Reality TV

To be honest, "Modern" Reality TV is one of those genres that I simply CAN'T STAND.  It has been done to death and a number of shows that exist are created to appeal to the lowest common denominator.  They are usually focussed around elements such as a facade of friendship that devolves into backstabbing and arguments, often over the most petty of matters, the basic formula often being repeated over and over no matter the show.  But I digress, that isn't what I'm meant to be writing about. 


How does Hill define Reality TV?

The term "reality TV" has become so broad these days that the term "can be applied to any type of popular factual programming the industry wants to sell  to channels and viewers at home or abroad" (Hill, 2005). While Reality TV has become very popular, shows that can be classified as such can be traced back as far as the 1940s, with the show Candid Camera (Debuted in 1948), moving into the 60's and 70's with shows like An American Family (1973), The Family (1974), The Gong Show, and continuing into the new millenium with shows such as Changing Rooms (1996),  Survivor (which in fact originated as a show in 1997 called "Expedition Robinson"), American Idol, The GC and many, MANY more.  All different, but in some way all carrying similarities.

Hill also states that  "reality' TV" now is used usually to categorize programming as "cheap, tasteless, and compelling" (Hill, 2005). As much as I hate the genre myself, I must agree with this fact.  Reality shows are more and more being created to cater to the lowest common denominator and focus more on drama, arguments, backstabbing and the like, as I mentioned in my introduction.  I think the term "Train Wreck" fits quite nicely with some shows - it is the sort of situation where you WANT to look away, but sometimes you simply can't make yourself.

Cult TV

How does Buffy deconstruct traditional literary notions of good and evil?

The traditional sense of "Good vs Evil" is portrayed in a very much different sense as compared to more traditional works.  Most works typically tend to use your everyday "Black and White" Good vs Evil scenario, whereas in Buffy there is many shades of grey inbetween, characters that are good but have dark aspects to them ("Skeletons in their closet") and characters that are evil but have developed what would be considered "good" traits, whether it is by force or by voluntary will.

The biggest example of a character moving through almost the entire scale, plus how his traits are changed to an extent by force, would be Angel,  who when he experiences pure happiness, reverts to his polar opposite and becomes the demonic Angelus.

An example of a character who became good more out of obligation would be Spike, who has a microchip implanted in him by The Initiative, rendering him incapable of harming humans, as a result he helps the Scooby gang, even if it is a little reluctantly and eventually sides with them.

In contrast a prime example of a character who started out good, while becoming corrupted over the course of time, would be Willow, as she starts out casting spells that are beneficial to her friends but becomes more and more dependant on her magic and consumed by it until it reaches a point where she becomes a major villain, threatening to destroy the world.

Reality TV

How does Hill define reality TV?


Hill (2005) defines reality TV as a way to describe a range of factual programming that is popular.  He goes on to say that there are number of variations of styles as well as techniques that are associated with reality TV.  Some of these include; non-professional actors, surveillance footage, unscripted dialogue, seeing events unfold as seen through the camera, and hand-held cameras (to give the 'authentic' look).  The genre of reality has changed and has developed over the past decade.  Reality TV, in the early stages, was associated with on-scene footage.  However, more recently, reality TV is associated with a variety of things - there seems to be no limits.  

Reg and Cathy with two of their children - Cathy Come Home

Watching the early reality TV program Cathy Come Home, directed by Ken Loach, in class, I found it strange that it was classified as 'reality TV', simply because I had a different perception of the genre because of what I am exposed to today.  Cathy Come Home features the use of a handheld camera, and 'real life' issues that people face - in their case, poverty in Britain.  Even though, the program was scripted, the place of reality took place within the concept and meaning of the show rather than the 'actuality' or 'reality' of it.  

Robert Allen (as cited in Hill, 2005) discusses the limits of reality TV as a genre due to the blurred boundaries between fact and fiction.  Given this point, I think personally, watching Cathy Come Home I was able to distinguish between fact and fiction, but was able to also look at the base of reality with the story line.  Just because there was a script used and there were professional actors as the character roles, the filming technique and black-and-white effect on film naturally leans towards a reality TV genre.  


Hill, A. (2005) The reality genre. In A. Hill, Reality TV: Audiences and Popular
        Factual Television. (pp. 14 – 40). Oxon: Routledge.

Reality TV

Reality TV is a guilty pleasure of mine, as it is of many other people's. I know my parents are addicted to shows like American Idol, America's Got Talent, and Judge Judy. I find myself watching often the 'fly-on-the-wall' type of things such as Geordie Shore, which follow a documentary type of Reality-TV.


