It has been argued that viewers and participants of reality television are being manipulated due to certain political economy and ideological issues. These issues include narcissistic effects, the change and acceptance of increased levels of surveillance, and the effects reality television has on the neo-liberal work environment. All of the above are issues to how participants and viewers are manipulated through reality television.
This essay will start with a brief introduction on the history of reality television, following the discussion of the ideological issues of narcissism, surveillance and the effects of neo-liberalism within the working environment, and how these effects negatively manipulate viewers who have higher consumption levels …show more content…
Narcissistic traits can be positive, but most of the time narcissism is conveyed negatively in reality television, for example, someone who is narcissistic is vain, self-obsessed and selfish, therefore having a negative effect on viewers (Andrejevic, 2002). It is argued that viewers who consume a higher extent of reality television have a completely different perception of reality, than those who do not consume as much. This is also known as the cultivation analysis (Barton, 2007). Therefore, this implies that the viewers with higher consumptions of reality television are more expected to adopt the narcissistic views they are observing through reality television. Reality television shows, such as The Real Housewives of Melbourne, and New Zealand’s Next Top Model both focus on the amount of money each individual has, or their image, and compete against each other for what they own or what they look like, instead of paying attention on their good and valuable traits, for example, their personalities. A good example of a reality television show is The Swan, where women who are judged as ugly and are given radical makeovers, including extreme amounts of plastic surgery. This portrays superficial values where women feel they have to be beautiful on the outside, instead of focusing on who they are on the inside. This implying that what reality television is conveying, is what should matter in society, developing a narcissistic culture from viewing reality television (Trottier, 2006). The same behaviour occurs in other reality television shows such as Real Housewives of Melbourne where women compete with one another in terms of how much money they have, and materialistic things that supposedly boosts popularity, which can manipulate and influence viewers to copy and do the same within their personal lifestyles for a materialistic image (Trottier, 2006). The genre stated above in contrast to a
This essay will start with a brief introduction on the history of reality television, following the discussion of the ideological issues of narcissism, surveillance and the effects of neo-liberalism within the working environment, and how these effects negatively manipulate viewers who have higher consumption levels …show more content…
Narcissistic traits can be positive, but most of the time narcissism is conveyed negatively in reality television, for example, someone who is narcissistic is vain, self-obsessed and selfish, therefore having a negative effect on viewers (Andrejevic, 2002). It is argued that viewers who consume a higher extent of reality television have a completely different perception of reality, than those who do not consume as much. This is also known as the cultivation analysis (Barton, 2007). Therefore, this implies that the viewers with higher consumptions of reality television are more expected to adopt the narcissistic views they are observing through reality television. Reality television shows, such as The Real Housewives of Melbourne, and New Zealand’s Next Top Model both focus on the amount of money each individual has, or their image, and compete against each other for what they own or what they look like, instead of paying attention on their good and valuable traits, for example, their personalities. A good example of a reality television show is The Swan, where women who are judged as ugly and are given radical makeovers, including extreme amounts of plastic surgery. This portrays superficial values where women feel they have to be beautiful on the outside, instead of focusing on who they are on the inside. This implying that what reality television is conveying, is what should matter in society, developing a narcissistic culture from viewing reality television (Trottier, 2006). The same behaviour occurs in other reality television shows such as Real Housewives of Melbourne where women compete with one another in terms of how much money they have, and materialistic things that supposedly boosts popularity, which can manipulate and influence viewers to copy and do the same within their personal lifestyles for a materialistic image (Trottier, 2006). The genre stated above in contrast to a