Princess Mononoke Fanfiction [rhian]

This story follows Moro, before she has San.

It is still dark when I feel pain on my right ear. I jump up and growl in its direction. I can’t see who is there but I hear the sound of laughing and relax.

“Aiko!” I chasten, “what are you doing?”

Aiko, my cub, simpers up to me, aware of my temper. I look down at her with a fierce glare and raise my paw to discipline, but at the last moment, scoop her up and cuddle her close, tickling behind her ears.

            After a while, Aiko’s ears prick up and she bounds toward the opening and lifts her nose. I follow her, recognising a strange scent and soon we are running towards the Forest God’s sanctuary. Along the way Daitaro and Daijiro, my elder sons, join us and together we meet the Forest God as he transforms from the nightwalker to his day-self.

“Forest God, the eastern edge of the forest is alight!” I inform him.

“The northern edge is burning also!” Daitaro tells us.

“And the western edge is about to start!” Daijiro adds.

I hear Aiko mutter something about humans.

The Forest God beckons me forward for private consultation.

“The Lady Eboshi wishes to start a war on the forest. She wants to kill me so that she may own the land.”

“WHAT?”

“Calm yourself, Moro,” he warns me, “we are not to harm her, only make her leave.”

The Forest God gives me a look that indicates he knows something that he won’t share and this gets my hackles up.

“I ask this wolf pack to stop the encroaching threat…” the Forest God is cut off as Daitaro and Daijiro jump around getting excited, “without violence!”

“Whaattt?!” they both call in unison.

“You are not to harm the humans, only force them to leave.”

They both grumble but turn and lope off towards the affected areas.

“No, they need to be taught a lesson!” I tell the Forest God angrily.

“Calm yourself, Moro, lest you end up a demon!”

This comment sobers me and I realise that I am being foolish, risking endangering my family. With a stiff nod, I run towards the eastern edge with Aiko.

As we near the clearing, I stop.

“Aiko, it isn’t safe for you to be here, stay behind the rock.”

“Aww!” she whines.

I give her a look and as she simpers off towards her hiding place, I turn to assess the situation. Trees are slowly starting to catch alight and I can see a few of the humans flapping sheets at the embers to fuel and spread the flames. I could easily rip them apart before the rest join them, but after the Forest God’s warning, I don’t want to risk it.

            A rustle sounds to my left and I prepare for attack but it is just a boar.

“Evil,” he mutters to himself and I nod in agreement.

Then, I come up with a plan to make the humans leave without me needing to attack… Them. Quickly, I nip the boar on his tail and he roars in pain and charges towards the humans, trailing blood behind him. He screams in pain as I step forward and with my most menacing voice, I say,

“Leave now, lest this be your fate!”

With a final growl, they all scream and run towards their village, leaving their sheets behind. I laugh at the boar who is just staring at me now.

“Why didn’t you kill them?”

“Because I do not wish to become something as evil and vile as them,” I answer with composure despite the anger still burning through me.

“MAMA!” Aiko screams from her hiding place.

I turn and run as fast as possible to her, leaving the flames to die on their own.

“AIKO!” I yell as I near the rock.

“Mama…” the scream is less loud and sounds very forced.

As I round the corner, I see my Aiko on her side, blood pouring from her mouth and gut.

“I bit her, mama,” she says through clenched teeth, a small smile on her lips, “I bit the lady…”

“Good girl,” I say in a soothing voice, “you’re such a good girl, Aiko.”

“Mama?” she asks as her eyes flutter, trying to stay open.

“Yes, my love?”

“I don’t want to die.”

Unable to respond I curl around her decaying body and say,

“I love you my baby.”

“I love you too, mama,” she says as her last breath leaves her lungs and her body goes limp.

I close my eyes and soon everyone surrounds me: the Forest God, Daitaro and Daijiro, the boar. They are all asking questions but I keep my eyes closed and my body around Aiko’s, keeping her warm, keeping her there.