Documentary film making in the realist-approach was initiated in the 1920s and 1930s (Biressi, A. & Nunn, N., 2005). "The aim was to involve viewers in the general social process both at the micro level of the community and the macro level of the life of the nation." (Biressi, A. & Nunn, N., 2005, pg. 36).
Hill explains that Documentary television gave news and humorous or eccentric stories in the 1960s and 1970s (2005). When the genre collided with the tabloid-obsessed society, reality TV rose and the Documentary-genre of television had met it's 'demise'. When television shows focusing on emergencies and crimes, such as Rescue 911 became popular, a new type of trend appeared. It is referred to as 'infotainment' (Hill, 2005). This created a new form of television in the same documentary-style, as people became curious and gained the 'human-interest' aspect, halting the obsession with action-packed television (Hill, 2005).

You can see evidence of the human-interest in shows such as Survivor, which my parents watch frequently. This show allows you to view how people react in a "stranded on and island" situation, and what they would do to win 'the big money'. It combines the idea of a documentary-styled television with the Game-show subgenre of reality TV. You follow the people - real people - around and they include their comments on certain events, allowing you to get inside of their head in a video-diary type of way. This is a similar format to the one that was used in the screening of Cathy Come Home(1996), directed by Ken Loach, that we watched in the tutorial. The idea of her narration to the camera is evidently used in today's television. The scripted docu-soap had more of a sense of realism to it than most of reality TV today.

The most difficult thing I find about reality-television is when you can blatantly tell that the piece is scripted. It ruins the foundation for what reality-tv became famous for: the idea of factualism... realism behind what you see. Although I like the documentary-styled reality shows (particularly the "fly-on-the-wall" ones, because it gives you a feeling that the cameras are not there and this is how the people would normally act and live), when I watch the new "reality-television" that is on channels like MTV now-a-days, I feel like they assume I'm a fool. I understand the entertaining aspect of the silly shows like "Date My Mom" or the dating shows such as "A Shot At Love with Tila Tequila", I can't count the number of scripted lines they so obviously say. The way they speak infront of the "invisable" cameras on the dating shows allows me to believe for about 0.5 seconds that it is real, which breaks the whole idea of "reality" TV, as they quote out comebacks and silly lines.



           Hill, A. (2005) The rise of reality TV. In A. Hill, Reality TV: Audiences and Popular Factual Television. (pp. 15 – 40). Oxon: Routledge.


           Biressi, A. & Nunn, N. (2005). Real Lives, documentary approaches. In Reality TV: realism and revelation. (pp. 35-58) London: Wallflower.

Cult TV

 "... cult TV is best thought of as a group of texts, often hailing from the genres of science-fiction, fantasy, and horror." (Hills, 2004, page 509) 

In highschool, I spent a year studying the Horror Genre. It explained how the genre went from expressionism (such as in Nosferatu (1922), stemming from the expressionistic paintings such as the famous 'The Scream' painting (1893)) and grew to become post-modern, as seen in the topic for this week: Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The idea of post-modernism is for the genre to be made up of several sub-genres. It is defined as "a late 20th-century style and concept in the arts, architecture, and criticism, which represents a departure from modernism and is characterized by the self-conscious use of earlier styles and conventions, a mixing of different artistic styles and media, and a general distrust of theories." You can see an example of the self-conscious aspect in Buffy The Vampire Slayer in the episode 'Goodbye Iowa' where Buffy is watching Wiley-E-Cyote and says "That would never happen."  to which Willow replies "Well, no, Buff. That's why they call them cartoons, not documentaries." Also, you see this similar type of thing when Xander refers to them as the 'Scooby-Gang'. Their gang is a tight-knit community, which Hill (2004) describes to be one of the defining characteristics of Cult TV. The characters on Buffy are all close and trusting, which is important in this genre. "Here, relationships are often bound together through... the acceptance of characters' extraordinary status." (Hill, 2004, page 512). 
Hill (2004) explains further that the unresolved narrative between episodes is a key aspect of the Cult Tv, and the unresolved narrative would allow the genre to be in a sense like a soap opera. The questions you see at the end of each episode is replaced by new questions, thus creating an exciting and addicting series. 
Buffy is post-modern because it takes aspects of the 'Teen', 'Romance', 'Horror', 'Comedy' and 'Action' category, among many others. 

The monster in this episode is also taking from something in the past, as Post-modernism is known for. It already has taken the Vampire/monsters idea, and now Frankenstein idea (Frankenstein's monster) and allows it to play in out a new way.



(Buffy's Monster)                                                        (Frankenstein's Monster)

These post-modern qualities that are placed into the cult-tv world allow for the fanbase to become more enthralled in the storyline that takes place.



References:


             Hills, M. (2004). Defining Cult TV; Texts, Inter-texts and Fan Audiences, The Television Studies Reader, in R. C. Allen & A. Hill. London and New York: Routledge.



