Student number: 27963226
I see you watching me watching you and now you see just where my PIPs gotta be (road traders, you watching me).
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1 Nicolson, Reality TV, 27th November 2003 1
Student number: 27963226
A post-modernist investigation into the role of “Gogglebox”, “The Bachelor” and “The Farmer Wants a Wife” in the formation and perpetuation of Australian gender identity.
CONTENTS
LOG 3
INTRODUCTION 5
CENTRAL MATERIAL 7 REALITY BITES ……………………………………………………………………………………….7 THE SNOOKI EFFECT…………………………………………………………………………….10 THE REALITY PRICNIPLE………………………………………………………………………..13 THE BACHELOR……………………………………………………………………………….…..15 THE FARMER WANTS A WIFE…………………………………………………………………. 18 GOGGLEBOX……………………………………………………………………………………….20 THE NEED FOR EMPATHY ………………………………………………………………………23
CONCLUSION …………………………………………………….…………..…………………………..24
RESOURCE LIST ……………………………………………….……………………….………………26
APPENDIX ……………………………..………………………………………...... 35
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Student number: 27963226
LOG
Choosing my PIP topic seemed pretty simple - reality television! Something I consume everyday and spend endless hours absorbing. In particular I was set on investigating the role that mass mediated reality television plays in the construction of identities. However, this was not going well as the topic was too broad and I needed to narrow it down. I thought about it for some time and thought why not focus on adolescents? I am an adolescent so using self reflection will allow me to have a stronger argument. I then needed to think carefully about which reality television shows to focus on. Since there is a plethora of reality television shows I thought about the shows that adolescents largely consume. I decided to focus on three series, two involving dating shows and one challenging to categories.
Before I began conducting my primary research I needed to undertake extensive secondary research. I looked at a range of print and digital sources. Specifically I examined scholarly articles, expert opinions, media articles and books. The secondary information which I read made me realise how much of an affect that mass mediated reality television does have on the construction of identities on adolescents. This helped me decide what methods I wanted 3
Student number: 27963226 to use and who to conduct them with.
I began my primary research by conducting two surveys eliciting both qualitative and quantitate data within my micro community which focused on exploring the role that mass mediated reality television plays within their life. The questions consisted of open ended questions allowing for more detailed responses and closed ended questions allowing me to build upon my quantitative data. One of the surveys I conducted was distributed to a year 10 class. The other was posted onto my social media account Facebook. However, with posting this online I was aware of issues relating to validity, bias and usefulness. These two surveys combined allowed me to have a deeper insight into adult and adolescent perspectives on reality television and the effects. To add complexity and further understand the role reality television plays within adolescents I performed a non participant observation on a year 11 class. The participants watched a series of each The Bachelor and The Farmer wants a Wife while i recorded their reactions and behaviors. Following the observation I conducted a focus group to gain additional qualitative data which i supplemented with my own personal reflection.
I performed two structured interviews to augment my qualitative data. My first interview was with a past contestant from the reality television show, “The Farmer wants a Wife”. The participant coming 2nd place and provided me with an into what went on behind the scenes in the series that she was involved in. The second interview i conducted was with a production assistance who has worked on such shows such as “Backyard Blitz”. She provided me with an insight into the complexity of choosing the contestants and “manufacturing” the day to day dramas.
My time management when writing my central material was adequate, however, the editing process could have been handled better. I then discovered how important it is to allocate time for each aspect of the PIP. I was consistent throughout my PIP on conducting research methods in an ethical way complying with the participants who wished to remain anonymous.
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Student number: 27963226
INTRODUCTION
Reality television is unpredictable. It penetrates all channels of our television space and has become a stable of my television diet. I just can’t look away when the voyeurism in me needs be shocked and entertained by the world and wonderful lives of reality television land. My micro world seems so bland in comparison to the macro world of these global fads, stars and phenomenon’s.
Thus, I will be examining the role of mass-mediated reality television in the construction of personal identities and gender. Reality television influences individual’s self-identities as they foster in values and qualities for the audience to embrace but disguises them as entertainment. This popular culture insinuates these ideas into our everyday norms; reality television compromises social cohesion – which it is meant to support – on the altar of entertainment. I believe this impact strongly shapes our social and cultural development surreptitiously.
Given the plethora of reality television shows and the limits imposed by the PIP requirements I have decided to focus on three programs, two within the genre of dating 5
Student number: 27963226 shows - “The Bachelor” and “The Farmer Wants a Wife” and one unique difficult to categorise show - “Gogglebox".
Through this investigation I am going to examine through a combination of primary and secondary research methods how reality TV impacts on the construction of personal identities and genders. The secondary sources will include print and digital media such as books, blogs, articles and professional opinions. The primary methodologies include a focus group, observation, two surveys, two interviews and personal reflection.
My PIP will address continuity and change. Reality has gone from the traditional form of us the viewers watching peoples’ everyday regimes to us the consumers watching people watch reality television. This change has taken reality television to a new extreme and is explored through the reality television show “Gogglebox”. It will also explore micro experience is through myself as a consumer of reality television. The meso is the interactions within institutions that make the television show and the macro interaction is how the show itself is made. I will explore all these levels in my PIP. As well as this, in my PIP I will use a cross-cultural perspective of gender to aid my perspective.
Through the cross cultural component of gender my topic links to the course as it deals with the construction of identities and gender and uses the popular cultural of television to explore the concepts of continuity and change in relation to the significant agent of socialisation.
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Student number: 27963226
CENTRAL MATERIAL Reality Bites
So you’re home in your pjs on your couch in front of your new Samsung smart TV with time to kill. You begin to channel hop and come across a show where you the viewer are watching people watch reality TV. You then start to scroll through and channel after channel you see shows with people singing to win a career, people cooking in the hope of winning $250,000, ‘boganologists’ searching for Australia's biggest bogan and even the dramas of the Kardashian family and Jersey Shore. You begin to wonder who does the Bachelor choose? Who will be the biggest loser? Does the farmer get his wife? But just how real is reality TV and what impact does it have on the construction of identity and in the case of dating shows the construction of gender?