“Who?” I ask the Forest God in my head.

“Eboshi.”

All I can do is howl in pain.

                                                **3 months later**

I hear a sound in the trees. I sniff… human! Rushing, I meet them with a full-force leap that lands at their feet and with my most impressive growl send them running for the hills. As they leave, they throw something small at me as if it would save their lives. An offering? At first I want to ignore it, my fury still in my throat, adrenaline in my veins, but somehow I can’t.

            A soft smell emanates from the package as I inspect it further. A tiny cry escapes and I roll it over with my nose. It unravels and inside I find a human baby. My heartbeat slows and as I look into this baby’s eyes, something runs through my body like an electric shock. Aiko?

            I cannot leave her and so I wrap her back up and carry her to my cave. I name her San and teach her all about the war and how us wolves live. Her growl grows more impressive each day and her anger and determination to stop Eboshi rivals mine in ferocity. She is my Aiko. She is my San.

WK 11: How does Hill define reality TV?

In this piece, the author gives a detailed analysis of the reality TV genre and refers to various authors on how its continuous evolvement in a market where TV scholars and audiences are still in the process of trying to figure it out. There still seems to be conflicting ideas of how to differentiate the sub-genre a TV program may fall under, depending on the viewers’ perception.

Hill first mentions how in the past, reality TV industry, was considered to and “commonly used to describe a range of popular factual programming.” But more recently, reality TV has taken a completely different set of ideals; which have lead to the formation of many subgenres within the reality TV genre.

While on the one hand, Hill mentions how “Perhaps the most traditional industry term for reality TV is factual entertainment." But goes on further to say,"The term usefully merges factual programming with entertainment-based television, and highlights hybridization, a common generic feature of most reality programs.” She points to the categorization of the reality TV genre in the UK, and explains that the audience in the UK lean more towards factual programming that are similar to documentaries, current affairs, and investigative journalism.

On the other hand, Hill goes on to describe the evolution of reality TV in the US, and how it has taken another course by lumping anything and everything into one category. It was not until the 1980’s when the formation of “infotainment,” which blurred the boundaries of fact and fiction. Hill refers to the man that ‘changed the terms of factual television,’ Peter Bazalgette, and describes the reality TV category in the US as ‘reality entertainment.’

TV Scholars perspective

It was in the 1990’s when the TV scholars have realized and pointed out the variety in reality TV types. Hill refers to Steve Neale (2003: 3):

“Points out that ‘there is a generic aspect to all instances of cultural production, and that these instances are usually multiple, not single, in kind’. In terms of reality TV, there are ‘numerous aspects’, ‘numerous meanings’, and ‘numerous analytical uses’ of the genre within the academic community.”

For instance, one of these various meanings and aspects that was explained in Neales' reference is another reference to Richard Kilborn’s definition of reality television as a mixture of characteristics all in one package. Hill further exemplifies Kilborns' idea:

“‘real-life situations’, and also infotainment, or what Kilborn calls reality programming: ‘the recording on the wing … of events in the lives of individuals or groups, the attempt to stimulate such real-life events through various forms of dramatized reconstruction and the incorporation of this material … into an attractively packaged television programme.’”

One major point that Hill mentions is the “continuum” that ‘fact’ and ‘fiction’ is an ideal way of categorizing the relationship between current “factual programming,” and the different forms of “popular factual” television that the reality genre is composed of. The credibility of how 'real' the reality TV is authenticated only on the individual viewer to decide.

Television audience perspective

In 2000, Hill conducted a study and examined three different types of reality programs: observational, informational, and creative. In the findings, what were most importantly focused on were the fact/fiction criteria. In reference to Corner (1995), she exemplifies this main point by signifying and implying the different aspect of this type of genre is the unique perception of each individualized member of the audience to choose themselves by their own observation. Hills definition from a television audience perspective is concluded by pointing out that, “in many ways, the classification of reality TV in relation to ‘reality’ is connected with audience understanding of the performance of non-professional actors in the programs, and the ways ‘real people’ play up to the cameras.”

