Reacting to Reality Television

Performance, Audience and Value

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science
Cover of the book Reacting to Reality Television by Beverley Skeggs, Helen Wood, Taylor and Francis
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Beverley Skeggs, Helen Wood ISBN: 9781136502446
Publisher: Taylor and Francis Publication: May 4, 2012
Imprint: Routledge Language: English
Author: Beverley Skeggs, Helen Wood
ISBN: 9781136502446
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Publication: May 4, 2012
Imprint: Routledge
Language: English

The unremitting explosion of reality television across the schedules has become a sustainable global phenomenon generating considerable popular and political fervour.

The zeal with which television executives seize on the easily replicated formats is matched equally by the eagerness of audiences to offer themselves up as television participants for others to watch and criticise. But how do we react to so many people breaking down, fronting up, tearing apart, dominating, empathising, humiliating, and seemingly laying bare their raw emotion for our entertainment? Do we feel sad when others are sad? Or are we relieved by the knowledge that our circumstances might be better? As reality television extends into the experiences of the everyday, it makes dramatic and often shocking the mundane aspects of our intimate relations, inviting us as viewers into a volatile arena of mediated morality.

This book addresses the impact of this endless opening out of intimacy as an entertainment trend that erodes the traditional boundaries between spectator and performer demanding new tools for capturing television’s relationships with audiences. Rather than asking how the reality television genre is interpreted as ‘text’ or representation the authors investigate the politics of viewer encounters as interventions, evocations, and more generally mediated social relations.

The authors show how different reactions can involve viewers in tournaments of value, as women viewers empathise and struggle to validate their own lives. The authors use these detailed responses to challenge theories of the self, governmentality and ideology.

A must read for both students and researchers in audience studies, television studies and media and communication studies.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The unremitting explosion of reality television across the schedules has become a sustainable global phenomenon generating considerable popular and political fervour.

The zeal with which television executives seize on the easily replicated formats is matched equally by the eagerness of audiences to offer themselves up as television participants for others to watch and criticise. But how do we react to so many people breaking down, fronting up, tearing apart, dominating, empathising, humiliating, and seemingly laying bare their raw emotion for our entertainment? Do we feel sad when others are sad? Or are we relieved by the knowledge that our circumstances might be better? As reality television extends into the experiences of the everyday, it makes dramatic and often shocking the mundane aspects of our intimate relations, inviting us as viewers into a volatile arena of mediated morality.

This book addresses the impact of this endless opening out of intimacy as an entertainment trend that erodes the traditional boundaries between spectator and performer demanding new tools for capturing television’s relationships with audiences. Rather than asking how the reality television genre is interpreted as ‘text’ or representation the authors investigate the politics of viewer encounters as interventions, evocations, and more generally mediated social relations.

The authors show how different reactions can involve viewers in tournaments of value, as women viewers empathise and struggle to validate their own lives. The authors use these detailed responses to challenge theories of the self, governmentality and ideology.

A must read for both students and researchers in audience studies, television studies and media and communication studies.

More books from Taylor and Francis

Cover of the book The Relationship Between Social and Cognitive Development by Beverley Skeggs, Helen Wood
Cover of the book Internationalising Higher Education by Beverley Skeggs, Helen Wood
Cover of the book Michael William Balfe by Beverley Skeggs, Helen Wood
Cover of the book Culture & Progress:Esc V8 by Beverley Skeggs, Helen Wood
Cover of the book Acting Locally by Beverley Skeggs, Helen Wood
Cover of the book F.R. Leavis by Beverley Skeggs, Helen Wood
Cover of the book The Quest to Feel Good by Beverley Skeggs, Helen Wood
Cover of the book Gilgamesh by Beverley Skeggs, Helen Wood
Cover of the book Arms Control in the 21st Century by Beverley Skeggs, Helen Wood
Cover of the book Using Critical Theory by Beverley Skeggs, Helen Wood
Cover of the book On the Human Condition by Beverley Skeggs, Helen Wood
Cover of the book The Western Lacustrine Bantu (Nyoro, Toro, Nyankore, Kiga, Haya and Zinza with Sections on the Amba and Konjo) by Beverley Skeggs, Helen Wood
Cover of the book Religious Feeling and Religious Commitment in Faulkner, Dostoyevsky, Werfel and Bernanos by Beverley Skeggs, Helen Wood
Cover of the book The Information Society by Beverley Skeggs, Helen Wood
Cover of the book Structures of Subjectivity by Beverley Skeggs, Helen Wood
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy