COMM 322 Final Project: The "Real" in Reality TV

I could not get the video to embed for some reason, so here is the link for our final project video..

Comparing Reality TV with One's Own Reality

I tend to watch reality TV shows with my family, as it is something that makes us bond...and give us something to bitch about. When we watch these shows, we tend to see people on them that remind us of people we know in real life. When I watch "Duck Dynasty," they remind me a bit of my dad's side of the family. Now, they do not do any hunting, nor do they have a billon dollar business. But, the characters on the show and their behavior and mannerisms remind me a lot of my grandparents, aunts, and uncles in my family that come from my dad's side. They are a rural family and have been farming since the 1940s and still going strong. They tend to be a little more...out of the loop with today's society and seem to be a little more traditional leaning, while still trying to get their foot into the modern day. They can be really goofy like the "Duck Dynasty" folk. In fact, Uncle Si reminds me way too much of my grandpa, from the excessive amounts of tea to the metaphors he cooks up. It's like they were long lost brothers. Not only do I like the show for the characters and the things they do, but the fact it reminds me of my family makes me relate to the characters just a little bit. Another show that I tend to compare people I know or my mother knows is "Real Housewives." My mom knows several people like the housewives on the show, and through her, I know a few of them too, and I can see how my mom thinks some of the ladies she knows remind her of the housewives. Now, they are not as looney tunes and wealthy as the ladies on "Housewives," but they can be pretty gossipy, dress extravagantly for no reason at all (well, extravagant for a town in Indiana, that is), and can come off a bit bitchy. My mom thinks that a coldesac in the neighborhood is where the "Housewives" reside and do their bitching and partying there. One other show that reminds me of a person I know in real life is "Dance Moms." Now, I only know of this show through my sister. I DO NOT WATCH. But, I am familiar with the head honcho of the show that they call Abby Lee. She tends to remind me a LOT of a girl I dated's mother. What makes it funnier is that the girl I dated was a dancer and was very good too, going to state and everything in high school, and her mom was at every meet, getting down and getting with it with the best of them. The cherry on top though? Her mother recently dressed up as Abby Lee for Halloween. Basically, she was being herself, but much more glamourous. Even though these reality shows can come off as a little much and hardly believable, there are times where I feel they can nail certain stereotypes right on the head. But, in my case, what makes it reality television is the fact that these characters in these shows can remind one of somebody they know, making the whole reality deal all the clearer to me.

Vicariously Gaming

Now, I do not game much anymore. In fact, it's been since junior year of high school since I've touched a video game. But, long ago, in a childhood that seems SO FAR AWAY, I did dig video games. I used these video games as a way to make myself believe that I was able to do things that I knew I could not quite do in real life. Two video games that come to mind that I truly dug for the purposes of feeling like I could do cool things are the Tony Hawk series of games and Guitar Hero series of games. Tony Hawk games were where I truly fell in love with the idea. I was skating all over these vast environments, wreaking havoc wherever I skated. I looked like a badass doing it too, as I could customize my character in these games and have him look close to what I wish I could look like. But, I did not look the way I did in the video game, with my cool long hair, sunglasses, checkered Vans, weathered jeans, and Girl skateboards shirt. I knew I couldn't either. I was not able to pull off long hair. Whenever I grew out my hair, it'd look like a Jew fro. I did not have a cool pair of sunglasses like my character in the game. I may have had the shoes and jeans, but I did not wear skateboard brand shirts, as I could not truly skateboard, which was another reason I loved the game. It actually FELT like I knew how to skate. I knew the lingo, the tricks, the parts of the board, etc. But, I could not skateboard if my life depended on it. I tried it out for a couple years in middle school, but I made absolutely no progress, and I was too much of a pussy to keep at it. So, I sold my shitty "poser" Wal Mart board and went on with my life knowing I would not look as cool as a skater, nor could I skate like them either. But, when playing those Tony Hawk games, I could do those things. I could look like a badass, and I could skate. With the Guitar Hero games, it made me feel like I could actually play guitar. It made me feel like the rockstar I was wanting to be, but knew I could not. I tried playing guitar multiple times from when I was five years old up until I was thirteen. It seemed like I times I could grasp playing, but that was not the case. I was not like Jimmy Page, Chuck Berry, or Angus Young. I only wish that I was. Guitarists were the ones that got the chicks and the attention along with the singer. They were upfront slaying the audience with their sweet licks and solos. I always wanted that and that's why I tried to play guitar. But, I could not get into it like I thought I would, so I decided to hang back, keep rhythm, and play drums like I have been since I was thirteen. But, when I play Guitar Hero, I can actually feel like the badass guitarists I had dug so much. I could play the "Free Bird" solo like Allen Collins and Gary Rossington in Skynyrd, or crank out Van Halen songs by pushing 5 buttons and strumming as simple as that. I knew that I could not even come close to playing those in real life, but when I plugged in that controller to the X-Box, I could play with the best of them, and it felt absolutely badass.

