b, 2009c, 2010a, 2010b, 2011 forthcoming). Third, I would like to thank the research student community at building EB. The camaraderie and collegiality forged by its inhabitants made coming to work a constant pleasure. In particular, I would like to thank my original office buddies Sally Percival Wood and Neena Sachdev, my fellow ‘starters’ Edwin Ng and Janet Watson, and Amy Nethery for all her advice and motivation. Lastly, many thanks go to my family and friends for their encouragement over the last three years. Special thanks to my parents Judy and Peter, and also to my sister Megan for being the reassuring ‘last set of eyes’. This thesis has been a roller-coaster experience that I would not have survived without the endless support and patience of my partner and dearest friend Joe – I can never thank you enough. i Table of Contents Acknowledgements i Abstract v Introduction 1 PART ONE: ‘Reality TV’ Perspectives Chapter One: Genre 8 Is there a genre? - Myths of ‘reality TV’ - Amoebic entertainment Chapter Two: Industry 26 Motivations - Terminologies - Audiences Chapter Three: Construction 37 Television narratives - Jeopardy and the ‘everyday’ - The spectacle of ‘reality TV’ Chapter Four: Audiences 52 Studying audiences - Perception and aspiration PART TWO: Methodology & Case Studies Chapter Five: Reading for pleasure 65 Television narrative and Barthes’ S/Z - Pleasure of the TV text Chapter Six: In their own words 76 Chapter Seven: Bondi Rescue 90 Chapter Eight: Border Security 118 Chapter Nine: Family Footsteps 149 Chapter Ten: Nerds FC 176 PART THREE: The Illusory Everyday Chapter Eleven: The illusory everyday 205 Amoebic ‘reality TV’ – Dialectic awareness – Everyday entertainment Conclusion 217 Bibliography 229 Appendices 251 ii Table of Figures 1.1 The flow of the entertainment experience 22 5.1 Comparison of hermeneutic progressions 68 5.2 Adaptation of S/Z narrative framework for TV 70 7.1 Bondi Rescue episode structure 92 7.2 Bondi Rescue frame 1 105 7.3 Bondi Rescue frame 2 106 7.4 Bondi Rescue frame 3 106 7.5 Bondi Rescue frame 4 107 7.6 Bondi Rescue frame 5 109 7.7 Bondi Rescue enigmatic structure 114 8.1 Border Security episode structure 121 8.2 Border Security frame 1 137 8.3 Border Security frame 2 138 8.4 Border Security frame 3 139 8.5 Border Security frame 4 140 8.6 Border Security frame 5 141 8.7 Border Security enigmatic structure 146 9.1 Family Footsteps episode structure 151 9.2 Family Footsteps frame 1 163 9.3 Family Footsteps frame 2 164 9.4 Family Footsteps frame 3 165 9.5 Family Footsteps frame 4 166 9.6 Family Footsteps frame 5 167 9.7 Family Footsteps enigmatic structure 172 10.1 Nerds FC episode structure 178 10.2 Nerds FC frame 1 190 10.3 Nerds FC frame 2 192 10.4 Nerds FC frame 3 194 10.5 Nerds FC frame 4 195 10.6 Nerds FC frame 5 197 10.7 Nerds FC enigmatic structure 201 iii Appendices Appendix A: Audience Interview Guide 251 Appendix B: Industry Interview Guide 252 Appendix C: Bondi Rescue transcription 253 Appendix D: Border Security transcription 260 Appendix E: Family Footsteps transcription 267 Appendix F: Nerds FC transcription 276 iv Abstract While previous commentary on ‘reality TV’ has approached the genre as ‘trash TV’ in relation to a positivist ‘real’, this research argues that the fundamental basis of the genre lies in the ‘illusory everyday’: constructed narratives of entertainment. This concept is identified as the representation of the ‘everyday’ as illusion in ‘reality TV’, in a performance of banality and excess that is designed to connect with viewers as a source of pleasure. As a result, notions of ‘reality’ and ‘everyday’ are ontologically and epistemologically problematised as relative and subjective states in relation to television production and reception. Four key elements of genre, industry, construction and audiences are examined within a pluralist agenda of post- structuralism, phenomenology and constructivism to investigate the deficiencies in the extant literature on ‘reality TV’. This bricolage integrates various perspectives from this diverse set of theories, with particular reference to discourses of polysemy, pleasure, perception and context to establish an analytic framework for a series of Australian television case studies: Bondi Rescue, Border Security, Family Footsteps and Nerds FC. Textual analysis of the formats is triangulated with qualitative interviews with the industry