           Goodbye Iowa (Season 4 script from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) Retrieved 20 September, 2005 from: http://www.pukkie.net/reference/btvs_transcripts_season_4.pdf

Websites:

http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/postmodernism
http://www.thetvcritic.org/reviews/dramas/buffy-the-vampire-slayer/season-4/goodbye-iowa/
http://www.deadlantern.com/2008/01/09/famous-monsters-of-horrordom-1-frankensteins-monster-karloff/

Science-Fiction

"He was obsessed with the idea that the universe was only apparently real, and illusion behind which the truth might dwell." (Brown, E. (2001) Pg. vii) 

This idea presented by Brown allows me to believe that there is a more speculative-fiction quality in The Man in the High Castle, rather than a science-fiction aspect, although I can see both in the novel. 

Dictionary.com defines Science-Fiction as:

"a form of fiction that draws imaginatively on scientific knowledge and speculation in its plot, setting, theme, etc." (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/science+fiction)

and Defines Speculative-Fiction as:

"a broad literary genre encompassing any fiction with supernatural, fantastical, or futuristic elements" (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/speculative+fiction)

Jamie Todd Rubin, a Science fiction writer explains her views on the difference between 'Speculative' and 'Science' fiction. She expresses that the idea of 'Speculative' appears too broad and non-specific enough to the genre. "It is a misnomer: to speculate means to form a theory or conjecture without firm evidence." (Rubin, Jamie T. 2011 at http://www.jamierubin.net)
 This idea though seems quite specific to Man in the High Castle. From what I've discovered from Brown, PKD was very speculative about the idea that other worlds, better worlds may exist outside our own. This is shown through the way he expresses the 'What If?' aspects of his writing, such as the novel that 'Hawthorn Abendsen' created (The Grasshopper Lies Heavy), which explains the alternate world that would be if the Allies had won the war. The idea of a novel within an novel, to me, focuses on the idea of other worlds, as we focus on in real life with literature and films. Dystopian novels in particular (Such as Nineteen-Eighty-Four by George Orwell) show how things would be in an alternate universe, although they are from the authors idea of what could occur.

Although I may be slightly arguing with myself here, I would conclude to say that Man in the High Castle by Phillip K. Dick would be mainly a Speculative-Fiction novel (as Speculative-Fiction is a sub-genre of many, particularly of Science-Fiction).


References: 

Brown, E. (2001). Introduction. In Dick, P.K., The Man in the High Castle (p.v-xii). London: Penguin.

Websites: 
Retrieved on 21/10/2012: http://www.jamierubin.net/2011/01/25/speculative-fiction-vs-science-fiction/ 
Retrieved on 21/10/2012: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/science+fictionRetrieved on 21/10/2012: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/speculative+fiction

Anime

Anime is something that I grew up with in the States. It is nothing new to me and I've actually been brought up with Miyazaki films such as Kiki's Delivery Service(1989) and Spirited Away(2001).  Mostly these films are child-friendly and family-targeted. They are something that people can relate to, despite their non-realistic qualities. In Kiki's Delivery Service, for example, children could watch in amusement, while teenagers and adults may be able to relate to Kiki's need to find herself on her own. They can see the idea of the transition into adulthood. I find, myself, that Anime has branched out to be popular all over the world, as it is in Japan, America, New Zealand, among others.
In Princess Mononoke, although a more dark storyline, both boys and girls can place their selves in the shoes of the female characters. While still remaining feminine in the face, they go against the "cutesy-ness" that most people know Anime for. I've noticed this as a similar quality of art for the female, or "Shojo" characters in Miyazaki's films.


(Spirited Away)                                 (Kiki's Delivery Service)                                    (Princess Mononoke)

The way these characters are drawn show a feminine, but not over-the-top type of character.
This is very different from other well known anime characters such as:

(Inuyasha: Kagome)                               (Sailor Moon Characters)

Although the characters are drawn in a different style, Miyazaki's artwork goes against what comes to mind when people think about female anime characters. This also allows for the storyline and characters to be taken more seriously and realistically (despite the fantasy/supernatural qualities that are part of his stories) and not to be made into some sort of sex-icon. Even finding the images for Kagome and the Sailor Moon team, I found some unpleasant fan art-work.

Not only are the characters drawn differently than other types of anime, they are also different in the way that they are the "hero" figures in the films. In Sailor Moon, although she is meant to be the hero and the lead, she is often saved by the character Tuxedo Mask. Kagome is also frequently saved by Inuyasha in the show, although she is not necessarily meant to be the 'hero' character. In Kiki's Delivery Service, however, Kiki plays the hero and 'saves the day' at the end, saving the boy rather than vise-versa. The same can be said about the female protagonists in Princess Mononoke.



