We have been studying the impact of Reality TV on the audience through textual analysis.One of the Questions we have analysed is why the audiences find appeal in the concept of ,effectively, watching other people live their lives.
I think the appeal is easiest to identify in the modern world. For example, for the same reasons people take great intrest in Reality TV, the same mind sets and themes are what drives social networking. If you're on Facebook, you consume mass amounts of other peeoples lives. A portion of them is on the web, for all to see.
Both tend to be interactive experiences as well. If you dislike somone on a show like Big Brother then you can interact by voting them off. If you're on Facebook and somone posts content you disagree with, you can block them as a friend. Reality TV and Social Networking allow you to become a part of someones life that you don't know, without any consequences. We all have a nosy neighbour quality.
I have explored Audience Response theories in my textual analysis, which explain WHY the audience feel this way. I felt the best application here was the Uses and Gratifications theory, which explains how the audience get something out of the experience.
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