Television, since the start, has portrayed the lives of people through dating, contests, or documentary style shows. Reality television's effect on viewers has been studied for the past twenty or so years. It's impact extends further than most people realize. The number of reality television shows have increased over the years. People are fascinated by watching people fight, cry, laugh, love or work. Humor has been proven to deliver to audiences, and loves to be watched by many. The history of reality TV has paved the way for many of today's most popular television.
Although reality television may be fun to watch, it can have a very harmful affect's on our society. Many studies have focused on how television programs appear to be "real" can alter the viewer's perception of reality. Reality TV is polluting children's minds with distorted pictures of reality, leaving behind an even bigger effect than that of regular television. Now the "real" and the "fake" gets harder to tell apart.
"We all watch reality shows for the same reasons;
To laugh at, root for and freak out over
To laugh at, root for and freak out over
the crazy things reality show stars say."- realitytvfan.org
A question on my mind was why are networks pushing to show reality television more and more? I found in a recent article that said reality TV shows cost an average of $400,000 per hour to produce, versus $2 million for a dramatic series. So not only are reality shows cheaper, but are watched more than any other type of television show's.
Throughout reality television programs, a common thread has remained: the people starring in the shows are "real" people going through "real" situations. To help better understand the viewer's perception of reality George Gerber constructed his cultivation theory.
According to George Gerber, reality shows can affect the youth just as much as adults. The cultivation theory simply states that the more people watch television, the more they will come to view the real world similar to the world portrayed on television. An average American will watch at least four hours of television a day. Since television is growing with reality shows it is assumed that the cultivation theory is strengthened by this "reality" craze. The cultivation theory tries to explain the correlation between regular television watching and viewer's perception of reality. According to Gerber, a perception can be changed if in fact the show inferred it was "real." For example, the reality TV show "The Hills" altered the perception of the youth that their show was in fact "real" and it was not scripted in any way. Studies have shown that even unrealistic shows can even mold students perception of reality. Because reality TV is so common amongst American's, it is hard to judge the impact on viewers, simply because they have been pre-exposed to reality TV shows.
A new twist to reality television has occurred in the last couple of years. Plastic surgery has become popular on reality TV shows. About 79% of plastic surgery patients underwent surgery because they were influenced by television and media. If you were to think about it, thats about four out of five women getting plastic surgery from watching reality television show's. I don't know about you but that scares me because most of these reality TV shows don't even remotely reflect the reality of plastic surgery.
As I had mentioned earlier the hit reality show "The Hills"altered the perception of the youth in our society. A particular cast member Heidi Montag, 23-years-old, underwent two separate surgeries to complete her ultimate self. In her first surgery she had her nose, lips, and breasts done. Three years later she decided to go under the knife again. A total of 10 surgeries were performed at once. Not only could she face possible risks, but death. Because Heidi is a public figure, she probably felt that her look was not L.A. appropriate. She also wanted to start her music career, so she felt these changes were necessary because of the competition she was up against. Many famous people have plastic surgery to fix their imperfections, but she went too far! It is sad she had to go to this length to feel happy inside. Not only did she disappoint her fans but her family as well. Children especially look up to Heidi as a role model. If her message to the public, mostly the youth, is that your natural image is not good enough then soon children will want to have plastic surgery to fix their imperfections.
An example of a reality show that exhibits plastic surgery is "BridalPlasty." The show consists of brides-to-be who compete in challenges to earn plastic surgery procedures in a quest to win their dream wedding. The show aires on the E channel on sunday nights. The premiere happened November 28 at 9 p.m. After watching the show I was less than surprised. I found that the women competing all seemed to want the same features fixed on their bodies: nose,tummy tucks, and of course breast implants! The first competition entitled the women to put together a puzzle to form their new bodies after their surgery. Afterwards they were invited to an injectable party. Dr. Dubrow and his staff will perform all the surgeries on the women. One by one they will be sent home, and voted off by their cast members.
This series is just one of the many ways the media had showcased the importance of beauty and how average women "should" look.
This series is just one of the many ways the media had showcased the importance of beauty and how average women "should" look.
Above are the most popular surgeries that the women in the "BridalPlasty" house felt they needed to change about their body. The most common surgery amongst all the women was a tummy tuck, which was a total of seven. Next, the second most popular was breast implants, with a total of six. Lastly, a nose job had a total of four. Out of twelve women this seems a bit drastic. Dr. Dubrow examined each woman and suggested what they should get done. Some of the women wish list's exceeded over 10 different body parts to be fixed, not so different from Heidi after all.