References:
Images:
(All Retrieved on 21/10/2012)
http://www.btchflcks.com/2011/12/animated-childrens-films-spirited-away.html
http://www.ifccenter.com/films/kikis-delivery-service-2/
http://www.animevice.com/princess-mononoke/13-19/all-images/84-52837/princess_8/83-364364/
http://unobtainium13.com/2012/07/06/new-sailor-moon-series-to-return-in-2013/
http://www.fanpop.com/spots/kagome-higurashi/images/15105815/title/kagome-photo


               Napier, S. (2005). Anime: from Akira to Howl’s Moving Castle. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.

Weeks 11-12; Reality TV - Cathy Come Home

How does Hill define Reality tv?

From the reading, I have gathered that Hill believes there is not one simple definition of reality programming bu t many “competing definitions of what has come to be called the ‘reality genre’” (Hill, 2005). This is due to it’s original influences; the variation of prominent television genres, such as documentary and lifestyle, that reality tv, also known as ‘popular factual programming, has emerged from.

Hills says that, reality tv is the term we all refer to, audiences, scholars and members of the television industry included,when we talk about the genre of reality, but really, it doesn’t differentiate the different ‘styles and formats’ within this wide genre (2005). However, the one characteristic that unites all programming that falls under the reailty genre, is “the capacity to let viewers see for themselves”. Apparently, we judge the realness of reality tv according to a ‘fact-fiction continuum’, one end being ‘docu-soaps’, and the other ‘reality gameshows’. Hills also believes that, it is only a matter of time before the industry begins to include other types of ‘factual television’ into the reality genre (2005).This worries me slightly..as with many reality programmes I see on television, the line between fact and fiction is very blurred. A lot of what we presume to be real, is fake, scripted, and/or highly exaggerated in order to make an entertaining episode of ‘reality tv’.To be honest, a lot of reality television today, is complete crap in my opinion..but it is addictive and I tend to watch it anyways!

In regards to the docu-drama Cathy Come Home we watched in class, I can see how reality television grew from programmes such as this one. Directed by Ken Loach and released in 1996, the show is about a couples life together, their struggles with raising a family in poverty. It is all portrayed as very real, as though a camera has followed them around over the years. The show explores real life issues, with real emotion, and life like events and problems – social realism in Britain during this time period. Although it was an acted drama, I could definitely spot similarities between Cathy Come Home and reality TV today. The way Cathy spoke to the audience, narrating events and her feelings at the time of these events, reminded me of the common confession/diary technique used in many reality shows where characters express their thoughts to the camera/viewers.

I enjoyed watching the show, as I hadn’t ever seen anything like it before. I am used to watching reality tv today, so I had to keep reminding myself that it was actually a scripted drama, whether it was based on a true story or not. Maybe I need to do the same when I am watching my crap reality tv…remind myself that most of it is probably hyped up just for the drama and the ratings, and that really, it isn’t that real at all!

Geordie Shore - One of my favourite 'reality' tv shows. 
Terrible and cringe worthy, but I can't help myself!

References

Biressi, A. & Nunn, N. (2005). Real Lives, documentary approaches. In Reality TV: realism and revelation. (pp. 35-58) London: Wallflower.

Hill A. (2005). The rise of reality TV. In A. Hill, Reality TV: Audiences and Popular Factual Television. (pp. 15 – 40). Oxon: Routledge

Reality TV

Reality TV

Hills (2005) suggests that in reality television, camers follow people to show what they do every day, and many reality television the viewer and the camera are passive observers following people going about their daily personal and professional activities which allows audiences to watch people's private lives and all the conflicts happening in situations. Some reality television shows cover a person or group of people improving their lives. Sometimes the same group of people are covered over an entire season (as in The Swan and Celebrity Fit Club), but usually there is a new target for improvement in each episode. Other self-improvement or makeover shows include The Biggest Loser (which covers weight loss) and Extreme Makeover (entire physical appearance),

Reality television saw an explosion of global popularity starting in the early 2000s. Two reality series, Survivor and American Idol, have been the top-rated series on American television for an entire season. Documentary television has significantly influenced reality television. There are hundreds of shows based on reality, and many of them are emerged in the documentary genre. Both genres use various techniques like voice-overs which construct narrative over observational shooting, edgy, shaky camera work, fly-on-the wall/observational approach, hand-held cameras, and more. Examples are The Osbournes, The Hills, Rescue 911 and even shows like American Idol and Master Chief. These shows give viewers a chance to get a sight into events and happenings that are in characters’ lives. "Reality TV can give an audience suspenseful moments, rather than being boring" (Hill, 2005).

“Reality TV viewers classify programmes according to fact/fiction criteria.” (Hill, 2005).