In January 1973 the famous anthropologist Margaret Mead published a challenging essay which provided insight into the origins of the genre of reality TV. The subject of this essay was a new public broadcasting system called “An American Family”. This was based on a family, the Louds, who were a middle class Californian household. The parents and the five 7
Student number: 27963226 children in this show were not actors or public figures. Mead wrote; “rather they were the people they portrayed on television, members of a real family”. This television series, from Mead’s perspective was “a new kind of art form” - an innovation “as significant as the invention of drama or the novel”2. It is now 30 years since Mead - who died in 1978 foreshadowed the era of reality television that we are living through. At the time she indicated that we needed a name for it and we have come to settle on “Reality Television”.
Given the complexity of the topic I needed to undertake extensive secondary research with my focus being on the origins of this genre. What I learned was that this genre is at the very least provocative if not a misnomer. It is according to an article written for the New Yorker magazine in 2009 by Kelifa Sanneh, an amorphous category. In the article Sanneh quoted an American cultural theorist, Mark Andrejevic who observed that, “There isn't any one definition that would capture all of the existing genres and exclude other forms of programming such as the nightly news or day time game shows”3. Accordingly given the plethora of reality television shows and dating shows in particular and the limits imposed on my research I decided to focus on two series within the sub genre of dating shows - “The Bachelor” and “The Farmer Wants a Wife” and one difficult to categories show - “Gogglebox”.
My next step was to ascertain the popularity of these two dating shows amongst both adult and adolescent males and females. Surveying both adults and adolescents was important because the latter are according to Erikson and Kohlerg at a stage where they need acceptance and are therefore more impressionable then adults. I considered this to be a significant factor in analysing their reactions to reality television programs. To this end, therefore I conducted a macro online survey using Facebook as the platform. Forty eight (48) individuals responded to my survey, 73% being female and 27% male. The reasons they were attracted to the two series varied but there were two common denominators. The first was because they had viewed the American equivalent and were curious to find out what cultural adjustments Australian producers would make. Secondly, there was that element of voyeurism which I identified in myself as being what attracted me to the series. I am using the word voyeurism in the narrow sense of being curious about other people’s
2 Carmody, T. (2011). Reality on television [article] 3 Sanneh, K. (2011). The reality principal [article]
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Student number: 27963226 lives. One interesting observation was, “I enjoy reality TV shows because I can relate to them, and such things as the drama and be empathic with the characters”4. Even though there is a significant gender discrepancy in the survey respondents I was not able detect any significant differences in their reasons for being attracted to both series. I also surveyed 20 adolescents at my school, 60% of whom were male and 40% were female5. They all admitted that they were regular viewers of reality television shows and all had watched at least three episodes of “The Bachelor” and “The Farmer Wants a Wife”. Both genders were attracted to these shows for reasons similar to those given by the adults I surveyed.
In 2006 Kerrie Murphy published a book titled “TV Land; Australians obsession with reality TV”. In which she endeavored to examine this genre and account for its popularity amongst Australian audiences. She argued convincingly that it is the “embodiment of the internationalisation of the media market place6” given that most reality television shows are variants of an international model, as is the case with the reality television show, “The Bachelor”. The surveys I conducted (referred to above) at both the macro and micro levels confirmed that this is the case. All of those surveyed indicated that they where drawn to the Australian version of “The Bachelor” as a result of their curiosity being aroused by the American version. My secondary research also reveals that the rise of reality television derives from the need for television to compete with alternative media such as the internet and paid television. But there is one other element as identified by Dr Bruce Weinstein an ethics columnist for Bloomburg7. “If people didn’t want to invade peoples’ privacy no body would watch the shows.”8 I interpret this to mean that we cannot help being voyeuristic.
4 Online survey (see appendix) 5 Survey completed by 20 adolescent students (see appendix) 6 Pozner. J. (2010). Reality Bites Back [book] 7 Bloomburg is a magazine created to provide information on current things happening in the business world and is made in New York. 8 Murphy. K. (2006). TV Land: Australia’s Obsession with Reality Television [internet] 9
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The Snooki effect9
I wanted to find out through my limited research whether people who watch reality tv shows such as “The Bachelor” and “The Farmer Wants a Wife” develop a distorted view of the construction of identity, with a particular focus on whether they develop a distorted view of social relationships. This focus was prompted by my secondary research through which I found an article on the “cultivation theory”. This theory was developed by George Gerbner and Larry Gross of the University of Pennsylvania. They suggest that long-time television watching “cultivates” how viewers perceive reality. They argue that, “Television is a medium of the socialisation of most people into standardised roles and behaviors. Its function is in a word enculturation”10.
Reality television plays an unknowingly large part of our television viewing culture in Australia and globally. “It may be clear to many adults that not all is “real” in the world of
9 Snooki is a reality television cast member on the MTV show “Jersey Shore”. 10 Miller. T. (2003). Television: Critical Concepts in Media and Cultural Studies [book]
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Student number: 27963226 reality tv”11. I conducted an interview with a production assistant who has worked for two television channels on reality shows. She informed me that to achieve a lively atmosphere in reality television, producers focus on the common themes of physical beauty and sex appeal. The producers require elements of excessive partying, aggression and bullying12. The unrealistic portrayal of the common promiscuous themes in reality television encourage viewers to further engage in the television and want to have their lifestyle. Viewers watch these reality television stars engage in conventional behavior without experiencing negative consequences of their action. This gives viewers the wrong impression that there are very few boundaries associated with this unrealistic behavior. “Social cognitive theory suggests that for mediated content to positively affect audience members’ behaviors, the audience must pay attention to attractive or similar models realistically performing relevant behaviors”13.