I Want to Be Like KISS

I was obsessed with music since I was a wee little lass. I grew up on country music my family would play in the house. I was always dancing around to it in my playpen as a kid. I wore cowboy boots and a cowboy hat. I was obsessed with the whole cowboy deal. I wanted to be like Garth Brooks when I was little...until a certain band came into my life that just turned my world upside down. Now, before I got into this said band, I was into rock music as I got to be around 5 years old. My parents listened to rock as well as country, from time to time. My mom dug Motley Crue and Aerosmith and my dad dug Def Leppard and Styx. So, I would take that in as a kid and really enjoy it. But, then, I was watching TV one day when I was 5. I see these 4 guys on the screen in platform shoes, black and silver studded tights, big hair, and kabuki-style makeup, surrounded by smoke and fire and big amplifiers. That band was KISS, and they warped my fragile little mind when I saw them on the screen. I had never seen anything of its kind before. It was so foreign to me, but oh so fascinating. I liked the music a lot. It fell along the lines of the rock music I was already listening to as a kid. But, this was the first time I really put the music together with the image. They seemed like superheroes to me. One was a Cat, one was a Spaceman, one was a Demon, and one was a Starchild. It looked like they belonged in a comic book. But, what separated them from the comic book culture was the instruments and the music. I was hooked ever since seeing them on TV. I started to mimic their moves. I would pretend to slam my toy guitar like Paul Stanley did on stage. I would pretend the ketchup I ate with my Burger King fries was blood and spit it out like Gene Simmons. I would air guitar KISS songs and get into full Ace Frehley mode and mimic his moves on stage. I would draw in my drawing pad bands that were similar to KISS and give them names like Torpedo or something cheesy like that. I had posters in my room of them. I had toy cars with KISS on them. I had t-shirts. I even got what records of theirs I could from anybody I could, from family members to my friends' families. I was never into something like this before until KISS came along. My mom thought it was a bit disturbing at first, but when she saw it wasn't harming me much, she eased up a bit. She would let me know that it was just a show they were putting on and that they really weren't doing those things for real, kind of like the wrestlers of my time. Over time, I would grow out of the mimicry, but I still would wear the shirts and have the posters on my wall. The music became more important to me than their stage moves. I got moved by the loud guitars and pounding beats. I then fell in love with rock n' roll music because of KISS. Without them, I really don't know how I would have turned out today. Would I be into music as much as I am? Would I be way more into country music? Would I even like music at all? So, I thank them big time for coming into my life and changing it the way they did. Yeah, I don't really listen to them as much as I did when I was younger, and I feel like they are more of a joke now because of their age, but I will never forget the effect they have had on my life. Now, excuse me, as I go rock n' roll all night, and party every other weekend.

