Deceit of Reality
The Deceit of Reality When it comes to reality TV, "reality" becomes a problem, a story created by producers and editors. The media exploits people who grope for airtime, who will do anything for their five minutes of fame, and are willing to bare their souls, or their bodies, for that matter, on national television. Neal Gabler wrote a piece on "Grieving for the Camera" which discusses the problems with the news today. According to Gabler, when people are in a state of grief, they are vulnerable. They become an easy target to be manipulated into whoever the producers think will make a good story. In "Confessions of a TV Talk Show Shrink," a media psychologist named Stewart Fischoff reveals his relationship with TV talk shows and analyzes the effect that the media has on reality. He believes that the false portraying of reality is an immoral practice. When it comes to "reality" TV shows, Debra Seagal goes behind the scenes and shows the influence that editors have to rearrange "reality" in "Tales From the Cutting-Room Floor." This manipulation becomes a danger to the passive viewers for people become fodder for the recreation of reality. "Reality" TV is no more than a falsity of reality which creates a problem of fraudulence in society. How far will we let this go? In "Grieving for the Camera," Gabler 's main argument is a question. "Why do people who have suffered terrible loss now routinely bare their souls for television? (Gabler, 153)" The whole idea of privacy has changed. When it was proper to keep your grief behind the scenes, we admired people for their self control, their strength and the how they "held up" is such a horrible situation (Gabler, 154). There was a fine line between publicity and privacy. But the world has changed, and so has the way we act in these distressing situations. People don 't want to be in such situations themselves but they like to see how others react to events. This public conduct has become completely
Cited: Gabler, Neal. "Grieving for the Camera." Los Angeles Times. 1996: 153-55. Fischoff, Stewart. "Confessions of a TV Talk Show Shrink." Psychology Today. 1995: 120-131. Seagal, Debra. "Tales from the Cutting-Room Floor." Harper 's Magazine. 1993: 409-423. "Reality TV Secrets Revealed." VH1. 2005.