However, how do adolescents of both genders understand the reality television world? “What could reality television be teaching adolescent girls, in particular, about what is valued in the real world? And, how does it affect their attitudes, beliefs, self-image and behavior?”14. Reality television producers like to portray the television stars as super attractive with a lifestyle of partying in their million dollar mansions. The reality television shows that are the focus of my study are powered by female contestants competing to be chosen as martial partners, driven by a desperation which keeps Australians hooked. “The Bachelor” and “The Farmer wants wife” are two such shows. The ball gowns, candles, roses and the weekly eliminations are the factors that give these two shows there savage but pleasurable rhythm.
I conducted an observation involving 15 senior students from my school - 6 male and 9 female. I required them to view two episodes of “The Bachelor” series 5 and two episodes of “The Farmer Wants a Wife” series 9. While watching these two shows the students made comments which I recorded. “I don't know why people watch The Bachelor, I don't know
11 Peek. H. (2014). The Impact Of Reality TV On Our Teens: What Can Parents Do? [article] 12 Interview with reality television production assistant (see appendix) 13 Chen. J. (date unknown). Social Cognative Theory and Mass Media Effects. [internet] 14 Peek. H. (2014). The Impact Of Reality TV On Our Teens: What Can Parents Do? [article]
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Student number: 27963226 why its even on television”. The female students also started making comments on the female participants on “The Bachelor” such as, “the girls are so star struck, the man’s a tradie and you’re acting like his a celebrity” and “why are all these girls extremely pretty” to “this seems way too fake” as well as “is this what girls have to look like to get someone like him?”. The male students also questioned why “The Bachelor” is on television and with a touch of sarcasm said “it would be nice to have all those girls to be competing for me”15.
It seems to me on the one hand that the reality for the students of both genders was the “reality” that the females were seeing 23 women competing for a man who they felt like they cannot measure up to and who the males felt that they couldn't have a chance with. This seemed to confirm my suspicion that there is a new element of cultural power available to reality television in that it has the ability to generate construction of personal identities and has an impact on the social construction of gender. This is in accord with Abraham Maslow’s adolescence and adulthood social needs stage, which states that individuals have a need for recognition and acceptance by other individuals and social groups.
On the other hand some of the observations conveyed to me that there is recognition that what they were viewing is not real and there comments reflect that stereotypical cynicism which I would have expected from adults, but not necessarily adolescents. It would seem that the social construction of gender that continues to evolve in favor of gender equality is not endangered by these series.
15 Observation on 15 senior students (see appendix) 12
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The reality principle
Jennifer Pozner, the executive director of, “Women in Media and News16” published a book in 2010 titled “Reality Bites Back - the Troubling Truth about Guilty Pleasure TV”. As part of my secondary research I waded through this tome. She describes reality as a “contemporary backlash against feminism”17. “The Bachelor” and “The Farmer Wants a Wife” offer a limited view of what it is to be a woman and while the students in my focus group18 tended to agree they also suggested, particularly in the case of the female students, that it caused them to think about scenarios that are different to their own. This
16 Women in Media and News is a education and advocacy group for women’s presence and power in public debate. 17 Pozner. J. (2010). Reality Bites Back [book] 18 Focus group conducted with 10 senior students (see appendix) 13
Student number: 27963226 indicated to me that the challenges thrown up in the two series were designed to be provocative and that they were not necessarily enculturated by the content.
Reality television allows us to live an aspirational and often a shallow parallel life. It can act as an escape to fantasyland. Reality television also creates controversy because it’s unpredictable and everybody loves a train wreck/disaster. As emphasised in an article titled ‘The History of Reality Television’ the viewing of reality television can be described as social voyeurism which is the “culture that the internet has recently developed where people are looking into the social lives of others without necessarily participating”19. This is confirmed by my primary methodology, which showed that 58% of the participants go onto social media to view their favorite characters20 pages, which reflect how we are becoming a voyeuristic society. But what people don’t realise is that too much of this viewing will lead to the individuals subconsciously adopting the reality TV shows norms. My observations are in accord partly with George Gerbner cultivation theory. This theory “suggests that television is responsible for shaping, or ‘cultivating’ viewers’conceptions of social reality. The combined effect of massive television exposure by viewers over time subtly shapes the perception of social reality for individuals and, ultimately, for our culture as a whole”21.
The Bachelor
The reality television show The Bachelor is a dating show where “prospective princesses sit on their aimless, tiny behinds, fend off fellow ladies in waiting, and hope to be whisked away by a network-approved knight in shining Armani”22. Dating shows like to portray themselves as a fairytale as if Cinderella's about to swept off her feet when in reality 23-25 women fight for the attention of a heavily marketed “prince charming”. According to the assistant producer of reality television shows whom I interviewed, they construct the idea of falling in-love and suggest that love is manufactured23.
19 Madeline. G. (date unknown). The History of Reality Television. [internet] 20 Survey completed by 20 adolescent students (see appendix) 21 University of twente. (date unknown) The Cultivation Theory. [internet] 22 Pozner. J. (2010). Reality Bites Back [book] 23 Interview with reality television production assistant (see appendix) 14
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The bachelor is presented as a superior male who is physically fit, intelligent and attractive while being devoted to his job. This ticks all the boxes for the bachelor to provide a comfortable future for his future wife and himself. In contrast the women are largely white skinned with the odd darker skin woman, appear to come from comfortable backgrounds, self proclaimed, high maintenance, bitchy, present themselves wearing the best of clothes, well coiffured done hair and makeup done to perfection. These women are all physically fit; however, they are never shown exercising. Instead, they are shown lounging around the pool usually wearing bikinis while drinking alcohol. This ideal of women being physically fit reinforces to the viewers that a man will only find you desirable if you achieve the perfection displayed by the contestants. Similarly, these body images suggest to males that these women represent the “average” woman and cater for their sexual desires. However, in reality it is a sexual fantasy. Likewise, there is emphasis on the bachelors’ career, yet, the women are rarely talking about their ambitions and goals. Alternatively, there is more focus on their physical appearance. What is interesting is that while the students recognised these social constructs however they did not challenge them which reinforces the cultivation theory.
