A Shift Of Reality Essay Research Paper

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A Shift Of Reality Essay, Research Paper A Shift of Reality The new television genre of reality shows is becoming so popular because they offer an alternate sense of reality. What is reality and is there only one interpretation or many different ones? There is no one reality because reality shifts. The dictionary definition of reality is the following: Reality is the state of things as they are rather than as they are imagined to be. Realities are facts. Just like reality, facts also shift. There could be a newspaper article about an earthquake in Los Angeles and it would describe the damage and deaths, which are facts. Another edition of the newspaper may come out a few days later with new information and more deaths to account for which would then cause the facts to shift.

Virtual reality is the set of images and sounds produced by a computer which seem to represent a place or situation in which a person experiencing it can take part but is this really reality? There cannot be just one reality that is universal to everyone because along with the always-changing context, people s perception also changes on a regular basis. To help illustrate this, reality television programs have been created. Of course the producers of these television shows do not want the viewers to grasp such distinctions between reality and the shows they are producing because it might jeopardize the product they are trying to sell. Unfortunately, the people who buy into these reality shows far out-weigh the ones who don t. Ten years ago, producers recognized there was a whole

new genre of programming out there. Today, the reality craze is now under way in full force. New shows are being introduced one right after another. Producers have created shows like Big Brother, Survivor, Real World, Blind Date and Temptation Island because of the popularity of this new genre of reality shows. But why are these shows so popular and how real are they or in what sense are they real? Why have these reality shows taken over and have somewhat replaced TV sitcoms and movies? Aren t there similarities between the two? These shows are so popular because they deal with real life issues and problems that happen in every day lives of people in our society. Of course in real life, you might not go to Belize to cheat on a significant other but the thrill of it excited the

viewers. They deal with concepts that could happen to you and we, as people are curious about how to react to these same situations without actually having to be in them at the present moment. We continue to watch these shows because we associate to a character that is similar to ourselves and we concentrate on that character s interactions and relationships with others. But how real are these character s reactions. Of course they don t have a script but they know that they were picked because they could full-fill some caricature and they play up to this role they were given. We get pulled in and become curious to what is going to happen next. We want to see our character and what they do next or what is in store for them. You could almost say that we become addicted to the

television shows. Not only do we watch these shows for real life comparisons but we also watch them because they are just entertaining and fun to watch. Sometimes the stuff that happens is so far fetched that you just have to laugh at the thought of it actually happening. People like these shows because they can laugh at the situations being portrayed and know that they don t have to deal with them themselves and because it isn t happening to them. These shows offer an alternate sense of reality where there seems to be no consequences or the consequences seem fake or staged because it is a television show. How real are these television shows and can you really compare them to real life reality? Take Real World and Temptation Island. Real World is about six strangers who go