'The Hills' is an example of Reality TV that uses documentary style.


Real TV genre is a way for the camera to catch every moment, and it is supposed to be like they are looking in the “mirror of realism”. Most of these reality shows are like that, but you do get the ones when it is scripted to look real. Many audiences say the show is not real because the people in the show are just ordinary people, but their lives are as fancy as celebrities in Hollywood.


References

Biressi, A. & Nunn, N. (2005). Real Lives, documentary approaches. In Reality TV: realism and revelation. (pp. 35-58) London: Wallflower.

Hill A. (2005). The rise of reality TV. In A. Hill, Reality TV: Audiences and Popular Factual Television. (pp. 15 – 40). Oxon: Routledge

A Wizard of Earthsea

Le Guinn expresses her views on the film and miniseries many times. Although there were many changes, in particular, the way the characters were changed from print to film made a huge difference to the meaning and atmosphere of her fantasy land that she was trying to convey. In particular, Ged's character, who is meant to be a red-brown, is white. This ruins what she was attempting to do in her novel, to avoid the typical white-hero archetype of fantasy. "I didn't see why everybody in science fiction had to be a honky named Bob or Joe or Bill. I didn't see why everybody in heroic fantasy had to be white" (Ursula K. Le Guinn, 2004) 

In relation to relatability, perhaps an audience can relate better to white characters, although Le Guinn points out that most of the world is not white. She expresses that white people are now a minority. This idea is understandable from when she mentions "Bob or Joe or Bill." These are "average" names, therefore, people can identify with 'just your average Joe'. She explains that (although the book is over 30 years old, so now-a-days the views could be different for people) she was not sure if people would be able to relate to the character Ged right away because of his skin colour, so she wanted to allow the reader to get 'into his skin' before they discover his actual skin colour. She used more discrete descriptions to explain him until later in the novel. " I figured some white kids... might not identify straight off with a brown kid, so I kind of eased the information about skin color in by degrees" (Ursula K. Le Guinn, 2004) 

This idea leads me to believe that if the views are still the same as 30 years ago, the film would be unable to describe Ged's skin colour and the audience would see it straight away. Perhaps they thought the same way Le Guinn did, and took this into consideration when casting the character. The audience would see him right away and they needed the character to be as it was in the book: Relatable. They needed the audience in his skin as much as Le Guinn needed the same result. Although this may not be applicable any more. Today people are (supposedly) more open minded about race than they were in the 60s and 70s, so it should have been more simple for the audience to see the characters, although not 'white', as something they could relate to.

"I have heard... from readers of color who told me that the Earthsea books were the only books in the genre that they felt included in" (Ursula K. Le Guinn, 2004)


Le Guinn, Ursula K. (2004). Retrieved from: http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2004/12/a_whitewashed_earthsea.html on 10/20/2012

Tin Tin

After only a few minutes of the film, and a few pages of the original comic, I could tell that Tin Tin is an adult-directed piece of literature. When reading the content, opium was quickly mentioned, something a child would (hopefully) not understand. People of a younger age would enjoy the idea of a normal boy with superhero characteristics

• his bravery
• his relatability through minimal facial features and faults such as him being gullible and naive
• stereotypical sidekick, even better so a dog which allows him to be portrayed as an animal-lover

 Despite these child-friendly aspects and the exciting action that little boys love, the themes (as briefly mentioned before) are known more as a media propaganda, targeting adults to read the underlying message. The racism we read into the comic, with historic facts combined with the fictional character over-exaggerate the stereotypes that were known in that time.

"Comics are a way of creating a universe and populating it with characters using a secret code that works in the simplest and most direct way possible to enter the 'reader's' brain." (James Kochalka, as found in the Weelky Reader week 2, page 8)
This quote shows me that the propaganda placed into Tin Tin is done so strategically to infiltrate society's (of that time) mind. The way this is done is not only by the language and subject matter used in the comics, but also by the place the characters end up in. Herge is known to have taken special care to make certain that the images are realistic enough to be recognised, such as The Red Sea Sharks or The Black Island. They would sketch and photograph everything they could prior to creating the imagery for the comics, thus placing Tin Tin in a relatable world that could be recognized, as opposed to the secondary-world that fantasy is meant to live in. Although, this world is still considered secondary despite the background it takes place in. It is made to be more controlled than the real world would be.

Therefore, the adult topics that are discussed in Tin Tin are emphasized by the realistic qualities in the landscapes and their relatable aspects.



References:
A Critical Reader: Week 2 Comics as Graphic Novels II


            Bernasconi, S. (Director). (1991). The Blue Lotus from The Adventures of Tintin. Canada: Nelvana.



             Horricks, D. (2004). The Perfect Planet: Comics, Games and World-Building. In Williams, M. (Ed.), Writing at the Edge of the Universe. Christchurch: U of Canterbury Press.

Cult TV - Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Hills (2004) lists a number of defining characteristics of cult TV that contain similarities to the defining characteristics of pop genres (e.g. fantasy, science fiction) discussed earlier in the Pop Genres paper. Can you identify these and discuss why you think that these characteristics are repeatedly viewed as underpinning popular genres.

The first defining characteristic that Hills (2004) lists is that through textual analysis, depending on the text, cult TV can be defined.  We can analyse the qualities that are shared by cult TV programmes.  Hills (2004) continues on to suggest that media producers are self-consciously designing cult TV through their work, adding that cult TV hails from the genres of fantasy, horror and science fiction, yet is thought of as the best of these groups.

Hills (2004) second definition of cult TV is that it is able to be defined through analyzing secondary texts.  John Fiske (as cited in Hills, 2004) believes that secondary texts work to increase the circulation of certain meanings that have been selected from the primary texts and they play a significant role in influencing the audience.  

Similarly, Hills' (2004) third definition of cult TV is that it can be defined by analyzing the practices and activities of fans.  From that, we have to consider what dedicated and loyal fans of cult TV do in order to show their 'fandom'.  Hills (2004) states that the definition provokes a question; 'what activities do fans of cult TV engage in?'.  In relation to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the 'cult' factor arises with the availability of commercial fan magazines and newspaper coverage, and also fan based forums where fans can read and follow the program and discuss personal issues and/or opinions with not only the media, but also other fans themselves.  Buffy-Boards is a fan based forum which discusses questions from the fans or issues with an episode.  You are able to browse by season and read all posts by the fans which cover a range of topics; "Do you think Angel could have converted Faith?" to "The Industrial Song in 'Graduation day, Part 1'".

Buffy - Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Personally, I think that these definitions continue to be viewed as underpinning popular genres because of the 'addictive' nature of them.  Popular genres have become popular because of something that they involve. In my opinion, I think the main factor is the likability of popular genres.  It may not be that the audience can relate to all areas of them, but something captures the audience.  In relation to the cult fiction, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the element of spirituality, I think, captures the audience.  It would almost seem as though the human race has become obsessed with the fictional world; vampire, werewolves, demons, and monsters.  Even though, because of the fictional element of these kinds of characters, the audience cannot relate to the program, the other human characters, like Buffy, are very easy to relate to.  Buffy comes across as 'the-girl-next-door' kind of girl, which I think makes the audience really engage with her, and because of that, they may even feel that the adventures that she takes part in may even be possible for themselves.  It's almost as if the character of Buffy empowers the audience as they may see themselves relating to her.

Hills, M. (2004). Defining Cult TV; Texts, Inter-texts and Fan Audiences, The
       Television Studies Reader, in R. C. Allen & A. Hill. London and New York:
       Routledge.

Week 12* Reality TV

Reality TV is one of the most popular genre the audience like to watch and there are variety of styles and techniques within reality TV. It is associated with everything from people to pets and from birth to death. According to Hills (2005), the genre of Reality has changed where it was associated with on-scene footage of law and order whereas now it is about how people live their daily lives and the dramas they have. Following on Hills (2005), reality television is like following the people with cameras and showing what they do every day. Watching the reality series of 'Cathy Come Home' in tutorial showed the shaking of camera and even if it was a scripted drama it showed the reality from the circumstances that people went through and with the acting of normal people. Television producers, directors and writers increasingly aimed to depict a 'history from below' that could give a voice to the working class experience and touch the social conscience of their audience. Cathy Come Home (1996), directed by Ken Loach and produced by Tony Garnett is widely recognized as a landmark docudrama that showed the chronicling of events and social realism that characterizes British documentary. The events that happened from the time of the two young couple to their marriage and all the difficulties they had to go through, showed the audience the miserable period in the political affairs.

The big series of 'Big Brother' was a major hit, and a lot of people were involved in voting online and text messaging to eliminate each person for the episodes. According to Hills (2005), 'Big Brother' and other reality television series are scripted and edited in particular ways so that audience can enjoy and follow up with the episodes. For example, Jerry Springer show is one of the most popular talk show that deals with real life problems with relationships and family crisis that needs to be solved. However, they are usually scripted which will make the audience want to watch. It is interesting that nowadays that reality TV is popular when the audience know that they are partially scripted but still enjoying the fact that they are from ordinary people which we may see in the streets or the next door neighbor. This can be the fact that most people are tired of only seeing real actors and actresses and presuming what the hit drama series would be about. In Korea the reality TV is really popular with documentaries about ordinary people and showing how they live. There was one episode about a Indian women married to a Korean man and it was about the women moving into Korea just by herself. It was interesting to watch and their stories might have been scripted with different episodes but showing their real life home and family showed the realism of working class people. Comparing Reality TV with other genres such as Fantasy and Sci-fiction are totally the opposite way. Whereas the Fantasy is going beyond reality and is about the other world that the director creates. Reality TV focuses on showing realism that audience will agree and understand.

References

Hill, A. (2005) The reality genre. In A. Hill, Reality TV: Audiences and Popular Factual Television. (pp. 14 – 40). Oxon: Routledge.

Biressi, A. & Nunn, N. (2005). Real Lives, documentary approaches. In Reality TV: realism and revelation. (pp. 35-58). London: Wallflower.

Week 12 Reality TV

How does Hill define reality TV?

In the article, The Reality Genre, Hill (2005) wrote a detailed analysis of the reality TV. The style of reality TV has changed over the past decade. He said that in the early stages of reality TV it treated more about documantary genre and some political situation as it appeared in the reality TV that we have already seen in the class, but now the range of genre of reality TV is various. Thus the author classified it into several parts; television industry, scholars and audiences perspectives. 

Television industry

Hill (2005) believed that " the television industry is a good place to chart the changing genre of reality TV." because "the reality genre is made of a number of distinctive and historically based television genres, such as lifestyle, or documentary.".  The people who were involved in the television industry said that reality TV has strong market value and also they called reality TV as factual entertainment, or popular factual.

Scholars

The TV scholar, Steve Neale (2003) pointed out that "there is a generic aspect to all instances of cultural production, and that these instances are usually multiple, not single, in kind’. In terms of reality TV, there are ‘numerous aspects’, ‘numerous meanings’, and ‘numerous analytical uses’ of the genre within the academic community.”. One of these various meanings and aspects that was explained in Neales' reference is another reference to Richard Kilborn’s definition of reality television as a mixture of characteristics all in one package which is “‘real-life situations’, and also infotainment, or what Kilborn calls reality programming: ‘the recording on the wing … of events in the lives of individuals or groups, the attempt to stimulate such real-life events through various forms of dramatized reconstruction and the incorporation of this material … into an attractively packaged television programme.’” 

Audiences

Hill (2005) conducted a  a study and examined three different types of reality programs that is observational, informational, and creative, focusing on were the fact/fiction criteria. Corner (1995) exemplified this main point by signifying and implying the different aspect of this type of genre is the unique perception of each individualized member of the audience to choose themselves by their own observation. Hill (2005) defined the result  that  “in many ways, the classification of reality TV in relation to ‘reality’ is connected with audience understanding of the performance of non-professional actors in the programs, and the ways ‘real people’ play up to the cameras.”

It can be summarised that  Hill (2005) defined reality TV as a genre that has dramatically transformed into this multi-industry corporation that has given birth to sub forms of television programs, that are in constant evolve/devolvement with no end in sight; but in the end, the common unifying element is up to the viewer to decide on what is factual/reality TV, based on this reoccurring idea of 'fact/fiction continuum' that the audience bases their belief on.

References

Hill, A. (2005) The reality genre. In A. Hill, Reality TV: Audiences and Popular Factual Television. (pp. 14 – 40). Oxon: Routledge.

R. In A. Hill, Reality TV: Audiences and Popular Factual Television. (pp. 14 – 40). Oxon: Routledge.

 

Science Fiction - The Man in the High Castle

What was does Dick (1995) himself theorise about the I Ching? 

According to Clarity (2012), the I Ching is the oldest oracle in the world and is the most revered and loved book of Chinese wisdom which has been accumulated through diviners and sages over 2,500 years, noting itself as "a well of pure water" (Clarity, 2012).  The I Ching is divided into 64 chapters of a mixture between advice, philosophy, images and poetry.  The 64 chapters are recorded by 64 hexagrams - lines of six that are either broken, or solid.

You are to ask I Ching a question, and supposedly, when you consult the book, your answer arrives in the form of a hexagram (see image to the right), which you build up line upon line coinciding with the results of tossing two or three coins.

Philip K. Dick states that he has "used [I Ching] to develop the direction of a novel" (Dick, 1995).  A book which is seen on a surface level as a book with a philosophy of history, yet deeper, I feel that the book touches more on the relationship between history, creativity and truth, and I think this is explored within The Man in the High Castle to show that there is indeed a connection, or link if you like, between the three.  The question of truth history is often asked, whether history is displayed as fact of fiction.  Even in the beginning of the book we can see the argument developing as the character Frank Frink delves into the issue of false reality, a material reality, as he falsely ages Colt Pistols as if to replica the guns from the war to create significance.  This issue of history vs. material reality is seen when Wyndham-Matson, also creates fake products, shows a girl there is no visual difference, it's all about 'historicity'.  "What is historicity?"  "When a thing has history in it.  Listen.  One of those two Zippo lighters was in Franklin D. Roosevelt's pocket when he was assassinated. And one wasn't.  One has historicity, a hell of it.  As much as any object ever had.  And one has nothing .... You can't tell which is which" .... "In the mind, not the gun" (Dick, 1962, The Man in the High Castle, pp. 65-66).  Dick's debate is whether or not history exists as a fact, or whether it only exists in the mind, in that case it's undetermined, it isn't factual at all, but is in fact, textual.

