Hey im knew here and heard you guys were good for help
I am just starting one of my GCSE media coursework peices. It has to have many references to "truman Show" Any help would be really appreciated
Oh and btw i am alowed to get help as long as i write it
English coursework- Reality TV.
Reality TV is a genre of TV of which do not possess a script, although the presenter often has a script so they can alter the viewers feelings by telling them information that will have a certain reaction. This is so the television company can give the perception to the viewers that this is their normal behaviour and reaction to a certain environment or situation. Hence “reality”- reality is the real nature of things, rather than the way someone imagines it.
Television company’s commission reality TV shows because they know how popular they are and therefore will gain great profits through high TV ratings and phone ins. The televisions companies know how cheap the reality TV shows are to make and how simple most of the basic concepts are. Phone ins are usually for a vote and can normally fund the whole series plus great profit just on the money made from people phoning in to vote for their favourite competitor. These votes affect the outcome of the show, so the viewers feel involved with the programme because they also believe they are making a difference.
People like to feel better about themselves and their lives so the TV companies often show people in negative situations where they are stressed or are under pressure. People enjoy the feeling of superiority of those being shown on the TV. Others often watch them for the feeling of hope, eg. The “move to another country” shows makes people still have hope that one day they could move to paradise. Some people start to depend on watching reality TV to be happy with their own lives. Phone ins are a good way to make the viewers feel involved with the show. If they think their vote is changing the outcome of the show. They will persist to choose to waste their money just to maintain the feeling of involvement with the show.
Celebrity- Celebrity come dancing- People get an opinion of celebrities based on tabloids, news or rumours. People of want to watch the celebrity reality programmes because they want to see if these people really are how they perceive them.
Fly on the wall- Big brother- People find it interesting to observe other people in controlled environment. They like to see relationships or arguments progress.
Voting/elimination- Big brother- People like to become involved and make a difference with their vote.
Talent quest- Pop idol- This often involves the viewers through interaction voting. As where the viewer phones in to vote who they believe is the best singer (in this case) also people love to have their favourites.
Advice shows- Trisha- People really like to feel superior to the people on these shows, it makes them feel better about their lives. They are also quite nosey and love to know about problems in other peoples lives.
Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey) is unaware that his entire life is a hugely popular 24-hour-a-day TV series. In this real-time documentary, every moment of Truman's existence is captured by concealed cameras and telecast to a giant global audience. His friends and family are actors who smile pleasantly at Truman's familiar catchphrase greeting, "In case I don't see you later, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!" Employed at an insurance company, Truman is married to merry Meryl (Laura Linney), and they live in the cheerful community of Seahaven, an island "paradise" where the weather is always mild and no unpleasantness intrudes. This is the basic situation of the series, which has grown over the years into a billion-dollar franchise for the TV network. As an unwanted pregnancy, Truman was adopted by the network and raised in the zoo like environment of a TV soundstage. Thus, the TV audience became hooked when Truman was very young. Now, at age 30, he still doesn't know he's a prisoner on an immense domed city-size soundstage, simulating Seahaven. Both the illusion and the ratings will collapse if Truman ever leaves Seahaven. In addition to elaborate events staged to make sure he stays put, Truman is given constant reminders of how wonderful Seahaven is compared to dangers in other parts of the world. However, his growing suspicions make him curious enough to try to leave, and the show's director and master manipulator Christof must constantly devise ways to repent Truman's escape attempts. To enter the harbour, Truman must overcome his fear of water, intentionally instilled in him when his father "died" in a boating accident and was written out of the script. He reaches the end of the city simulation when his boat collides with an invisible force field. The director that has been watching him through hidden disguised cameras talks to him from out of oblivion. He explains why he has made his life into a reality documentary and tells explains to him about the millions of people watching him. Although he tries to persuade him to stay and carry on his normal life, he leaves the stage.
