UIC School of Law UIC Law Open Access Repository UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship 1-1-2012 We, the Judges: The Legalized Subject and Narratives of Adjudication in Reality Television, 81 UMKC L. Rev. 1 (2012) Cynthia D. Bond John Marshall Law School Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.law.uic.edu/facpubs Part of the Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law Commons, Judges Commons, and the Law and Society Commons Recommended Citation Cynthia D. Bond, We, the Judges: The Legalized Subject and Narratives of Adjudication in Reality Television, 81 UMKC L. Rev. 1 (2012). https://repository.law.uic.edu/facpubs/331 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by UIC Law Open Access Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of UIC Law Open Access Repository. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. "WE, THE JUDGES": THE LEGALIZED SUBJECT AND NARRATIVES OF ADJUDICATION IN REALITY TELEVISION CYNTHIA D. BOND* "Oh how we Americans gnash our teeth in bitter anger when we discover that the riveting truth that also played like a Sunday matinee was actually just a Sunday matinee." David Shields, Reality Hunger "We do have a judge; we have two million judges." Bethenny Frankel, The Real Housewives of New York City ABSTRACT At first a cultural oddity, reality television is now a cultural commonplace. These quasi-documentaries proliferate on a wide range of network and cable channels, proving adaptable to any audience demographic. Across a variety of types of "reality" offerings, narratives of adjudication- replete with "judges," "juries," and "verdicts"-abound.