The Entertainemnt Industry Essay Research Paper In

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The Entertainemnt Industry Essay, Research Paper In the past five years, the entertainment industry has been more and more focused on the idea of reality-based entertainment. This vast desire for seemingly live television has made a great impact upon major network television stations. Shows such as MTV?s Real World and CBS?s Survivor are great indicators of society?s obsession with drama in a ?live? situation. It seems our infatuation with these shows stems from our desire to focus our attention away from our own tribulations and focus on problems elsewhere. Our mysterious want for conflict among others has forced many networks to provoke such drama, for example in Survivor, where castaways are forced to take sides and vote another member off the island. This idea of social

Darwinism in shows like Survivor and the ever so popular Big Brother force major networks to create entertainment that both provoke and stimulate disagreement among participants. Personally, I feel that because of television?s fixation with reality-based programs, people are now turning to the movie industry to get away from such realistic forms of entertainment. Popular movies such as Bedazzled, The Ladies Man, and The Exorcist all deal with fantasy type situations. Bedazzled, starring Brendan Frasier and Elizabeth Hurley is about a man who sells his soul to the devil, played by Hurley. Moviegoers can simply escape reality for a few hours by entertaining themselves with themes such as this. Genres focusing on such fantasy are rarely seen on prime-time television these days,

especially on the major networks such as FOX and ABC. Why is this? Well my impression is that people feel as if they deserve to come home and take their mind of the troubles they had for the day. By being able to watch shows such as ER, which ranked first among viewers this past week, people can direct their attention onto another person?s drama while ignoring their own. Voyeurism today is clearly an indicator of change in taste for viewers around the world. According to Time Almanac:1999, the top three shows of 1998 were Seinfeld, Veronica?s Closet, and Friends. If you look at the top three shows during months while a reality based show is being aired, you will most typically find that show to be number one among viewers in the rankings. This growing trend of live-based

entertainment is setting a new stage for twenty first century viewers today. Real-life issues however can be distorted at times when being seen second hand. MTV?s Real World has been accused several times of editing their tape purposely to show conflict for the viewers. From my perspective, I do not see how you cannot purposely create conflict when you put seven completely different people into one house. Add cameras and you are guaranteed drama. This was the same for CBS?s Big Brother this past season. Although the majority of time residents got along just fine, there were many scenes that focused on the personal problems of those living in the house. Whether it dealt with a crush on another member of the house, or a disagreement, viewers were able to relate their issues to

those in the house, making them feel as if they are not alone. This is a primary reason why we see such an increase in reality-based television these days. If you analyze current rankings among primetime network shows, you will not find as many reality based shows. This is because seasons of both Survivor and Big Brother have just ended. New series? will be coming out sometime in 2001, where networks feel the impact will be even greater than last time. ABC?s Who Wants To Be A Millionaire is however still one of the top syndicated shows in the industry today. This provides both a trivial and real life perspective for viewers out there. Unlike its other competitors in the world of ?live based? television, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire gives those who watch substance, instead of