Emotionai Awareness: Using Reality Television as a Tooi for Popular Education by Bonnie Maureen Bamett A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of Integrated Studies in Education Culture and Values in Education Mc Gill University Montreal, Canada August 2005 © Bonnie Maureen Bamett 2005 Library and Bibliothèque et 1+1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de l'édition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Canada Canada Your file Votre référence ISBN: 978-0-494-24847-8 Our file Notre référence ISBN: 978-0-494-24847-8 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant à la Bibliothèque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par télécommunication ou par l'Internet, prêter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des thèses partout dans loan, distribute and sell th es es le monde, à des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non­ sur support microforme, papier, électronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriété du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protège cette thèse. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. ln compliance with the Canadian Conformément à la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privée, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont été enlevés de cette thèse. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. ••• Canada ABSTRACT Despite being dismissed as low brow, nonsensical and a cheap form of entertainment, the present cultural phenomenon of reality television reveals a shared space where people are exposing more personalized, emotional aspects of themselves than typically seen in other genres of television programming or areas of contemporary public life. This recent trend of reality TV is both heightening and challenging many of the long-standing ethical debates over the boundaries between public and private, individual and collective as well as rational and emotional experience and needs to be considered within a pedagogical context. This study will explore reality television's position as a means of popular education, while attending to a broader social context of changing media and corresponding cultural shifts. A McLuhanesque study, this thesis will investigate what socio-cultural changes are occurring in our media environment as a result of our experiences within new media technologies. RÉSUMÉ Malgré son indifférence comme une fonne de divertissement vulgaire, peu intellectuel et absurde, le phénomène culturel actuel de la télévision réalité indique un espace partagé où les gens exposent des aspects plus personnalisés et émotifs d'eux­ mêmes que typiquement vus dans d'autres genres d'émissions télévisées ou secteurs de la vie publique contemporaine. Cette tendance récente de la télévision réalité intensifie et ranime plusieurs des débats moraux de longue date concernant les frontières entre les domaines public et privé, individuel et collectif aussi bien que de l'expérience rationnelle et émotive. Elle doit être considérée dans un contexte pédagogique. Cette thèse explorera la position de la télévision réalité en tant que moyen d'éducation populaire, tout en examinant un plus large contexte social des médias changeants et des décalages culturels correspondants. Cette étude McLuhanesque quels changements socioculturels se produisent dans notre environnement médiatique en raison de nos expériences avec ces nouvelles technologies des médias. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 1 would like to thank my mum for her intellectual curiosity and love of life, and my sister, Brigid for her invaluable support and caring. Thank you to the precious support of Ralia Koutsogianopoulos, Naoko Takahatake, Vander Caballero and Anjali Choksi; 1 am grateful for your every word and hug. Special thanks to the DISE department for providing a great space to explore and grow in. With thanks to the professors whose paths 1 crossed; Elizabeth Wood, Claudia Mitchell, Ron Morris and Dean Roger SIee, 1 learned a lot from your genuine care and inspiring energy! Most notably, 1 would like to thank my supervisor Michael Hoechsmann for your encouragement. 1 appreciated your opinions and interesting suggestions. 1 leamed a lot from you! Thank you © TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 3 1.1 AN OVERVIEW .................................................................................................................................... .3 1.2 DEFINITION OF REALITY TV .............................................................................................................. .4 1.3 THE POPULARITY OF REALITY TV .................................................................................................... .5 1.4 Focus OF THE STUDY: OVER-ARCHING QUESTIONS EXPLORED ...................................................... 6 1.5 OVERVIEW OF THE THESIS .................................................................................................................. 7 CHAPTER 2 - LITERA TURE REVIEW ••..•.•.••.•.•.•••••.•.•.•..•••.•••••••.••.•.••••..••...•.••.•..•..•.•..•.•.•.•...•.•.••••••••.•••• 8 2.1 CHAPTER Focus .................................................................................................................................. 8 2.2 HUMANIZING TECHNOLOGY: AN OVERVIEW OF WHERE IT's AT .................................................... 9 2.2.1. Donald Norman: Emotional Design ............................................................................................ 9 2.2.2. McLuhan 's Three Technological Phases ................................................................................... 11 2.3 LAUGH OR CRY: A TIMELINE OF REALITY TV ................................................................................ 13 2.3.1. Television History Changed Forever: 01/11173 ......................................................................... 15 2.4 NEW MEDIA: Do YOU FEEL IT? ........................................................................................................ 18 2.4.1. What is "new media"? .............................................................................................................. 18 2.5 REALITY TV: THE LUKEWARM MEDIUM ......................................................................................... 20 2.5.1 TV.Com ....................................................................................................................................... 23 2.6 THE FEAR FACTOR: WHY BEING MEDIA LITERATE IS so SCARY! ................................................. 25 2.7 PEDAGOGY OF DISCOMFORT: THE "DIRTY LITTLE SECRET" ........................................................ .30 2.8 CHAPTER SUMMARY ......................................................................................................................... .33 CHAPTER 3 - METHODOLOGY: INTRODUCING THE TETRAD ..•.•....••.•••.••••••••••..•••••.••••••••••••.•• 34 3.1 CHAPTER Focus ................................................................................................................................ 34 3.2 GENERAL ApPROACH ....................................................................................................................... .34 3.3 FRAMEWORK ..................................................................................................................................... .36 3.4 ANALYSIS ........................................................................................................................................... 36 3.5 PROCEDURE ...................................................................................................................................... .37 3.5.1 How to Read a Tetrad ................................................................................................................. 40 3.5.2. Key Tetrad Questions ................................................................................................................. 41 Enhancement.................. ...................................................................................................................... 41 Obsolescence ....................................................................................................................................... 41 Retrieval.. ............................................................................................................................................