The Reality genre is based on factual information just like documentary; however, it has been creatively moulded to suit daily life situations and issues that people face and how they would deal with them. A point to note is that there can be more than one way of presenting each issue which makes it more realistic. One can argue that there seem to be loose boundaries around these programmes. However as Roscoe and Hight (2001) suggest “Documentary does not provide an unmediated view of the world, nor can it live up to its claims to be a mirror on society”. Documentaries present facts in a seemingly staid and direct manner whereas reality shows present the same facts in a more creative manner. Both genres provide ‘Infotainment’ with a different focus on the presentation.
In conclusion, the reality genre has drawn the Factual Information and Entertainment aspects from documentary genre and has created a speciality genre by itself.
References
Hill A. (2005). The rise of reality TV. In A. Hill, Reality TV: Audiences and Popular Factual Television. (pp. 15 – 40). Oxon: Routledge
Roscoe and Hight (2001). Faking It
Corner, J (2000). Television Form and Public Address Corner
An okay response, but perhaps making direct reference to conventions such as shaky hand held camera, fly on the wall techniques, interpersonal conflict, etc etc as identified in my week 11 powerpoint and the week 11 articles would have been better and more focused. You have tended to reference the week 12 reading for your response here.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I understand what you are saying I don't think the your paragraphs particularly answer the question. It would be nice to seem some examples from reality shows that relate to the documentary genre.
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