Reality Television as Entertainment

June 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Miriam being wooed by a contestant in a still ...

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Is real life really so entertaining? It used to be that entertainment required complete scripts, rehearsals and all of the elements that capture the audience’s attention through premeditated thought, planning and staging. With the introduction of reality television, those elements seem no longer to be a requirement. Or is there another side to the story?

The Unreal Aspects of Reality TV

While the average viewer may not realize it, reality television does involve a large degree of viewer manipulation. Each time reality TV contestants are interviewed after their experiences they state that they did, in fact, say and do the things that viewers saw. This gives the impression that viewers were presented with reality.

The fact is that directors and producers set up extraordinary circumstances to which reality TV contestants must react. For example, nowhere in real life does a man get to choose the love of his life from 25 doting female contestants who are trapped inside a house together and disallowed access to television, their cell phones and the Internet. The surreal circumstances bring out extraordinary and unusual behaviors in the contestants who suddenly cry or become enraged in ways that may be out of line with their regular personalities and character.

The Appeal of Reality TV

The combination of real and surreal is what appeals to viewers who see themselves in the contestants or are exposed to outrageous behaviors that inspire utter disbelief. While real life can be monotonous and dull, the life lived on reality television arouses the feeling that possibilities exist for romance, athleticism, extreme weight loss and other exciting endeavors.

 

 

 

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Imagining a New Type of Television Entertainment

June 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment
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For decades, television has consisted of sitcoms, soap operas, prime time dramas and late-night talk shows. In recent times, television viewers have been exposed to reality TV shows that help people find love, lose weight, find new careers and seek new adventures. How would television look under a whole new paradigm that values honesty, service, health and societal harmony?

The Attraction to Television

Viewers come to their television sets with a variety of expectations. Some are exhausted following work stress and just want to numb out. Others may have little to do and finding something funny, shocking or inspiring is exactly what they need. Television producers try to appeal to the core of television watchers. Viewer ratings shape the trajectory of television dynamics.

A Societal Transformation

For television entertainment to change, a wide-scale transformation would be required of the actual viewers. If viewers are interested in watching crime on prime time and news of betrayals and wars, those are the shows that will be perpetuated. It’s a vicious cycle that the images people are presented with while growing up are the same ones they will seek out as adults.

A New Paradigm

Removing the negative, crime-filled and superficial or stereotypical images from television requires a conscious effort on the part of adults. Television images with derogatory themes will cease to exist if there are no viewers to watch them. Replacing these shows with wholesome ones that focus on family values, healthy topics and inspiring achievements will help to change the face of television entertainment.

 

 

 

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The Role of the News in Perpetuating Racial and Cultural Stereotypes

June 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment
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The news is usually considered the most reality-based programming on television. People tune into the news to learn about the current events and stay on top of global occurrences. Inherent in this dynamic is trust. Viewers trust newscasters and journalists to portray reality in a truthful way. The reality, however, is that newscasters are storytellers and stories can be told in many different ways.

The Newscaster as the Storyteller

The perpetuation of racial and cultural stereotypes is often carried out unconsciously. A newscaster or journalist who interviews people after a traumatic event or during a newsworthy activity will portray reality through his or her own view. Along with this reality is that no human being is without prejudices or weaknesses. The journalist is no different. The questions asked and interpretations of situations will be directly related to how that journalist was brought up and his or her own personal beliefs about people as a whole.

Stereotypical Images in the News

Stereotypical images on television often present a minority racial group as perpetrators of crime, women as helpless creatures and particular cultures as being backwards or possessing undesirable traits such as being smelly or uncivilized. These images are often selected subconsciously beginning as fundamental beliefs on the parts of journalists who haven’t yet taken the opportunity to challenge their own ways of seeing the world.

Challenging Stereotypes

As humanity grows and transforms, individuals will be forced to challenge their personal beliefs about the inferiority of particular societal groups. Only as this process occurs will the television news also reflect this change and represent the true potential of each individual and group.

