Voyeuristic

 =__**VOYEURISTIC**__=

There’s an old adage about walking a mile in a person’s shoes which suggests that only by sharing a person’s experiences can we really know them. The Voyeuristic subgenre of reality television takes that to an extreme.

Voyeuristic television (VTV) is primarily concerned with dramatic unscripted behavior. While the shows are ostensibly focused on displaying ordinary, everyday activities, in actuality the focus is purely on the sensational. Through careful editing, producers maximize conflict and spectacle, provoking viewers' empathy and judgment. Even though audiences are aware of these manipulations, they enjoy the thrill of having an intimate window into another person’s life, and the illusion of familiarity that comes with it.

There are four categories of VTV: Celebrity, Amateur, Hidden Camera, and Hoax. The following five artifacts demonstrate the convergence of reality television, celebrity, and web 2.0 technologies.

**1. Kim Kardashian's Twitter Feed**
The **CELEBRITY** category capitalizes on society's long-standing infatuation with the rich and famous. Reality shows typically remove celebrities from their usual element, providing glimpses into their daily activities and behind-the-scenes life. These activities are both familiar and unfamiliar, exciting and mundane. Thus, even though the shows glamorize, they also provide an image of accessibility and “they’re just like us” similarity. These shows exploded in popularity with the advent of //The Anna Nicole Show// (2002) and //The Osbournes// (2002), which followed the daily lives of an ex-Playboy model and famous rock star (Ozzy Osbourne, formerly of Black Sabbath) respectively.

Although a latecomer to the scene, one of the more famous participants in a reality show is Kim Kardashian, a celebutante that partially owes her fame to the success of her friend Paris Hilton, heiress and star of the early reality show //The Simple Life// (2003). Kardashian, whose family debuted in //Keeping Up With the Kardashians// in 2007, ranked in the top 10 largest followings on Twitter. On April 18, 2011, the website [] listed her as 5th, with 7,183,458 followers.

The recording below has two sections; on the left are tweets to and about Kardashian. On the right is her personal Twitter account, from which her personal tweets are sent. Three hours were sampled, though they have been compressed into fifteen minutes--a symbol, perhaps, of the fleeting nature of both tweets and fame.

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**2. The Hills Facebook Page**
While similar to celebrity shows in their depiction of everyday life, the participants in **AMATEUR** shows began as unknowns, rather than being already famous. Shows such as //The Real World// (1992), //Road Rules// (1994) and //Jersey Shore// (2009) introduced viewers to groups of strangers living or traveling together, while later productions like //My Super Sweet 16// (2005), //Jon & Kate Plus 8// (2007) and //Teen Mom// (2009) brought the camera into individual households and lives, often addressing situations that were more relevant to viewers' lives than scripted television. Despite the occasionally unflattering drama, the participants in these shows were frequently catapulted into fame.

Exemplifying the rise from non-celebrity to celebrity was //Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County// (2004), an MTV show that followed the lives of several wealthy teenagers living in California. While each season introduced a new cast, the themes were consistent: romance and unrequited love, friendship and rivalry, and wealth. Its success led to the creation of a spin-off, //The Hills// (2006), which followed the personal lives of several young women in Los Angeles, revolving first around Lauren Conrad and later Kristin Cavallari--both of whom made their name on Laguna Beach.

Though The Hills wrapped after six seasons, it generated a strong following that lasted long afterwards. The images below are snapshots of a Facebook fan page for The Hills. After the show’s end, it enabled over three million fans to keep up on any news regarding its former stars, view photographs and videos, and hold ongoing discussions.







3. The Real Housewives Wiki
Another popular amateur series was //The Real Housewives Of...// Premiering in 2006, it followed the daily lives and interpersonal drama of bourgeois women of overlapping social circles in various American cities. It highlighted the lavish, appearance-obsessed lifestyle of these housewives and professional women, as well as the repercussions of the construction-real estate crash and subsequent recession.

Artifact three is a wiki created by fans to track information about this series. Among other features, it contained episode ratings, blog entries, and video highlights. As of April 2011, it had 380,478 registered members. Some of the pages are incomplete or awaiting editing, an indicator of the amount of work required to adequately document a show and the need for communal participation.





4. Punk'd video
Descendents of the original //Candid Camera//, **HIDDEN CAMERA** shows attempt to catch participants in unusual or absurd situations. The victims of these pranks are usually unaware they are being filmed, or only alerted to the possibility without the precise knowledge of when. This necessitates the signing of a release form that provides consent to use the footage for a show. Some hidden camera shows have led to lawsuits or denials, particularly those who found the setup or their reaction to it particularly unpleasant.

The genre began to blossom with //Buzzkill// (1996), an MTV show that focused not only on the victims, but the performer of the pranks as well. Shows such as //The Jamie Kennedy Experiment// (2002), //Punk’d// (2003), //Scare Tactics// (2003), and //Room 401// (2007) were also highly successful. The word “punk’d” became common parlance for being “fooled, tricked, made the butt of a practical joke”.

//Punk’d// ran for eight seasons. A list of its 64 episodes shows the wide range of practical jokes and targeted celebrities. The clip below was a popular episode of //Punk’d//, in which fellow reality television celebrity Simon Cowell--host of //American Idol// seasons 1-9--was pranked by his cohosts.

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It’s worth noting that Ashton Kutcher, who hosted //Punk’d//, ranked 6th on the aforementioned Twitter list, just behind Kim Kardashian.

In **HOAX** reality shows, some or most of the participants are either ignorant about the show’s true purpose or laboring under a false premise. The remainder of the cast are typically actors who are in on the joke.

Often, these shows would parody other reality television shows. For example, in 2003’s Joe Schmo show, one person was led to believe they were a contestant on a reality show. In actuality, everyone else on the show was a hired actor, acting according to perceived reality television stereotypes (the rich girl, the smarmy host, the token minority, the virgin, etc.)

Other examples include:
 * //My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss//, parodying //The Apprentice//, where contestants are competing for a prestigious job for a large conglomerate, neither of which exist
 * //Hell Date//, parodying //Blind Date//, in which a person goes on a blind date, not knowing the date is an actor that exhibits numerous off-putting behaviors and annoying traits
 * //Superstar USA//, parodying //American Idol//, which told contestants judges were looking for the best singer, when in actuality they would choose the worst

Not every hoax show was a direct parody. //Space Cadets// convinced participants they were being flown into space. In //Invasion: Iowa//, actor William Shatner pretended to be filming a large budget movie in a small town. //Reality Hell// had different plots and premises in each episode. In all of these shows, however, the goal was to elicit comedic responses from those not in on the hoax.

**5. Reality star media coverage slideshow**
Reality television blurs the lines between authenticity and invention, public and private, voyeurism and transgression. The obsession with the lives of others--as well as the expectation that people are always on display--is a symptom of our times, and perhaps of a greater illness. Regardless, reality tv’s impact on popular culture of the 1990’s and 2000’s is undeniable, alluding not only to who we are, but who we wish we were and want to be.

The final artifact, a slideshow, demonstrates how pervasive reality television has become, with popular media devoting extreme amounts of coverage to reality stars--more, usually, than the show itself. While it’s tempting to dismiss some of the magazines as “gossip rags”, these stars find themselves on the covers of numerous reputable magazines, interviewed by leading reporters and treated as role models--or cautionary tales--for the next generation.

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