The Whiteness of Black Families on 90s Television Shows

It could be just me, I don't know, but, as I got older and started to watch shows I watched growing up in the 90s, I started to notice how..."consumer friendly" shows like Fresh Prince, the Cosby Show, and Family Matters really were. By "consumer friendly," I should say white friendly. It's odd because those shows I mentioned above were centered around African American families and their lives. Why do I find them to be white friendly? Because the people in those shows...well, they were made more accessible to the viewing community. It's like they downplayed the African American-ness at times on these shows. Fresh Prince is a pretty good example of this. They throw in a family-friendly "homeboy" from the streets of Philly and have him live with some upper class family members in Bel Air, CA. These upper class family members...well, their behaviors seem to be more associated with how white people tend to act. Carlton, for example, is a Tom Jones-loving, awkward dancing ivy league student who likes to get down in loafers and sweaters. Hilary Banks is another example too. She's portrayed as a valley girl who shops and gossips with her friends, whom most of them, at least that I've seen on the show, are white. Carlton's friends tend to fall on the nerdy, white side too. Speaking of nerd, let's get into Family Matters. Steve Urkel...what a character he is. He broke lots of ground with a nerdiness that could even surpass some of the nerds in "Revenge of the Nerds." But, you never really saw nerds as African Americans. You tended to see that in white people on shows. The Cosby Show was a pretty groundbreaking show too, for it's time. An African American family with good-mannered kids who could make some bad decisions, at times, with parents who have high class jobs, like doctors and lawyers. That was not seen amongst viewers before: a successful African American family. But, the thing is, with these shows, they make these African American families seem successful, but make them act rather white. Occasionally, they will act like how people would expect of African Americans, but most of the time, their behaviors would deem to be white. Man, as I type this, it seems as if I am coming off racist, but I honestly am not. It's just something I have observed as I have watched these shows with a new light. When have actual African Americans been portrayed as successful? Tyler Perry has done good of that lately. But, it seemed as if back in the day, shows like Sanford and Son, the Jeffersons, Good Times, etc., had actual African Americans with problems that tended to be associated with them in the media (financial problems, crap jobs, trouble, etc.) But, while I think of it, there is African Americans like the ones portrayed in Fresh Prince and Family Matters. There are black people that put aside stereotypes and can be who they want to be. There can be rich families that are African Americans. There can be nerdy African Americans. It just seemed as if, at the time these shows were put out, such things did not exist amongst average viewers. These shows are pretty groundbreaking in that sense. They came and broke down these stereotypes people have associated with African Americans and said, "HEY! We can be like you too."

A World with Anti-Heroes

There seems to be this string of shows going on at the moment that have the main characters towing the line between good and evil. "Sons of Anarchy," "Breaking Bad," and "Mad Men" come to mind when I think of these kind of characters. The media likes to call these characters "anti-heroes." These characters tend to do things they feel are right for the people around them and for themselves, but really, they are hurting everyone around them, as well as themselves. Walter White is wanting to do right for his family, but, how is he doing it? By making crystal meth, betraying people loyal to him, and killing almost anyone who gets in his way. Jax Teller wanting to get his family out of Charming? Not without him fighting and manipulating the people around him first. These people are honestly trying to do the right thing the wrong way. You can feel that too when they do these things on screen. I know I still root for these people to succeed even though these people are pretty big scumbags. Why? It's just a show. I'm entertained by the fact these people are doing these low-brow things to make sure they make the people around them happy. But, then again, it makes me wonder whether or not there really are people that can be like this. It makes me wonder if there is a meth dealer out there that is only doing it so he can pay for his family and his happiness. It makes me wonder if those biker gangs out there are really committing all these crimes just so they can get out of dodge and live a happy life with their families. It makes me wonder if there really is people in ad agencies who sleep around and drink their way through the day...wait, that last one is definitely believable. But, the other two? What about the meth dealers and bikers? Do these shows change how I think of those kind of people? Does it make me believe these people perhaps do have a heart buried beneath that rough interior of theirs? Honestly, yeah, I do. Because, how these people are portrayed in these shows still make them very human. Even though the things they are doing are pretty horrible, I can still see some of that going down for the exact reasons why the people on TV are doing them. Perhaps that is truly why I love these shows the most. It draws this fine line between fantasy and reality, but can definitely be very realistic at times. Thank god for the anti-heroes. It's nice to see the bad guys win once, for a change.