In conclusion, Hill defines reality TV as a genre that has dramatically transformed into this multi-industry corporation that has given birth to sub forms of television programs, that are in constant evolve/devolvement with no end in sight; but in the end, the common unifying element is up to the viewer to decide on what is factual/reality TV, based on this reoccurring idea of ‘fact/fiction continuum’ that the audience bases their beliefs on.

Reference:

Hill, A. (2005) The reality genre. In A. Hill, Reality TV: Audiences and Popular Factual Television. (pp. 14 – 40). Oxon: Routledge.

WK 10: How does Buffy deconstruct traditional literary notions of good and evil?

Beth Braum wrote a critical essay about the ‘Ambiguity of Evil in Supernatural Representations,’ and compares the actions of both characters in both TV series Buffy the Vampires Slayer and The X-Files. In the case of Buffy, Braum pressures on several important points that show how Buffy breaks the stereotypical notion of what good and evil truly is, and also details how the series purposely instills ambiguous perceptions of good and evil to serve its own agenda. As Braum noted, “moral ambiguity” is the core idea of her critical essay, and how this relates to the traditional literary notions of good and evil.

Author Braum initially starts by discussing how the newer representations of supernatural TV series have a specific moral ambiguity that many inhuman beings and ordinary characters may sometimes portray. In addition, she also mentions how these ambiguities also seem to intertwine with themes related to sexuality and gender.

For example, she mentions that, “Both Buffy and The X-Files use sexual tension between various characters to drive the narrative,” moreover she goes on to state that, “In these representations, good and evil are every-shifting qualities.” In the case of Buffy, a young attractive girl who is suppose to represent ‘good’ is slaying ‘evil’ vampires finds herself in a predicament of falling in love with someone who some might think of as evil, Angel.

At first, Braum explains that in the series, Angel was first considered a tortured soul that needed someone like Buffy to care for him. When Buffy and Angel retreat to his apartment, they finally made love for the very first time. Braum explains, “Unbeknownst to them, Angel’s curse held that if he ever experienced a moment of ‘perfect human happiness,’ the spell would be lifted.” Little did the viewers watching that very same episode that his spell would transform him from a “tortured soul into a soulless demon.”

Braum compares this shift in relationship between Buffy and Angel to the psychoanalytical theory of Melanie Klein, which studies how “infants ‘split’ their mothers into good and bad ‘objects.’” She further details this same idea to relate it to “the tension between love and aggression that is often present in intimate relationships.” But, what makes Buffy different from the rest of the TV shows, “is that is portrays these psychoanalytically charged themes so effectively through the use of supernatural muthology. Furthermore this moral ambiguity within the main characters is reflected in the development of others on the show…”

Similarly, author Braum also points out to several examples of obstacles that love/hate relationships that are found between Scully and Mulder, in The X-Files. For example, she mentions the “portrayal of the love-hate relationship between the human protagonists and the alien/monstrous other.” Braum then differentiates this notion of good over evil that The X-Files may portray with agent Scully because of her ‘susceptibility’ was indirectly hinted at rather than being part of the plotline.

Furthermore, the themes of both good and evil are similarly used interchangeably depending on how they are portrayed. The barriers of stereotypical ideas about good or evil are broken. The sense of ambiguity of the norms is purposely done to make the audience ponder the thought about evil not being so evil after all, or even pondering the thought of doing “evil” for the “greater good” scenarios.

Finally, Braum notes, “they have in common an acknowledgement of the aggression within ordinary people and tendency to explore themes of good and evil through supernatural narratives incorporating complicated relationships between morality, sexuality, and gender.”

