How does Hill define reality TV? Describe his definitions in
the context of a contemporary Reality TV show.
Hill has stated that there are a variety of
styles and techniques associated with reality TV.
Reality TV consists of non-professional actors (ordinary
people,) unscripted dialogue, hand held cameras and seeing events unfold as
they are happening in front of the camera. The most traditional industry term
for reality TV is factual entertainment. The term merges between factual
programming with entertainment based television, and highlights along with
hybridisation – a common generic feature of most reality programmes. Although
reality TV has changed over periods of time. In the early stages of the genre,
reality TV was associated with on scene footage of law and order, or other
shows like emergency services and talk shows like Jenny Jones or Jeremy Kyle.
Hills writes that the success of reality
gameshows has risen and has led to more frequent use of reality TV. Hills notes
that to describe popular factual, as the term is instantly recognisable and
instantly categorises programmes as a particular type of television, “usually
cheap, tasteless, and compelling.” (Hills, 2005.) Much like shows such as Storage
wars and Who wants to marry a millionaire.
Hills also writes that Peter Bazalgette was described by the
royal television as a man who changed the terms of factual television. Hills
believes that for Bazalgette, it is human interest, rather than reality that
defines popular factual programmes, and therefore resistant to using the so
called category of reality TV.
As Hills states himself, there is no one definition of
reality programming. Through my reading I found more than a few definitions. Hills
mentions Bonner 2003 charted the use term infotainment which
means to broadcast material which is intended both to entertain and to
inform, was first used in the USA in early 1980’s in order to describe
types of programming that blurred the boundaries between fact and fiction. But
it wasn’t until the 1990’s that these so called infotainment programmes were
being categorised as Reality TV. Hills writes Kilborns earlier definition of
reality genre along with Chad Raphael both opted for the term reali-TV as and
‘umbrella term for a number of programming trends.’ For Nicholas his definition
of reality TV was that it ‘includes all those shows that present dangerous
events, unusual situations or actual police cases.’ Overall there are many
competing definitions of what have come to be called the reality genre. The
genre is made up of a number of “distinctive and historically based television
genres such as, lifestyle, or documentary. These television genres have merged
together to create a number of hybrid genres that we now call reality TV.” (Hills,
2005.)
References:
Hill, A. (2005) The reality genre. In A. Hill, Reality TV:
Audiences and Popular Factual Television. (pp. 14 – 40). Oxon: Routledge
Good, thanks Laine
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