A reality show is the one that includes ordinary people and not the professionals with unscripted story and events, showing their talent as per the given topic. These shows showcase the different forms of art that people have. Television shows during the 1960s and 1970s were usually scripted, with a cast of professional actors creating the characters. It was believed that a reality show featuring untrained actors working without a guiding script would be virtually unwatchable but Reality shows have been very famous and watchable these days in many countries. It presents before the audience the realistic part of life and not the “filmy” ones.
The first television show that was considered reality TV similar to what we know today was An American Family, in 1971. Similarly there are lots of shows such as Master chef (Australia, India, USA, France, Greece etc), Big Brother, the singing idol-American Idol, Indian Idol. Also we have dance reality shows such as “So you think you can dance”, “Dance India Dance”, the quiz contests, or something like America’s got talent, India’s got talent and so on. All these shows have been worth watching.
Everything has its pros and cons and so does reality shows. Let us first consider its merits. We live in an age of mass culture so reality shows are a great platform to convey messages to the masses. Such shows are unscripted which therefore shows the audience how a person behaves in different situation. In short it elaborates human behavior in general. If we believe in freedom of speech, then we have to accept reality TV as an expression of popular taste. On the other hand, these shows are vulgar and cruel, humiliating the participants. Viewing such shows arouses desire to be popular which is not always good. Especially the shows where people vote, promotes racism and communalism. As such these shows must be controlled strictly, if not banned altogether.
No comments:
Post a Comment