In Buffys world, it is clear that the traditional literary notion of good and evil is not of the norm. Buffy’s moral consciousness heavily conflicts with her actions of intuition and instinct; which might oppose the moral beliefs that any human might be used to. The borders of evil and good are very thin, and sometimes coincide with one another. Buffy has a Machiavellian way of dealing with things, “the ends justify the means.”

Reference:

Braum, B. (2000) The X-files and Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The ambiguity of evil in supernatural representations. Retrieved 18 October, 2005 from: http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0 412/is_2_28/ai_64688900

Week 7 - The Themes and Concerns of 'The Man in the High Castle' by Philip K. Dick

Renowned author Philip K. Dick reveled in toying with the concept of reality; so much so, in fact, he dedicated an entire novel to the very idea of an alternate timeline in which the Allies lost the second world war, with America now under the brutal occupation of both Germany and Japan, conjointly. That novel, regarded as one of the best in the genre, is 'The Man in the High Castle', and its play on reality was inspired by Eastern Philosophy, in particular a Chinese text used to divine the secrets of alternate realities and worlds concealed by the empty space of the Universe itself, a text known as the I Ching (Brown, E, 2001.).

The theme of reality and its impact upon the "small people leading small lives", as Brown phrases it, is a central theme within the narrative, and its significance to the direction of the plot and its characters practically oozes from every letter of every word from the novel's beginning to its open-ended conclusion (Brown, E, 2001). As the course of the plot drives its central protagonists in their search for complete satisfaction in their lives, they are each soon drawn to the mystical properties of the I Ching, making use of its power in order to find direction and purpose so that they may no longer idle in abject non-fulfilment, trapped in a world that has gone to hell in a hand-basket (Brown, E, 2001.).

According to Brown, the characters are all in search of a Utopian world that is kept from them behind the impassable walls of the fabric of the Universe, an idea that Dick often knowingly perpetuates throughout many of his literary works; meanwhile, the people drowning under the shroud of the occupying enemy's shadow of oppression live alongside a constant feeling of terror and a "sense of claustrophobia", as stated by Brown (Brown, E, 2001.).

Making masterful use of these themes, Dick is able to establish a grim - but somehow ever hopeful - alternate reality that diverges from our world, whilst retaining an eerie sensation of familiarity, allowing us, as the readers, to form empathic connections with the psychology that drives his protagonists as they struggle to come to terms with the grave reality in which they must live and accept as unalterable (Brown, E, 2001.). The author employs the recurring theme that reality may not be as it appears on the surface, the I Ching serving to further shatter our presumptions of what we perceive to be reality, and does so in turn for the protagonists at the heart of the plot as they, like the reader, suffer as its whims dictate (Brown, E, 2001.).

Using the I Ching as the basis upon which to build his story, Dick adheres to a philosophy that is derived from Taoism, incorporating its core belief of the interconnectedness between all things to further develop his characters, whose actions later come to affect each other's lives in significant ways that establishes the course of the plot in the latter half of the story (Brown, E, 2001.). Adding to Brown's thoughts on 'The Man in the High Castle', allow me to contrast these with McKnee's ideas on the novel as outlined in the Reader for Week 8, in which he asserts that that world of the narrative represents the "yin world, in its most melancholy form" (McKnee, 2004.), an Eastern Philosophical paradigm in which the Western notion of good and evil are represented as the Yin and Yang.

According to McKnee, the world in 'The Man in the High Castle' is unbalanced, and it is only through a sort of "spiritual transformation" that this unbalance can be rectified, not simply through the removal of the foreign regimes that govern the setting within the narrative by way of rebellion (McKnee, 2004). This implies that the author believes that the problems plaguing the narrative's setting are not due to the totalitarian regimes central to the tone of the story alone, but rather a far more subversive dilemma that runs deep into the core of the ideologies that dominate the world from behind the scenes, a theme that reverberates again and again as the story progresses.