The bachelor demonstrates mass-mediated reality TV playing with the construction of personal identities and gender. As Gillato and Wang (2003) state, “Reality makes for strange bedfellows” (p.69), this is alluding to the power and influence reality television programs may have over viewers’ ideas about life, love, and relationships”24, which are the basis of social interaction, inclusion or exclusion and social cohesion. This also reflects the cultivation theory, which shows the prospective consequences reality television has on consumers. This theory argues that, “television programs present a consistent but dramatically distorted view of the real world, and that frequent viewing of these consistent and very formulaic representations results in the internalisation of these distortions into viewers' worldview”25
“Social cognitive theory uses the term modeling to characterise the process through which an individual observes others, interprets the observed behavior, and adjusts their own behavior in response”26. The viewers of “The Bachelor” are being influenced according to
24 Stewart Hall. A. (2005). “Yes I will except the rose”. [internet] 25 L. j. Shrum. Television Viewing and Social Reality. [internet] 26 Rosan. D.(date unknown). We’re All Stars Now: Reality Television. [internet] 15
Student number: 27963226 what they are viewing on reality television. “The Bachelor” is portraying the idea that individuals can find love by dating 25 women or men while selling a particular lifestyle to the audience. Shown in a survey which I had conducted with 20 adolescents from school, they expressed that reality television, “Its good to watch the lives of other people because you can gain inspiration, admiration and you can learn from aspects of there lives”27. This response from a participant aged 16 to 17 shows that reality televisions influences them as they have “admiration” and “learn” from the television stars which supports the social learning theory. In this sense, it will influence the presumably 18 to 35 year old viewers. The audience can be influenced in the sense that it portrays the values of heterosexual relationships, getting married, having children, and living a happy life; anything that is less then this can be considered a commercial failure. Upon personal reflection it seems to me that the female stereotypes presented in “The Bachelor” are a distortion. Very often women are presented as dependent and subordinate as well as dimwitted and vain. Furthermore, women are generally much younger, physically attractive and presented as sex symbols. These stereotypes are not only confronting in terms of the social construction of gender but also offensive. I was also able to draw this conclusion from the various comments by my focus group28.
The Farmer Wants a Wife
“The Farmer Wants a Wife features lonely farmers who are all on a quest to find everlasting love on the land”29. The concept of “The Farmer Wants a Wife” is that we follow the journey of farmers from all over the country as they undertake the experience of new relationships, love and fondness. “The Farmer Wants a Wife is not a competition – love is the ultimate prize. The farmers choose eight women each from a huge number of applicants and the next stage is to have five minute speed dates to choose the top four they want to take to their farm. The women are all shown as being flawless as their makeup and hair is done
27 Survey completed by 20 adolescent students (see appendix) 28 Focus group conducted with 10 senior students (see appendix) 29 Knox. D. (2015). Nine Upfronts 2016: Nine goes HD, new lifestyle channel -and Daryl Somers returns. [article]
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Student number: 27963226 well, and their clothes present themselves well. The women wait around barrels for the farmers to make their entrance. The farmers one by one walk into the farm barn down a red carpet with the women clapping at them. One of the female members of my focus group made the perceptive comment that this suggests that men are superior to women30.
Each farmer is allocated four women whom they take to their farm to live with them and “cook for them” and whom they take on alternative date nights. To the viewers the playing field for the women seems equal on the television. However, behind the screens it is not. I was fortunate to secure an interview with one of the female participants in “The Farmer Wants a Wife” who came second in the group of four who were competing for one of the farmers. She revealed that, “for instance, they wanted the girls to be really competitive and fight for the Farmer's attention. They wanted things to get nasty. So every day we would be reminded of this rivalry as there would be a new challenge”31. These dramas and behaviors of contestants on dating shows can construct and distort a person’s idea on love and or falling in-love. The contestant also stated that she believes, “It probably makes adolescents less motivated as they watch young people party and self destruct. They might perceive this behavior as normal or acceptable”. However in the producers’ eyes this lures more viewers. I can conclude from her experiences and personal reflection that the title “reality television” is a tautology. Where does “real” come in when we know from this participant that much of what the viewers see is contrived!
Four participants in my focus group indicated that the series which they observed reflect the traditional rural stereotype that farming is for men32. The women on the farm are presented as princesses. It seems to me upon personal reflection that when the women are on the farm they are presented as “princess” like, for instance in season 9 episode two Adam made the comment that, “I was quite surprised to see the girls actually get in there and get going straight away, like when you have a 650 kilo cow standing in front of you I think it could be a bit intimidating for girls”. As well as this another farmer, Lachie, was shown being unable to cook. He is shown in close up being unable to work the oven and cut vegetables while burning mushrooms. He says that, “it is important to have a wife who can
30 Focus group conducted with 10 senior students (see appendix) 31 Interview with a past contestant from “The Farmer Wants a Wife” 32 Focus group conducted with 10 senior students (see appendix)
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Student number: 27963226 cook” which then goes on to the host saying that, “Lachie has some damsels happy to help a farmer in destress”33. “Apart from the numerical imbalance, which creates an ugly degree of female competition not usually seen outside a netball court, there is a commitment asymmetry”34. The girls are so desperate that in one season even after one of the male contestants states that he is looking for a girl similar to his mum, they still want him and his mummy issues.