This relates back to the concept of I Ching, a state of mind perceived as reality.  The 8 fundamental processes that I Ching is build on apparently are the approach to reality and life.  However, as stated by TheJourney (2012), these fundamental processes are all "metaphors", a way of thinking, to be interpreted by each individual.  If so, how is reality obtained when each process can be interpreted differently?!

References:

Clarity (2012). "What is the I Ching." Retrieved 9 October, 2012, from
          http://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/learn/begin/.

Dick, P.K. (1995). Schizophrenia and the I Ching. In Sutin, L. (Ed.), The Shifting Realities of 
          Philip K. Dick (pp.175-182). New York: Vintage. 

TheJourney (2012). "I Ching Represents Fundamental Elements of Life, Reality, and
         Consciousness." Retrieved 9 October, 2012, from
         http://forum.grasscity.com/philosophy/1106144-i-ching-represents-fundamental-elements-
         life-reality-consciousness.html.

Week 10 Cult TV

How does Buffy deconstruct traditional literary notions of good and evil?

 According to Braum (2000), in Buffy the Vampires Slayer the traditional literary notions of good and evil is broken  because of its ambiguous perceptions of good and evil, said moral ambiguity. Additionally, the ambiguities in the TV series seem to intertwine with other factors related to sexuality and gender.

In the story, the border of evil and good are very thin and interchangeable. Buffy is a yong attractive girl who suppose to represent of 'good', slaying 'evil' vampires and put herself in a trouble by falling in love with Angel who might think of as 'evil'. Through the story it gives their audience to ponder, evil might not be so being evil probably their actions have reasons for good. Braum (2000) pointed out that "an acknowledgement of the aggression within ordinary people and tendency to explore themes of good and evil through supernatural narratives incorporating complicated relationships between morality, sexuality, and gender."



References


Braum, B. (2000). The X-files and Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The ambiguity of evil in supernatural representations. Retrieved 18 October, 2005 from: http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0 412/is_2_28/ai_64688900
 

Week 2 Tin Tin

Do you think comics are a children's or adult genre/media? 

“There are two sides to every story". Comics are no exception. I feel that there is no question about whether these forms of media are either child or adult entertainment. Comics seem to be written in a way that appeal to people of all ages, with simple adventure plots, humor, hidden puns and many different levels of education within the text. 

Tintin is a strong example of a comic which is loved by kids as well as adults. For children, a comic such as Tintin, is loved because of the adventurous stories and the vivid images. To an adult, reading a Tintin comic is like a way to escape back to childhood, to feel some excitement and adventure. To add to this, because Hergé would thoroughly research everything that was depicted in the comic, as well as using real life events (such as in the Blue Lotus Hergé depicts the invasion of Manchuria by Japan (Viram, 2007), adults reading the comic could feel like the comic was more realistic because of the high level of accuracy. Hergé has also stated that he purposely created a character to appeal across a large range of ages and that Tintin was aimed for “young people aged from seven to seventy seven” (Farr, 2001).

As a quick side note, it’s not just comics where you see this multi-age appeal. Popular genres like as animated movies such as Shrek, which would typically be thought of as being aimed for children, are actually a lot more that what they first seem. "Shrek was seized upon as a turning point in that it had very definitely one kind of a text for kids and definitely a subtext for adults” (Rohrer, 2009).

Maybe this is the new way of making sure that kids and adults can enjoy the same stuff and that parents and kids enjoy an interest together. Personally I think that comics are for anyone who enjoys them, young or old and because of the success of popular genre medias such as Tintin comics, we are starting to see a major growth with many for ‘all-ages’ media starting to build up.

References

Farr, M. (2001). Introduction, Tintin: an imaginary hero in the real world. In M. Farr, Tintin: the complete companion (pp. 8-9). London: John Murray.

Rohrer, F. (2009, December 16). BBC News. Retrieved July 27, 2011, from How do you make children's films appeal to adults?: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8415003.stm

Viram. (2007, November 15). The Blue Lotus. Retrieved July 27, 2011, from Shvoong.com: http://www.shvoong.com/books/1706168-blue-lotus/