 

 

 

 

 

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The Rise of Female Sports Participation

May 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Lisa Leslie

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There are many benefits to getting involved in sports and in recent years, young women have been able to play professional sports just like their famous counter parts. There are women in archery such as Karen Scavotto, Denise Parker and Angela Moscarelli, and in basketball there is Lisa Leslie and Sheryl Swoopes that have been a huge encouragement to females wanting to get involved in sports. These women and women who play other sports have set a high standard and proved that females should be accepted, recognized, and rewarded for the talents they possess.

There are women who are involved in both professional and amateur competitive type sports in just about every type of sports event.  They encourage others to stay fit and have been a source of great entertainment.  There was a significant rise of females in sports in the twentieth century, which reflected the change in society as well as focused on the uniqueness and abilities of the female gender. There may still be variances in the amount of performance and participation that females engage in with a particular sport because of the country they reside in but there is still a great amount of acceptance of females in sports worldwide.

Women have come a long way since the times of the Ancient Olympics when they were not even allowed to watch the competitions let alone participate in them. Today, women compete in just about every major sport and have been recognized on many major news stations. Although there is a reduced participation in violent contact sports for women, there are instances where females participate in sports such as wrestling, boxing, and American football.

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News-An All-Encompassing Series of Events

May 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The news has been a great source of information for many years in order to gain knowledge about what is going on in the world. The news in recent years has also surprisingly been a great source of entertainment. With the development of what is known as “reality shows” that are broadcasted in many news stations, entertainment and news sometimes go hand in hand.

Because of the demand of what wants to be is seen on TV, many entertainment shows such as ‘Dancing with the Stars” and “American Idol” are a part of many news segments on major news stations. It is not uncommon for a news broadcaster to give accounts of some horrible accident that occurred, tell about what is happening on Capital Hill, then spill into the latest fashion trends worn my celebrities or tell what happen on a popular night time soap opera.

This type of reporting is a sort of “News on Demand” where what is popular is talked about. Entertainment is huge in this country and when a particular news broadcast, or station receives a good reception from viewers, it stays on the air. It is all about ratings, and because our society constantly changes, the level, and quality of news changes. These factors are neither good nor bad but are just a clear reality of where we are as a society. News can be all-encompassing and serve as a great way to learn about sports, educate ourselves and children about current events, and but also learn about what is going on with our favorite celebrities in the area of achievements, crime, marriage and more.

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Sports Heroes-Teaching Valuable, Lifelong Lessons

May 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment
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There is so much in the news today in the area of sports that seem to captivate just about any sports enthusiast. If you love golf, you may be disappointed to learn the latest sporting performance of one of the worlds greatest golf players-Tiger Woods, and if basketball is your sport, the playoffs may have had you on the edge of your seat. Although these sports events and many others are a great form of entertainment, it is great to know that our favorite sports heroes have done much to get young people physically involved in sports.

Just as some fashion models or celebrities get young teens wearing the latest fashion trends when they themselves wear them, a sports hero can encourage a young person to get involved in sports. Tiger Woods has greatly influenced the game of golf and not only got more people to watch the game but has greatly influenced the amount of young people learning and loving the game. The same goes for basketball as both men and women are playing professionally and giving praise to their sports heroes to who they claim to have been their inspiration.

We have also seen a lot of news about the personal lives of those in sports that may have shown them in a not-so favorable light. Although the media may try to capitalize on the negativity that goes on in the lives of many of our sports heroes, let us not forget why we loved them in the first place. Remember the self-sacrifice they put toward the game that encouraged us  to strive and reach our goals.

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Can You Believe All That You Hear In The News?

March 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Believing all that you hear in the news is something only naïve people do these days. There was a time when all the news that was on the newspaper and also on the television was true and real. These days, there are many more false news items and paid news items that are seen on television and read on newspapers.

So the answer that one will say to the question if all that is read on papers are true, will be a emphatic No.

