Analysis Of Getting Real With Reality TV By Cynthia Frisby

Improved Essays
In her essay “Getting Real With Reality TV,” Cynthia Frisby examines how Reality TV has became one of the most watched television programs. Frisby then discusses her beliefs that, while watching Reality TV programs, viewers tend to draw comparisons between themselves and the reality star. She then gathers a team of researchers who conduct surveys that ask simple questions about participants relationship with Reality TV, and the team performs a content analysis on these participants while they view certain Reality TV programs. Ultimately, she suggests that her research shows that almost all participants showed some type of comparison between themselves and the reality star. Throughout her essay, Frisby uses adequate amounts of evidence to support …show more content…
She explains that it is made up of primarily game shows, dating shows, and talent shows. Shows like Survivor, The Bachelor, and American Idol are some of the most popular from these three categories. She then asserts that it is becoming more and more difficult to avoid Reality TV. Likewise, in all social settings, whether that be a restaurant, bar, hair salon, or office, people are talking about what drama happened on the latest episode of their favorite reality show. Frisby then goes on to explain that during the 2003-04 season, ten of the top twenty-five TV programs were reality shows. In addition, more than 18,000,000 people have been attracted to television programs that have placed ordinary people in certain situations or game shows and filmed them for several hours out of the day. She then introduces Presley Weir, a CBS News associate, who answers the question as to why millions of people are so drawn to Reality TV. Weir states, “It’s refreshing to see everyday people getting some of the spotlight, rather than just seeing movie stars all the time.” Frisby then goes on to explain that studies have shown that individuals watch these Reality TV shows and compare themselves to the participants. They could be comparing standings on a certain issue, behaviors, or certain

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Gender And Stereotypes

    • 742 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Negative attitudes and stereotypes are a part of society; they become bigger issues when these thoughts and beliefs turn into actions, such as discrimination and aggression. Over the last decade strides have been made to change societal ideals and norms but research shows discrimination among particular groups remains high. The results of a study done by The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force shows that members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community experience high rates of discrimination and violence (Grant et al., 2011). Theories on the formation of attitudes and stereotypes include Social Learning, Social Cognition, Implicit Association. Resent studies have started to examine the effects media can have on attitudes…

    • 742 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Since the television set first began gaining popularity, it has provided entertainment as an escape from reality as well as functioning as an influential learning tool. The initial goal of this paper was to examine the extent to which media skews perceptions of reality through two different programs. Comparing and contrasting a reality and news program we found that while belonging to different genres. Toddlers and Tiaras and Good Morning America have many components in common, one of the foremost being the construction of stories based around real events that is presented as reality. In addition to their numerous similarities, a few differences exist as well, primarily the individuals impacting the produced content, i.e., media companies for…

    • 205 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In today’s world, people have the tendency to ignore the real meaning of what the media portrays. Whether a person enjoys what they see does not mean they do not have to analysis the biases that are been broadcasted in front of them. The article, “Reality Pawns: The New Money TV,” by Editor Nick Serpe explore the reality television in the context of a social and economic condition in the United States. Serpe discusses how the shows such as “Repo Games,” reflect worsening economic condition for low-income people in the United State.…

    • 1139 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Reality Show Culture

    • 1035 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The common values spread by reality TV include materialism and as previously mentioned,…

    • 1035 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Two perturbed reporters, Erin Cunningham and Serena Elavia both concur on how media such as photography and reality television can affect the health and well being of not only young girls and women, but the famous reality stars people religiously watch today. Cunningham and Elavia are able to agree and concentrate on three key points: views from the general public, poor behavior of the people behind the lens, and the potential health issues. According to author Erin Cunningham in “Our Photoshopping Disorder”, a former Hollywood marketing executive Seth Matlins always tried to vision the world through his daughter's eyes and conjectured what kind of woman she would one day become. Matlin contemplated the various obstacles that could possibly interfere in his daughters way for her to grow up and become like any other father would want “sustainably happy woman”.…

    • 1002 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Reality television has evolved over the decades and many people see it going in a downward spiral, in greater quantities and lower quality of content. In the article The Case for Reality TV by Michael Hirschorn he defends reality television, claiming that people often take these shows for face value and do not look for the deeper meaning behind them. He uses shows a wide range of reality shows and express that these shows are not only for entertainment value but also good mediums for social commentary. Also, Hirschorn includes how effective competitive shows are adept at explaining what people would do, much like an experiment, and are a good medium when explaining complex ideas. He uses reality television 's underlying factors and themes that…