Dick later personalizes this theme in the form of his "most sympathetic character", according to the opinion of Brown, Juliana Frink, who becomes enamoured with this prospect of the existence of a Utopian alternate world that is revealed to her through the I Ching, and he condenses it further still with his inclusion of 'The Grasshopper Lies Heavy', a novel-within-a-novel, but also a reality-within-a-reality (Brown,E, 2001). If you've read the book, I'll trust that you know what happens next.

In summary, Dick's primary theme and concept at the epicentre of his many literary works is his deconstruction of reality and its illusory nature, an idea that was once largely his own, but which is now a derivative trope in the science fiction genre espoused by hack writers. Alternate timelines, once original ideas, are now the standard de rigeur in SF, but never handled with such aplomb as in Philip K. Dick's 'The Man in the High Castle'.

Week 8 - The Relationship Between Dick's Ideas and Theological and Philosophical Concepts

The written works produced by Philip K. Dick are frequently multifaceted and deeply introspective allegories that peel away the world's social structures, both of a personal and political nature, in an attempt to tap into the raw underlying ideological sources that form them. He draws from a great number or various theological concepts, including those of Christian, Buddhist, Taoist, and Hindi origins in order to establish a familiar framework or foundation that the reader then uses as tools to pry beneath the surface plot, revealing the inner-workings of the ideology that underpins the story.

According to McKnee, these theological roots that formed the basis of some of Dick's greatest works were often disregarded by scholars in their own analyses, who instead emphasized Dick's efforts to deconstruct the political power structures within his writings, particularly those as envisioned in 'The Man in the High Castle', as opposed to the theological concepts deeply rooted within them (McKnee, 2004.). This, McKnee argues, causes scholarly analysis to formulate inadequate conclusions and summaries based on Dick's fiction, failing to take notice of the author's intended allegorical meanings, which hint at the internal struggles embroiling his characters and their settings(McKnee, 2004.).

Furthermore, Dick's non-fiction writings within the field of religious study were misinterpreted in a fashion similar to the critical misconceptions that had also dogged his fictional works, which were subsequently erroneously categorized as the works of a "gnostic", a general term that did a disservice to the deeper nature of the material (McKnee, 2004.). As noted by McKnee, this frustrated the author greatly, leading to his eventual condemnation of the opinions of these critics who had so grievously misinterpreted the intentions behind his numerous written works (McKnee, 2004.).

As McKnee clearly illustrates, the mislabelling of Dick's written works as "gnostic" meant that the generalities applied to that label failed to acknowledge the author's deliberate synthesis of various theological concepts, which were drawn not from a single source, but a diverse array of religious sources that coloured in the fulfilment of the meaning (McKnee, 2004.). The same could be said of the multifaceted nature of the author's literary works, layers upon layers of which operate on a multitude of levels, each requiring a careful analytical and observational sense in order to ascertain the subsurface meanings encoded deep within them.

It seems that Dick was quite adept at hybridizing various religious motifs and embedding them within the framework of his narratives, each adding poignant and symbolic layers of depth to often-times seemingly innocuous or ordinary scenes that subtly hint at the deeper subtext that brews below the surface of his literary figures and settings. The deliberate decision to mutate disparate religious concepts, incorporating their fundamental components in such a way as to formulate whole new concepts, allowed Dick to establish the meat of his narratives upon the skeleton of theological thought that lay beneath it.

I believe that Dick wanted nothing more than total emancipation from the rigid social structures that dominate the modern world, and that through the storytelling craft, he was effectively casting off the shackles imposed upon him and the wider society of humanity at large, in a bid to discover the unseen hinges that conjoin individual ideations that are proliferated throughout the social consciousness of mankind. As a storyteller, it is essential that one writes from a stance completely free of all restrictions, and this rule is extended to the social structures that may impose limitations on independent thought and inhibit one's expression of self-hood, thereby granting the storyteller the freedom necessary to analyse the world in greater detail.