There are many instances where the news has been false. The people who gather the news these days are mainly low paid journalists. Those who are paid a huge amount of money are covering the major events that have national importance. These people are the true journalists who are not influenced by the other people and give the true information to readers and viewers. The low paid journalists on the other hand, will provide news that they are influenced to present. They are paid money for these advertisements that pass on as news.

This has increased in the recent times, especially during times of elections. This kind of news has started unduly influencing certain sections of the society against another political party. As there are many people inserting such news items in the newspapers, it has caused people to not be able to differentiate the various true news items and the paid news.
So, any person who hears the news cannot believe all that is said or read in the news items. Since the paid news items are causing a lot of problems to the society, the newspaper associations and the many media houses are trying to prevent such paid news.

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The Ashes Cricket Series

March 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Ashes is a tournament that is played in cricket between Australia and England. This is one of the famous clashes in the world of cricket. Once in every 2 years, the two counties meet in what is considered to be a battle of the titans. This is because of the fact that these two countries were supposed to be in the pinnacle of the cricketing world.

Over the years, there have been various tournaments that have taken over the glamour of the game, but one of the much awaited test series is the Ashes tournament. The tournament itself is fought just for an urn of ashes, but that is not where the heart of the cricketers is. The heart of the cricketers who play for their country in the tournament is for the pride of their country.

The television rating of the cricket matches reaches the pinnacle in these two countries. It is also followed in many other parts of the world. So, it is a great clash between the two countries in this sport. Australia has been the main team that has been winning the tournament for many years. This is because of the availability of many quality players in the team over the years. In the last two series, there has been a reversal in fortunes with more wins for England. This is because of two reasons. England has had some wonderful cricketers joining their ranke in the last few years and Australia has seen some of their match winners retire. The tournament is sure to become more popular in the coming years as the teams will continue to fight for the urn that contains nothing but the ashes!

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Entertainment On Television

March 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Television has been one of the traditional methods of providing entertainment to the people. This is because of the fact that many people have had a television set for many years. The availability of many channels also give an opportunity for the viewer to choose the program that they would like to watch. As there are many different channels all providing either entertainment or news, the viewer seems to get an overdose of entertainment.

The availability of various kinds of entertainment choices these days has made the television to take a back seat in providing entertainment to the masses. Today, the internet is available as a means of entertainment. Other than the internet, the availability of many hand held devices have also made it possible for the people to have a lot of choice as far as the entertainment is concerned. The advantage of these devices is that the person using them will have them even while traveling and this helps the devices to provide entertainment on the move, which is not available with the television.

There has been a lot of changes that have been happening in the recent years as far as the television industry is concerned. The producers and the sponsors have been moving to different methods of providing entertainment, so that their viewers rating is high and there are more viewers for their channel. This has caused the birth of reality shows. The recent trend in increasing the entertainment is to have a reality show running. It remains to be seen if there is further metamorphosis in the television entertainment industry to attract more viewers and to increase the entertainment that is provided to the viewers on television.

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Talent Needed In Events Management

March 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Event management is a career that many people have taken up. This is because of the opportunities to excel in this profession. Managing various activities is a skill that only some people have got. These people need a lot of ability to face varying situations and arrange events. There are many kinds of talents that are needed in events management. These talents that are required are listed here.

The events manager should have a lot of contacts. Networking is very important for this profession and those who are in it because the role of using the contacts to get business is one of the methods in which people will survive. The other reason for the importance of the talent to be needed in events management is that for an event, there are many needs and all these are met by different people with varied talent. The events manager is able to contact all these people and conduct the event so that it is a grand success.

There are times when there could be something that goes wrong. When such a situation arises, the events manager needs to have the presence of mind to make sure that the event does not get marred by the aberration, but goes on and still gets adequate applause from the people who have assembled for the event.

The events manager also needs to be a great planner. This is because meticulous planning is needed for the event to be conducted perfectly. There are many things that can go wrong and the event manager should foresee all these problems and make adequate precautions to overcome such problems. These are the major talents that are needed in events management.

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