and viewers in order to explore and understand ‘reality TV’ from those who produce and watch it. These personal narratives emphasise the subjective experiences of pleasure in the construction and reception of ‘reality TV’ as entertainment. Emergent design is used as the primary method, by which processes and outcomes are continuously shaped and tested as the research progresses. The thesis concludes that ‘reality TV’ is broad and nuanced in an amorphous genre, in its production motivations and grammar, and in the individual experience of pleasure by viewers. The ‘illusory everyday’ is proposed as the site of multiple interpretations and pleasures, and as a framework for understanding this television phenomenon with three significant outcomes. First, the constant evolution and diversity of ‘reality TV’ is identified as an amoebic genre that draws on a range of television styles and techniques from informative to entertainment. Second, the construction of television narratives from the ‘everyday’ is essential in the triangular relationship between the industry and audiences. The central elements of jeopardy and aspiration are examined through narrative and the use of the ‘everyday’ to create engaging viewing, as well as the significance of local production and contemporary v subject matter. Third, viewer engagement through entertainment is understood through the pleasures of watching ‘reality TV’. The varying levels of entertainment and engagement are negotiated by individual viewers in relation to their own interests and experiences, in addition to their cognition of television conventions and representation. The ‘illusory everyday’ therefore provides a framework for the acknowledgement and understanding of the play that is essential in viewer engagement with ‘reality TV’ in negotiating the mirage represented for subjective resonance and pleasure. vi Introduction It was another long night at work. Between compiling the week’s format production schedules and pitch presentations for the next commissioning meeting, I tapped out a short email home. It read: “Reality TV is the product of a contemporary existential crisis” It was a fortuitous sequence of media posts that led me to the position of Development Coordinator for BBC Factual Entertainment from 2005 to 2006 in London, and the entire experience changed not only how I considered television but also provided an awareness of industry perspectives in programme development and broadcasting. Once back in Australia and deciding ‘what to do next’, I was reminded of that email statement and it reignited my curiosity in the phenomenon of ‘reality TV’. This research is the product of that spark. As I was to quickly learn, ‘reality TV’ is a difficult beast. As neither an avid fan nor staunch critic, ‘reality TV’ presented a wealth of research possibilities with initial summaries supplying a wish-list of philosophical arguments in relation to interactivity, celebrity, surveillance and voyeurism. However, as I delved further into the extant literature, a discernible gap became apparent in the understanding of the genre’s breadth, production and reception, and an atmosphere of criticism quite removed from my own experience in the industry and as a viewer. Since its inception, television has been subject to a range of developing critical responses, highlighting various questions of its functions and significance. The analysis of television is presented with a peculiar state: from the outside, it is a domestic electronic device, but through its broadcast and reception it represents an omnipresent mode of communication, displaying a variety of content and forms for audiences. It can entertain and inform, distract and engross, as low culture and high affect. Television has been both disregarded and celebrated in previous academic study due to its status as popular and mass culture. The commercial nature of television and its use as commodity to audiences, in combination with its entertaining and sensational content, may be seen as aspects of ‘low’ culture. But these aspects are not to be disregarded for this reason; they are also important in understanding the functions and uses of the medium (Hartley 1992, 2008; Fiske 1987; Fiske & Hartley 1 Introduction 2003). Ellis argues that the mass form of television “means TV belongs to the everyday, to the normal backdrop of expectations and mundane pleasures” (1992: 160).