A fallacy of thinking among those belonging to academic circles is their enduring need to categorize the thoughts and ideas that encompass all manner of literature, the need to impose structures upon them that are often an ill fit at best, as a means of making sense of the great works of art that are borne of the minds of men and women who typically do not fit into any designated category at all. I would argue that Philip K. Dick was actively rebelling against this notion of imposed structural categorization that was awkwardly forming around his literary works, challenging the beliefs of his critics regarding his writings and novels through his breadth of theological understanding, but that he was ultimately doomed to fail in the attempt.

It is interesting to note that the films of master Japanese animator, Hayao Miyazaki, were also once the subject of imposed categorization among the academic community, and like Dick, he was also quick to shoot down the theories of his critics regarding his works, just as Dick had done before him. Like Miyazaki, Dick was a storyteller eager to plumb the depths of the human psyche and dredge up what lay below the surface, and it was due in large part to the theological and philosophical concepts that he drew from that he was able to do so, enriching his stories with a keen social conscience that remains unique to Dick and his classics of literature even to this day.

Week 9 - The Role of Fandoms and New Media in the Construction of Cult TV

New media has transfigured the television industry a great deal, due in large part to the intersection of communication and information made possible through social networks and the Internet, giving groups like fandoms the opportunity to gather and share their opinions and views on television programmes (Hills, M, 2004). Fandoms, or 'Telefantasy' as persons taking part in them prefer they be known as (Hills, M, 2004), are communal in nature and often form on websites started either by the programme's producers, or by the fandoms themselves, and many of them have topical, forum-based discussion boards that allow for discourse between fans on a number of subjects related to the programme (Hills, M, 2004).

Alongside discussion boards, fandom websites typically include sections dedicated to user-generated fan-fiction, which Hills explains is due largely to the formula that cult TV programmes establish as a basis for their narratives, that basis being specific questions that act as the axis upon which the narrative world depends (Hills, M, 2004). These questions are deliberately left unanswered, due to the programme's reliance on these questions to propel the narratives of these worlds forward, and leaves gaps in the plot-line that the fandom may attempt to fill through elaborate fan-fiction, or through the postulations of the more devoted fans with the necessary depth of knowledge to connect the loose threads of the lore to form viable hypotheses (Hills, M, 2004).

Through new media, the fandom is able to take ownership of the otherworldly realms that exist within the narrative worlds of cult television, coming to define them and their broader themes independent of the narrative's source, which supports the popularity of "fan activities", as Hills calls them (Hills, M, 2004), such as fan-fiction writing and the discourse between fans on discussion boards, within the social context provided by new media. This degree of intercommunication between people involved in fandoms is possible only through new media, which is an indication as to why so many fandoms have sprung up in recent years, given the efficiency and borderline instantaneous interpersonal communication that the Internet and social networking allows for, and it is precisely these aspects of new media that feeds the expansion of online fandoms (Hills, M, 2004).

Many fandoms are also cross-cultural, likely comprised of fans from all over the world, some of whom may reside in countries situated a great distance away from the cult programme's country of origin. New media allows fans residing in the same country of origin as that of the television series to disseminate information among those fans living overseas, keeping international fans abreast of recent announcements and developments pertaining to the programme; without new media, this task would make for a very daunting prospect, indeed. It is this kind of community mindedness that lends credence to Hills' suggestion that fandoms operate as online societies, replete with cultural customs and rituals that move beyond the television series that spawns them, independent of the bitter reality of the outside world (Hills, M, 2004).

According to Hills, however, the hardcore fans within these fandoms whose depth of knowledge far exceeds that of newer fans' may instill a sense of elitism within fan communities, alienating some fans from the larger collective of cult television enthusiasts (Hills, M, 2004), which may lead some outsiders to hurl labels of "fanboyism" levelled against the more knowledgeable, pedantic sorts common among cult television fandoms.