Gogglebox
“Gogglebox is a real conundrum: it's both the nadir of modern popular culture and a strange kind of zenith”35. “A cast of a dozen or so families, partners and friends are filmed watching television over a week while, hunched over a laptop in the spare bedroom, a production team collect their candid, funny and telling reactions for us to enjoy”36.
33 Ten Play: “The Farmer Wants a Wife – Season nine 34 Houston. M. (2012). Free-to-air. [article] 35 Quinn. K. (2016). Gogglebox review: This show is the Human Centipede of popular culture. [article] 36 Jodelka’s. (2015). Gogglebox: Why watching people watching people watching TV never gets old. [article]
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The process of choosing who to star in goggle box is different to ones on other shows. “David McDonald says producers actually went out of their way to avoid engaging people who want to star in a reality series, instead they sent a team of producers onto the streets in the same way they did prior to season one”37. However, the producers carefully focused on choosing the participants to fit into the Australian stereotypes and reflect Australian society. “ The 10 families – who form a cross-section of modern Australian society, from larrikins to gays, from migrant families to battlers, yuppies and empty-nesters – are filmed via remote- controlled cameras, the crew sequestered elsewhere in the house to make them feel as unguarded as possible”38. “Gogglebox Australia holds up a mirror not only to the stars on screen but the viewer watching at home … and the results are always entertaining”39.
The cast is made up of “vivacious housemates Angies and Yvie, from Sydney’s inner west; Larikins with a thirst for life and beer, Adam Symon; Anastasia and Faye, both born in Australia to Greek parents; the Dalton family, made up of Matt, Kate, and their two daighters; the Delpechitra family made up of Tracey and Patrick with their 2 sons and daughter; the sports crazy Jackson family made up of mum Stacey and dad Grant and their six children; Indigenous art dealers Mick and Di who have been happily married for nearly 50 years; Wayne and Tom, who met at a country dance; and the opinionated and intelligent Kidd family”40. Goggle box “has all the hallmarks of a hit; great casting, sharp editing, zeitgeist-friendly and effortlessly adaptable to the changing television environment. It is extremely funny, at times oddly moving and suggest reality TV needed to go this step too far. Could it be we needed to see was not just real people on the telly - we needed to see just what it is about them that makes us tick? who knows”41
Gogglebox is an observational television show, which focuses on the reactions of everyday Australians and “indulges the original instinct in a strange blancmange of televised
37 Dunk. T. (2016). How Gogglebox Australia Found Their New Recruits. [online] 38 Kalina. P. (2015). Gogglebox Australia: Here’s what it is and why you would watch it. [article] 39 Foxtel insider. (2016). Gogglebox Australia: the secret to Gogglebox success. [article] 40 Kalina. P. (2015). Gogglebox Australia: Here’s what it is and why you would watch it. [article] 41 McMahon. N. (2015). Gogglebox review: Reality TV passes through the looking glass and its weirdly compelling. [article] 19
Student number: 27963226 humanity that works brilliantly in spite of itself”41. We watch them cheer their favorite sporting teams, react to the news, commentate on current affairs and documentaries, and debate over politics. But why does our Australian society want to watch ordinary people watching TV in their living rooms? is it “schadenfreude? envy? Prurience? A base desire for invading the privacy of others?”41. “Maybe its because we can see ourselves in characters like vivacious housemates Angie and Yvie, larrikins Adam and Symon, bubbly Greek best friends Anastasia and Faye and newly engaged cocktail-loving Wayne and Tom”42.
By watching real people (ourselves) watching reality TV do we become part of the reality itself. Perhaps this is why goggle box is so successful. Upon personal reflection it seems that the watchers who watch the watchers do not realise that, whether they like it or not, have become part of the world of reality TV. Apart from the spontaneity of the responses and the sometimes raw emotions on display the participants have been taken from the micro worlds of their living rooms into the macro world. The irony of winning a Logie for being the most popular television show was not lost on the participants themselves.
Although, I have to acknowledge upon personal reflection that I could be accused of falling into the same trap as a consumer of reality television, I regard my analysis of their reactions as the equivalent of conducting interviews or focus groups with the participants. Apart from the cleverness of the concept what is relevant to my research is that during the episodes they where required to watch series of “The Bachelor” and “Farmer Wants a Wife”. Each family had a different perception of the show. During the focus group the women tended to emphasis on how all of the women on both dating shows were thin, tall, attractive and presented as intelligent. In contrast the males’ opinions were that “The Bachelor” in the show looked too fake and they think the show is rubbish; however, they all agreed that the women are attractive. Paradoxically the results from this methodology have not been in accord with my assumptions and other findings. Their reactions clearly indicate that they can differentiate between the world of reality television and the real world. An explanation could possibly be due to the nature of the experiment they are engaged in, or a combination of maturity, life experiences or the stereotypical Australian adult cynicism.
42 Foxtel insider. (2016). Gogglebox Australia: the secret to Gogglebox success. [article] 20
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The need for empathy
What I have come to realise is that this is an extremely complex area to examine. Some of the results from my methodologies appear to indicate that reality television shows do cultivate viewers’ conceptions of social reality and gender construction. Conversely, various comments that came from my focus group appear to indicate that they can distinguish between the world as portrayed on reality television and the real world in which they live. Much more research is needed on the part of the experts and theorists to resolve this dichotomy.
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Serena Elavia, a former editor for “The Atlantic” Magazine43 has this to say in 2014; “Reality TV shows continue to be defined by a strange conundrum…they want to see whats really happening to other people as long as it isn't too real.”44 The focus group which I conducted with the year 11 students and the results of my survey of 20 adolescents females and males suggests that the producers of such shows should factor in the element of “empathy”.
