The Reality Of It All

Have you ever really taken a look at reality television and wondered how much of it is actually reality? First we must define "reality". Reality, according to Merriam-Webster (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reality) is the quality or state of being real. I suppose that you could say that this applies to everything then. In my opinion reality television is a partial reality. In most cases real people (as opposed to fake people) are dropped into an environment that has been pre-structured to encompass particular situations that will evoke almost predetermined responses from the participants. By being able to pre-qualify candidates for these shows and extensively interview and run psycho-analysis testing on them, they can already have determined a series of outcomes to different situations, thus making these shows almost as well planned and organized as your average sitcom with one distinct difference...CASH MONEY! (http://www.businessinsider.com/jersey-shore-stars-want-a-raise-mtv-should-give-it-to-them-2010-1) Jersey Shore stars are still finalizing negotiations to earn them upward of $10,000 per episode This is a punch in the face when you consider the advertising money brought into MTV by the show. Real TV stars would never accept this. Remember a little show called Seinfeld? Peep out the link to learn what a good salary in television looks like.(http://www.hollywood.com/news/EXTRA_Greedy_Friends_or_Justified_Friends/312238) Reality television has simply found a way to keep the masses busy watching a different type of nonsense while "The Man" (always wanted to say that) amasses great wealth all while influencing our decisions with product placement. I wish I'd have thought of it. As much as we all try to pretend that we are individuals that make decisions based on our own needs, many of us fail to realize that most of those decisions are skewed toward what others want us to need. All of these shows influence us making us do and act in certain ways. Media can be a very powerful thing, especially if people believe that the reality that they see on TV is real. At the end of the day though, it's a crazy and confusing world out there and at least there is a balance to all the chaos.