Reality on TV

"We nevertheless seek new means of creating the real"
 - David Shields, Reality Hunger, 2010

In Reality Hunger (2010), cultural theorist David Shields explores the rise of our “reality” obsessed media culture and its effect on our notions of the “real” and “true.”  Anyone who hasn’t been hiding under a rock the last 10 years knows that reality TV shows have become an American obsession, making up a significant portion of television broadcasts. Reality TV, as a genre, claims to depict non-actors reacting unscripted to different ‘real-life’ situations.  The reality TV genre promises a voyeuristic glimpse into the Real Lives of others.  Yet, as reality TV fans know, most shows are far from unscripted and unstaged. Rather, these reality TV shows present often highly sensationalized versions of “reality.”  Carefully produced and edited to attract viewers and generate advertising revenue, reality TV shows are only constructed representations of the situations and people they depict.  In framing “reality” in a certain light through the production and editing process, these shows do not show “reality” any better than fictional sitcoms.  Yet, for many viewers, there remains a desire for these shows to depict “reality,” to get as close to the Real as possible.  Why do we have this desire to see “reality” depicted on screen?  And what do we mean by the Real?

As David Shields notes in Reality Hunger, our contemporary American culture is captivated by “the lure and blur of the real” (5).  Shields suggests this desire to know and depict the real through artistic representation is a fundamental part of human society.   Drawing examples from Chekhov, Forster, Fitzgerald to Curb Your Enthusiasm, he claims, “Every artistic movement from the beginning of time is an attempt to figure out a way to smuggle more of what the artist thinks is reality into the work of art” (3). Shields argues that all art forms, even the most abstract, are manipulations of reality based on how the individual artist views the world (20). If reality is based on our individual perspective of the world formed by our background, experiences, education and values, than all of our realities are different, landing us in the unsteady, elusive terrain of perspectivism and relativism.  In this relative understanding of reality, we can see what Shields calls the “blur of the real.” This is not to say that we do not share common views on reality; social groupings of people based on shared views and values prove that we share some overlapping realities. Although we cannot claim there is a universal Reality shared by all, we continue to long for a connection to a realized, complete Reality.  We want the Real. We want to feel it. To experience reality’s realness.  So we seek it out through media representations and consumer products, which sell us produced, packaged versions of Reality.  But, what has convinced us that we, as living, breathing, feeling humans, do not already have access to this Real?

There’s profit to be made in selling humans the idea of reality.  Convince us that what we are experiencing is not real enough, and sell us what will help us get there.   Promoting their new 3D LED television, Samsung claims to bring the reality of a live soccer match to your home.

                          

                                           Samsung Soccer Mural Full Commercial - 3D LED TV

“Ever wonder if a picture could feel more like the real thing? We did. This changes the game. The Samsung 3D LED TV. Live sports in cutting edge clarity. Colors as intense as the game itself. And 3D that brings it all home. That's the wonder of Samsung.”

Samsung’s 3D LED television promises picture quality that is as “real” as the game itself.  As consumers, we’ve been trained to want a picture to appear and feel like the real thing.  Bringing us closer to “reality,” we experience a heightened connection to the representation.  Samsung suggests that we will no longer just watch TV, but we will experience the game in all of its actual intensity and immediacy.  3D televisions promise a more total sensory experience than their soon-to-be-outdated counterparts.  Like reality TV, these new technologies promise greater access to the Real than ever before.  But can they really deliver on these promises, when “reality” itself is a relative, perspective-based, elusive experience that no one can completely capture or represent?  What happens when we, as individuals and as a culture, accept these technological, mediated representations as the dominant and pure “reality”?  What are we escaping from when we’d rather choose to watch “reality” on TV rather than live in it?



Shields, David. Reality Hunger: A Manifesto. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010. Print.
"Samsung Soccer Mural." Commercial. You Tube. 14 June 2010. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sypGYRwrIKY&feature=youtu.be