In 2009 the 13th season of “The Bachelor” on American televisions ended with, Jason Mesnick purposing to one contestant and six weeks later in a ruinous episode and without warning dumped this person for the running up, whom he said he had fallen involve with. The show attracted seventeen million viewers and research undertaken by ABC - the channel on which the series was aired - indicated that they did not seem to mind. There was no significant gender factor. This suggests to me that there was a noticeable lack of empathy on the part of the viewers. I can infer from all of my methodologies both primary and secondary that a sympathy “code” needs to be developed by the producers of reality television shows.
CONCLUSION
From conducting this social and cultural research it has allowed me to grasp the ways that mass mediated reality television plays within the construction of personal identities on adolescents. I have realised rather than a role in enculturating the values and norms for the viewers to embrace, the producers mask them as entertainment. This has unbridled the disorderly and unpredictable characteristics of the social and cultural change within reality television so that now we are watching the watchers as well as watching ourselves. I have also realised the power that some shows have including “The Bachelor”, “The Farmer Wants a Wife” and “Gogglebox” on the creation and perpetuation on adolescent identity and
43 The Atlantic Magazine does coverage of news and analysis on societal issues 44 Elavia. S. (2014). The Collective Conscience of Reality Television. [article] 22
Student number: 27963226 how they reflect Australian norms. Most importantly, the post modern element of my PIP allowed me to deconstruct identity on a micro, meso and macro level simultaneously. Additionally I have explored our growing voyeurism in society as being the cause in the change of reality television in terms of it playing a role in the construction of identity.
Through my investigation into the role that access to mass-mediated reality TV has on the construction of personal identities I have gained an in depth understanding on how to apply different social theorists to course concepts and also how they then apply to real world scenarios. The concepts that I integrated were highly relevant and also gave me a deeper understanding on the hidden curriculum components of the society and culture course. Furthermore, I have learnt different types of attitudes individuals have in process of creating, producing and consuming reality television. I have also expanded my knowledge and learnt more on Mark Andrejevic, George Gerbner and Erick Erikson.
This topic was suitable to research as there were a range of expert opinions not just in my micro world but also in my macro world and it is relevant for today’s adolescents. This PIP helped me realise that reality television impacts adolescents values, beliefs and social interactions of both genders.
As well as this, the PIP has lifted my knowledge to a better understanding as I am now more socially and culturally literate and have a better understanding of the role that mass mediated reality television plays within the construction of identity. I have extended further than my own ethnocentrism and built a deeper insight into the role of reality television which has allowed me to develop empathy.
Thus, I am now more confident that I can go into the world and contribute more effectively to society as I have a better understanding on the process of change and continuity and how they are brought about.
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RESOURCE LIST Articles
Peek, H. (2014). The Impact Of Reality TV On Our Teens: What Can Parents Do? . The Clay Center For Young Healthy Minds. August 11th 2014. Available from http://www.mghclaycenter.org/parenting-concerns/teenagers/impact-reality-tv-teens-can- parents/
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This article examined the impact that reality televisions plays within teens and what parents can do to help with the situation. This aided my PIP because it gave insight to why teenagers watch reality television and the common themes that reality television portray.
O’Donnell. V. (2014) Same show, new country: how Australia led the TV format trade, The Conversation, Australia, January 9th 2014 available from http://theconversation.com/same- show-new-country-how-australia-led-the-tv-format-trade-19431
Vincent O’Donnell’s article exemplifies how Australia has taken a lead in the reality television industry. It explicitly explained the formats, drama, global trade, Australian eclipse and different genres of reality television shows. By using this article I was able to explain Australia's role in the construction of indignity on the consumers.
Sanneh, K. The Reality Principle, The rise and rise of a television genre, The New Yorker, May 9th 2011. Available from http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/05/09/the-reality- principle
The author Kelefa Sanneh provided me useful insight to an essay which was written by Margaret Mead. The writing of this aided my PUP as it gave me concrete evidence of the construction of reality television and the way which it has evolved. Thus, i was able to use information to create a valid argument.
Seadi. G. Why ‘The Bachelor’ Is Anti-Evolutionary, Psychology Today, February 15th 2011. Available from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/millennial-media/201102/why-the- bachelor-is-anti-evolutionary
This article examined “The Bachelor” and the author claims how it may be inline with evolution. It explores the idea that reality television portrays love to lure viewers supported with studies which have been done. This was extremely useful with my PIP as it supported my argument
Knox. D. Nine Upfronts 2016: Nine goes HD, new lifestyle channel -and Daryl Somers returns, TV Tonight, October 28th 2015. Available from
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The author notes information on “The Farmer Wants a Wife”. The information included who is in the show, how the show works and what it is about. Using this website in my PIP helped me explain what exactly “The Farmer Wants a Wife” is.
Gogglebox review: This show is the Human Centipede of popular culture, The Sydney Morning Herald, May 18th 2016 available from http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv- and-radio/gogglebox-review-this-show-is-the-human-centipede-of-popular-culture- 20160517-gow4on.html
This Sydney Morning Herald article was not only informative but supported the society and culture course through exploring “Gogglebox” as a popular culture. It was an entraining article with insight onto the realities of the show itself.
Jodelka. F. Gogglebox: why watching people watching TV never gets old, The Guardian, September 11th 2015 available from http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and- radio/2015/sep/11/gogglebox-everyones-favourite-show
This website was similar to others, it explored the idea of “Gogglebox” being a popular culture. This helped me with explaining the concept and evidence of the role it plays within the construction of personal identities.
Dunk. T. How Gogglebox Australia found their new recruits, news.com, April 2nd 2016 available from http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/reality-tv/how-gogglebox-australia- found-their-new-recruits/news-story/85de12f8a05b0dc9c18552c8302243fc
This article refers to the cast on “Gogglebox”. It helped me describe the cast and who they are as well as provide examples on how they reflect Australia's norms. It provided me on ideas with what the further research into.
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Kalina. P. Gogglebox Australia: Here’s what it is and why you would watch, The Sydney Morning Herald, February 3rd 2015 available from http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv- and-radio/gogglebox-australia-heres-what-it-is-and-why-you-would-watch-20150202- 133x71.html
The author of this article proposes reasons to what “Gogglebox” is and why we should watch it. It helped with my PIP through providing background to what it is and why people are so interested in the show. This aided my hypotheses.
McHahon. N. Gogglebox review: Reality TV passes through the looking glass and it’s weirdly compelling. The Sydney Morning Herald, February 13th 2015 available from http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/gogglebox-review-reality-tv-passes- through-the-looking-glass-and-its-weirdly-compelling-20150212-13dgm7.html
This article highlights the stereotypes in “Gogglebox”. This article was essential in revealing the stereotypes portrayed reflecting my hypothesis. Thus, i could make judgments and further my argument.
Gogglebox Austrlia: the secret to Gogglebox Australia’s success, Foxtel insider, date unknown available from https://www.foxtel.com.au/got/whats-on/foxtel- insider/lifestyle/gogglebox-australia.html
Although this is a Foxtel insider article it was very informative on how “Gogglebox” is so successful. It provides reasoning to which characters make the show intriguing and why it gains such high ratings.
Glourner. M. The History of reality television, scalar, date unknown. Available on http://scalar.usc.edu/works/reality-tv/the-history-of-reality-television
This article was handy in being able to inform me about the first reality television series “The American Family”. It describes the controversy surrounding reality television and through using “The American Family” as an example I was able to develop a stronger point and create an example about the forms of reality television. 27
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Stewart Hall, A. (2005). “Yes, I will accept the rose”. The University of Georgia The University of Georgia. Available from http://getd.galib.uga.edu/public/hall_amanda_s_200505_phd/hall_amanda_s_200505_phd. pdf This piece of writing was about representation, consumption and identity in “The Bachelor” which is a chapter in my PIP so this resource was extremely useful with presenting me with ideas. However, with this writing I focused on chapter two “reception of gender roles on reality television”. It was a useful source as it supported what I was saying and it added to my knowledge of my topic.
Houston, M. (2012). The Farmer wants. The Sydney Morning Herald. August 29th 2012. Available from http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-guide/freetoair-tv-wednesday- august-29-20120827-24w0m.html
The author of this article illustrates what “The Farmer Wants a Wife” is about and the competition between the girls. The article is entertaining and provides me with ideas that aided some of my further research on the show.
Media
Blog #1 Constructed Reality and “The Bachelor Australia”, Bethany Kent, October 28th 2015 (https://bethlkent.wordpress.com/2015/10/28/blog-1-constructed-reality-and-the-bachelor- australia/)
This blog written by Bethany Kent states her option on the construction of “The Bachelor”. She explores the idea that there is a growing fascination with reality television and that “The Bachelor” heightens this idea. This largely helped me with developing my ideas for the section of my PIP “The Bachelor”.
Is Gogglebox real, Angus’ blog, October 28th 2015 (http://www.mediafactory.org.au/angus-strachan/2015/10/28/is-gogglebox-real/)
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This blog looks at “Gogglebox” and highlights the construction it has compared to other reality television shows. The author, Angus, supported my ideas and provided me with insight as I was writing the section of “Gogglebox”.
Perceived role of Entertainment Television in Shaping Social Behavior of Teenagers, Academia, 2011. (http://www.academia.edu/4884712/Perceived_Role_of_Entertainment_Television_in_Shap ing_Social_Behaviour_of_Teenagers)
This piece of writing was extremely helpful as it highlighted what reality television has evolved into and how it shapes adolescents. It supported me primary research results as most of it was adolescent based as this piece of writing was based on teenagers.
Websites
Carmody. T. Reality on television, Kottke, May 3rd 2011 available from http://kottke.org/11/05/reality-on-television
This website provided me with a high understanding on how reality television became the way it is today anthropologist Margaret Mead who wrote an essay in 1973 predicting what reality television is. It was highly important as I was able to use it to express my opinion in my PIP.
University of twente. (date unknown). Cultivation Theory. Theorieënoverzicht TCWTheorieënoverzicht TCW. Available from: https://www.utwente.nl/cw/theorieenoverzicht/Theory%20Clusters/Mass%20Media/Cultivati on_Theory/
This website describes what the cultivation theory is and in particular how it shapes concepts of social reality. The website supports that television is responsible for shaping viewers conceptions of social reality. The text highly addresses the issues I discuss throughout my PIP and it added to my understanding of the topic.
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Jenifer. L. Pozner. (2010) Reality Bites Back: The Troubling Truth about guilty pleasure in. Seal press, California.
This book was extremely useful and aided my PIP. The book showed how stereotypes are reinforced and feeds us messages about who we are supposed to me. This supported my hyothesis as I examined the role that mass mediated reality television has in the construction of identity. The book also highlighted in detail how “The Bachelor” does this, which was a large part of my PIP.
L. J. Shrum. (2009).Television viewing and social reality effects and underlying process. In: social psychology of consumer behavior. Taylor and Frances group, New York.
The chapter 11 of this book was about television viewing and social effects and underlying process. It used reliable research from theorists to support the perception on reality television. The author supports the ideas that frequent viewings of these distort television shows will shape the way we act. This supports my hypothesis in my PIP and supports my primary research. However, the chapter may be bias as it strongly focuses on the one side.
Rosen. D. (2015). We’re All Stars Now: Reality Television, 2.0, and Mediated Identities in: Television, social media and Fan culture. Lexinting Books, London.
The chapter which I used from this book was extremely useful as it examined the affects of reality television and television viewing measures. Although, I did not use a lot from this chapter as some parts were mainly descriptive and did not discuss all about the impacts. The parts that I did use however were supportive to my primary research and gave me a better understanding.
Videos
The Farmer Wants a Wife. Season nine. (2016). [video]
By watching this season of “The Farmer Wants a Wife” and integrating examples into the PIP it allowed me to further support my statements. The show is about six farmers who are 30
Student number: 27963226 looking for love and aim to do this by going onto this show and I refer to it in one of my chapters.
Primary research
Interview: with a past “Farmer Wants a Wife” contestant, December 2015 This method was performed as a structured interview and provided me with insight to “The Farmer Wants a Wife”. From this I was able to include some of the qualitative data that I had collected from the participants responses into my PIP and add a more detailed perspective. It had also provided me with new ideas to further research.
Interview: an assistant of a television producer, January 2016 This interview was extremely useful as it was with a person who knew so much about reality television overall. She had provided me with what producers require of the people which they put into the show and who they look for. This was extremely useful because the information aided my perspective on the stereotypes which are portrayed.
Observation: with a group of year 11 students, March 2016 I performed this observation with a senior class at my school with adolescents. I observed them watching both “The Farmer Wants a Wife” and “the Bachelor”. While watching them I recorded their reactions and the comments which they made. By doing an observation it gave me an in depth perspective of the affects reality television has.
Focus group: with a group of year 11 students, March 2016 I had done this focus group after the observation I conducted with 10 students from the class. I asked them several questions (see appendix) in gain of a conversation starting. This focus group was extremely useful as it provided me with insight into how the adolescents felt about the particular shows.
Survey: with a group of year 10 students, November 2015 I gave this surveys out to a class of year 10 students. This survey provided me with an in- depth qualitative and quantitative understanding of those within my micro community. This 31
Student number: 27963226 method enabled me to analyse the affects which mass mediated reality television has on a person’s identity. As well is this it provided me with opinions, new ideas and helped with supported my secondary data.
Survey: January 2016 I had posted this survey online to my Facebook page however i understand that the validity, bias and usefulness of this could be at a low. However, this survey being posted to my micro community gave me similar data to the survey I conducted. The data i collected also provided me when affects which mass mediated reality television has on a persons identity as well as opinions, new ideas and support my secondary data.
APPENDIX
Interview with a past contestant from “The Farmer Wants a Wife” 1. What prompted you to apply for the show? 2. Why do you think they chose you? 3. What vetting process was involved? 4. Confidentiality clauses – what were you and weren’t you allowed to talk about? 5. How controlling were the producers?
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6. How much was spontaneous and how much was controlled by manufactures? 7. Who do you think was their target audience? 8. What did you learn about reality television from the experience? 9. What did you learn about yourself and how has it changed you? 10. Would you apply to be on another television show? 11. Why or why not? 12. What advice would you give someone thinking about applying? 13. What do you think about reality television shows in general? 14. Do you watch reality television? 15. If yes what shows? 16. What impact do you think they have on viewers in particular? 17. What impact do you think it has on adolescents as opposed to adults? 18. Do you think that reality television shows have gone to far? 19. What do you think of “Gogglebox” the watchers watching the watchers? 20. What type of positive finale did you get? 21. What type of negative female did you get? 22. What impact did this have on your self esteem?
Interview with a reality television producer assistant 1. Where do most of the reality television shows come from? 2. Which reality television shows are distinctly Australian? 3. Which reality television shows identify Australian stereotypes? 4. Why are they so popular? 5. Where did the idea of “Gogglebox” come from – is an original Australian concept – if not Australian why did the producers embrace the concept? 6. Were they surprised at the success of the show and why? 33
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7. Why have the various television stations relied somewhat heavily on reality television shows? 8. Do you have any idea how the show is constructed from the back room perspective?
Online survey to Facebook
1. What is your gender? 2. What is your age? 3. Do you own any of the following from these television shows? - Posters - cookbooks - jewelry - apps on the show 4. Do you watch any of the following telelvision shows? - Gogglebox -The Bachelor - The 5. What category is your favorite genre? - Documentaries - Competition/eliminations - Makeovers/renovation - Dating -Hidden camera/amateur content - Supernatural - Travel aspiration - Watching peoples everyday regimes 6. Explain why? 7. What is your favorite reality television show? 8. Explain why 9. Do you interact with any of the reality television shows in the following way? - Voting apps -Twitter feeds - Facebook posts - Commenting or liking reality television stars social media pages 10. Has your favorite reality television show influenced your relationship with any of the following? 34
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- Parents - Siblings - Friends in school - Friends outside school 11. If yes explain why? 12. What aspects of reality television do you think are negative? 13. What aspects do you think are positive?
Survey with adolescents from my school
1. Are you male or female M F
2. Date of birth
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3. Do you watch any of the following reality TV shows: - Gogglebox yes no
- The Bachelor yes no
- The Farmer wants a wife yes no
-Jersey/Geordie shore yes no
- The block yes no
- Project runway yes no
4. Do you own any of the following from these TV shows; - posters yes no
- cooks books yes no
- clothing yes no
- Jewellery yes no
5. Which category of reality TV is your favourite?
6. explain why
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7. Which is your favourite reality TV show?
8. explain why
9. Do you interact with the reality TV shows in the following way:
- voting apps yes no
- twitter feeds yes no
- Facebook posts yes no
- Commenting on the reality TV stars Facebook yes no
- Commenting on the reality TV stars twitter yes no
10. Has your favourite reality TV show influenced your relationship with any of the following, if the answer is yes explain in what way?
parents
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Siblings
Friends at school
friends outside of school
Focus group
1. What did you think about the two shows? 2. Do you believe they are real? 3. How do the male characters come across? 4. How do the female characters come across? 5. Do you believe there is a stereotype in the show? 6. Does anyone have any other observations about the show?
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