Furthermore, fandoms seem to revel in the underground vibe attributed to cult television, and this correlates with the narrative worlds which they so zealously worship every smidging aspect of; both are incomprehensibly foreign to the casual onlooker, and are "niche", "kitschy", and "fringe", entirely removed from the reality of life and the world that surrounds them. Perhaps this is a key part of the appeal of cult television, and why fandoms are so resistant to newcomers, because in actuality they desire to preserve the gaping chasm between the real and surreal worlds, to sustain the fantasy a while longer in its purest, unspoiled form by shielding it from the influence of the outside world with all its flaws.

After all, as Hills suggests, it is only through this extreme and undying devotion that embodies a typical fandom that any cult television series even achieves the mark of "cult status" at all (Hills, M, 2004), keeping the worlds depicted in them alive while other television series go the way of the dodo once initial interest diminishes among other, less passionate viewerships.

Week 11 - The Documentary Genre's Influence on Reality Television

As noted by Hill in his exploration of the genre, reality television is the uneasy hybridization of fact and fiction (Hill, A, 2005), a reconstruction of not only fiction but the facts that support it. This is similar to the methods news broadcasters employ in order to dramatize current events to illicit an emotional response from the viewer, the manipulation of the facts behind a story that allows it to be restructured by media corporations. Almost nothing in reality programming can be analysed as a means of making out the seams that conjoin the real and the unreal, as the margins are simply too obscured (Hill, A, 2005.)

Documentary film-making operates with a similar pretense in mind, but usually with greater emphasis on the facts that underpin them to lend the films credence, otherwise they risk losing a sense of credibility among those of the audience. Reality television, while still factual in the loosest sense of the word, dispenses with most of the facts in favour of the dramatic fictionalized elements that are the essence of reality programming.

Another area where reality television and documentary film-making converge is the treatment of their subjects via highly-stylized cinematography, awkward or erratic camera angles that are employed to capture the motion and flow of reality (Biressi and Nunn, 2005), allowing the camera's wielder to influence the construction of a bastardized variation of the real. It is through this posturing of camera angles that film makers are able to recreate a sense of "immediacy and intimacy", as described by Biressi and Nunn, that is coveted by the audience, and it is a style adopted by reality television in an attempt to achieve the very same.

Where reality television diverges from documentary films, however, is the emphasis on fictional dramatizations over factual interpretations of the subject, whereby the editing process gives producers the power to shape the fictional happenstances of everyday life in order to engineer something altogether different from the actual event that took place. In the same way that documentary films entice punters with emotional stories drawn from the lives of ordinary people (Biressi and Nunn, 2005.), reality television opts instead to record the friction that brews between people caught in trying circumstances, and exaggerates it for the sake of entertainment.

Documentaries, according to Biressi and Nunn, have a political and social conscience that peers into the lives of working-class folk only just making ends meet (Biressi and Nunn, 2005), often-times juxtaposing them against the theme of a rapidly urbanizing/industrializing/corporatizing world and how they fit into it, or shape it, whatever the case may be. Reality television is also concerned with ordinary people, but to a differing degree than that of the documentary genre, which surrenders its subjects' character flaws and insecurities to the microscopic scrutiny of the programme's producers and, by extension, the general public. Documentaries are more intellectual and informed in nature, often sharply contrasting with its uninformed and frivolous counterpart, reality television, which concerns itself with the superficial nature of human interaction and socialization.

In summary, while yes, the documentary genre has had a significant impact on the development of reality television, it has not always been in entirely positive ways. Reality programming has seen fit to borrow from the great leaps and bounds documentary cinema has made in the film industry, but rather than refine the formula, it has manipulated it in order to create an artificial construct of reality that does little to expand conscious thinking on important subjects.

As its popularity continues to escalate, it will become increasingly difficult to ascertain which percentage of reality television is fact and which percentage is fiction, further blurring the margins between the real and the unreal, potentially altering public perception of society as a consequence.