The Truman show is a reality TV programme because it relates to the “fly on the wall”, showing someone who doesn’t have a script so whatever he does it completely natural to the environment and situations he is placed in. Although on most reality
TV shows the competitors know that people are watching them, they are sometimes unaware of secret cameras to catch situations where they are unprepared. It is also similar to most reality TV shows because the director, on a regular basis, can alter the environment to modify competitor’s behaviour. This can be done if they are not getting enough ratings. Eg on big brother if all the housemates are getting on fine, without any conflict of which gets more TV ratings, they will add another competitor in purposely because they think the characteristics of this person will have an affect of the others, causing arguments. Compared to the Truman show, when he is getting “boring” the director adds a woman he knows will be attracted to in the same office that he works in.
Viewers are often reminded that the Truman show is a reality TV show by using many television techniques, Cameras hidden inside secreted places (inside a pencil sharpener), this is like big brother, where people often are caught disclosing information of their secret thoughts, where they dont believe anyone can hear it. The talk over man allows people to become involved of the dramatic irony where you can see things being ordered but Truman is unaware of them. The control room is another enforcement to prompt the reality TV situation.
Other reality TV shows that use similar techniques include Big Brother, this show puts people in a controled environment that is watched 24 hours a day through secret cameras, they do this to try and attain the genuine behaviour of the people in the reality TV show, this is similar to the reasons that the Truman show film Truman 24 hours a day, although he has no recolection he is being filmed, and although the big brother housemates often claim “i completely forgot the cameras were there”, it is debaitable whether sometimes they alter their behaviour just because the know they are being watched.
People often respond to the film in a sympathetic way. When Truman is finding all these clues that gives him reason to believe his life is false, this is just Teasing the real audience to want him to find out. When we see the Director of the film trying to cover up all of these problems, it aggitates us and begins to give a nasty feel towards the director. The film purposely does this so that at the end of the film when he finally finds out and manages to escape from the false life, it becomes a happy ending because we have been made to feel that way towards him.
Finally, Is reality TV moral?, to answer this question I believe we have to understand the definition of “moral” being- “concerned with the principles of right and wrong behaviour and the goodness or badness of human character”. Hense the word “Wrong” meaning an unjust, dishonest, or immoral action. Therefor for somthing to be an “immoral” action, it must contradict against what is “right” to do to one another in a society. But how do we know what actions are Right and what actions are Wrong to execute to another human? This is where the Human Rights Act can define what is acceptable and non-acceptable. This was composed to give every person rights, subsiquently making all of us equal with equal oportunitys and equal standards of life. Anything that would stand against our Human Rights is seen to be wrong. Wrong representing the Immoral action. So it states, “liberty rights that protect freedoms in areas such as belief and religion, association, assembling and movement”. Movement representing “that a citizen of a state, in which that citizen is present, generally has the right to leave that state, travel wherever the citizen is welcome, and, with proper documentation, return to that state at any time; and also (of equal or greater importance) to travel to, reside in, and/or work in, any part of the state the citizen wishes without interference from the state.” So allready the Truman show has inflicted the human rights legislation by prohibiting his right to leave the state without interferance from the state. The interference of the state in this case is the director of the truman show of which aprehends his right to leave. Furthermore, it also states “due process rights that protect against abuses of the legal system such as imprisonment without trial, secret trials and excessive punishments” Imprisonment is where individuals are physically confined or interned and usually deprived of a range of personal freedoms. So again the Truman Show has inflicted Trumans human rights, by corperal punishment of restriction to the body with the absence of crime and recolection of the punishment. So based on the human rights legeslation is it seen the example of the truman show is an imoral version of reality TV. Although the Truman show was meant to be an extreme example of a reality show, it seems that some shows have actually started to intruduce secret filming where the main focus has no recolectin of being filmed, so as the extremities of reality TV goes on it seems they are getting more and more interfearing with how humans deserved to be treated, therefore become increasing less moral.
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