1 Reality TV Genre and Conventions

7/31/2019 1 Reality TV Genre and Conventions

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M.Rathor

Todays lesson Objectives:

To consider and discuss the moralissues that surround Reality TV.

To understand some of the issuesthat arise from the contrived

nature of Reality TV.


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M.Rathor

SynopsisTruman Burbank has the feeling that hes being watched. He

doesnt know how right he is. Every second of every day, from the

moment he was born, for the last thirty years, Truman Burbank

has been the unwitting star of the longest running, most popular

documentary soap -opera in history. The picture perfect town ofSeahaven that he calls home is actually a gigantic soundstage.

Trumans friends and family - everyone he

meets, in fact - are actors. He lives every moment under the

unblinking gaze of thousands of hidden television cameras.Welcome to The Truman Show. The whole world is watching.


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M.Rathor

IntroductionThe Truman Show is a film which charts the life of Truman

Burbank, a boy adopted at birth by a fictitious television company

- Omnicom. He is filmed twenty-four hours a day, seven days a

week, three hundred and sixty-five days a year so every second ofhis life is recorded for live television. Truman doesnt know this.

He doesnt know that his friends and family are all actors. He

doesnt know that the events in his life are all carefully monitored

and controlled by the production crew of the television network.He doesnt know he is the star of a television show nor that he

isnt living in the real world.

As far as we know, the concept of this film is not yet a reality, as

Peter Weir, the director, commented that he thought of the film as

taking place twenty years or so in the future.

However, in the search for new scheduling ideas and greater

audience figures, television networks become increasingly

involved in filming the lives of ordinary people as television


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M.Rathor

We start todays lesson with 3

questions for you to debate:

Do you agree with the concept of TheTruman Show? What moral and ethicalproblems do you see with making aprogramme of this nature?

What practical problems might there be?

Do you think this could happen? Why /

Why not? You have 10 minutes to discuss this in

your groups and note down your findings.

Every individual needs their own sheet.


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M.Rathor

Read the article entitled The

Documentary.

What does this article reveal about the

very earliest reality TV Programme?

Highlight quotes that you can use to

support your answer.


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M.Rathor

Now Read 7 Up:

What is this article suggesting about

Reality TV?

What reasons do contestants give for no

longer wishing to participate in the 7Up

programme?

Find quotes to support your answers.


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M.Rathor

How real is reality TV?


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M Rathor

Todays lesson Objectives:

To consider and discuss the moralissues that surround Reality TV.

To understand some of the issuesthat arise from the contrived

nature of Reality TV.

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1 Reality TV Genre and Conventions