    • 1024 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Everyone is always wanting to know about what other people are doing, who they are talking to, where they are going, when and where they will be somewhere. Famous people are most likely the biggest victims of our ridiculing reality TV. News reports are sometimes opinion based. Multiple stories are broadcasted everyday with the latest news. Public interest is definitely important to television programming.…

    • 439 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    He takes a look at earlier shows like The Love Boat and The Newlywed Game and compares them to newer shows like The Apprentice and Survivor. He explains how earlier reality TV is more structured, and the rules are mapped out beforehand, in turn requiring less focus to pay attention. Johnson compares the structural similarities in reality TV today to that of a video game. “…the rules aren’t fully established at the outset. You learn as you play” (290).…

    • 736 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    1. The purpose of this article is to persuade the general public that reality television contributes no practical benefits to our lives and has in fact, created a degenerate and immoral society. 2. This article does have a bias. Jonah Goldberg believes that the only reason why society is in such a degraded state of condition relative to the past is due to the influence of reality television.…

    • 497 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Reality TV In The 1970's

    • 1204 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Reality TV has been around since the late 1940’s when Allen Funt headlined a show called Candid Camera. This was followed in 1950 with a show named Truth or Consequences. The 1970’s had programs called Real People and That’s Incredible. These shows were, for the most part, considered wholesome entertainment that the entire family could watch and were quite tame in comparison to what is on television today. Reality TV exploded in the 2000’s and it remains one of the most popular genres in television.…

    • 1204 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    From various studies, such as television ads and magazines they produced the same results. While most of the past research mainly focused on studies of scripted television, magazines, and television ads, there has been little research on reality television and music videos, but there are big results. Though it is argued that reality television does not actually depict real life events this type of television program has produced some of the highest-rated television shows, and almost every tv network aired has at least one reality television program. Reality television is a genre of television programming in which "real life" people are followed in a situation. Though reality programs do not seem to have a big impact on the older generations, the younger audience is being particularly…

    • 1396 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Not only is the steady decline obvious in kid shows, but reality shows have their own faults. I’ve noticed the rise of reality television and also the many forms in comes in. There is, however, one common theme among reality television and that is dramatization. Once viewers experienced the outrageous drama found in reality television, it only leaves them wanting more. Today, almost all reality shows are popular and highly advertised.…

    • 1255 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Reality television is a great way for sociology students to look at the world and the different types of people they are studying. They can look at different people than they would see in everyday life and use them as a reference when studying the different types of people in the world. The television show Jersey Shore is an excellent example of this use, as the characters portrayed on the show are more exaggerated than what most people would come across in everyday life. This is useful because the students get a broader sense of what they are looking at compared to in the classroom (Caramanica,…

    • 702 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The very first reality shows, such as The Brady Bunch, An American Family, and The Walton’, were developed in the 1940’s and over the years dramatically evolved. When they were first produced, they were appropriate for all audiences, but now have gone to a more extreme level of television, full of lying, fighting, deception, and faultiness. Even though they are called “reality” shows, doesn’t necessarily mean that they are real. Many Americans are so intrigued with reality shows that it has led to majorly impacting their own lives. The fascination with reality television has affected American society by increasing the rate of aggression and basing women’s value on appearance.…

    • 422 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Reality television has been associated with the opportunity for viewers to peek into the lives of people who lead drastically different lives than themselves in which they can in many ways relate. It allows the viewer to vicariously live through the characters being portrayed and thus further blurring the lines between reality and television. Karyn Riddle and J.J. De Simone conducted a recent survey to determine if there was indeed a correlation but their emphasis was inconclusive and believed it was possible for viewers who viewed the world in such a way were naturally more likely to watch reality TV (Jacobs). In a similar study conducted by Dr. Kristin Barton, the relationship between reality tv and viewers’ perceptions of love and dating relationships as competition was investigated, but the data did not support a correlation (Barton, 93). Reality television is still being analyzed through cultivation theory to determine exactly what correlation, if any, are…

    • 761 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays