1. Teaching American Reality TV
Dr. Verena Laschinger
Teaching American Reality TV 1

2. THE EASIEST WAY for ordinary people
to achieve “15 minutes of fame“ (Andy Warhol)
by publicly confessing their intimate secrets (emotional striptease)
to strangers
Dr. Verena Laschinger | Teaching American Reality TV | November 27, 2015

3. WHAT IS REALITY TV? “humiliation TV”? “wannabe TV”? “trash TV”?
maybe...
Dr. Verena Laschinger | Teaching American Reality TV | | November 27, 2015

4. a product of contemporary culture of contemporary culture
1. WHAT IS REALITY TV? →
… definitely
a product of contemporary culture
as well as
productive
of contemporary culture
Dr. Verena Laschinger | Teaching American Reality TV | | November 27, 2015

5. OUTLINE Definition History Travel / Tourist Gaze Labor
What is Reality TV?
Definition
History
The Amazing Race
Travel / Tourist Gaze
Labor
American Identity
Surveillance
Sources
Dr. Verena Laschinger | Teaching American Reality TV | | November 27, 2015

6. 1. WHAT IS REALITY TV? ratings-driven low-budget productions
sensationalist, dramatic, popular
authentic, uses non-actors
minimal writing, unpredictable outcomes
rapid editing techniques, serial structure
surveillance is agreed-on, voyeuristic
circulates educational ideologies, and myths
distanced from the veracity of the documentary
Dr. Verena Laschinger | Teaching American Reality TV | November 27, 2015

7. 1. WHAT IS REALITY TV? subgenres and sample shows
reality crime (Cops, America’s Most Wanted)
gamedocs (Survivor, The Amazing Race)
dating (Bachelor)
makeover/lifestyle (The Swan, The Biggest Loser)
docusoaps (Here Comes Honey Boo Boo)
court (Judge Judy)
celebrity (The Kardashians)
talent (American Idol, America’s
Next Top Model)
Dr. Verena Laschinger | Teaching American Reality TV | | November 27, 2015

8. The Amazing Race / Season 17
Dr. Verena Laschinger | Teaching American Reality TV | | November 27, 2015

9. 2. The Amazing Race → Labor of Leisure
unremunerated
24/7 work shifts
places of work and leisure
individuals as capital
Dr. Verena Laschinger | Teaching American Reality TV | | November 27, 2015

10. 2. The Amazing Race → Creative Economy
Work for the experience you crave!
trophy money
celebrity status
travel adventure
Dr. Verena Laschinger | Teaching American Reality TV | | November 27, 2015

11. 2. The Amazing Race → Travel / Tourist Gaze
time-space-compression
the tourist gaze
consumes its objects
places into non-places into commodities
Dr. Verena Laschinger | Teaching American Reality TV | | November 27, 2015

12. 2. The Amazing Race → American Identity
“What, then, is this new American man?“ – Hector St. Jean de Crèvecoeur pursuit of happiness around the globe
errand into the global wilderness
uchenna-and-joyce-/
Dr. Verena Laschinger | Teaching American Reality TV | | November 27, 2015

13. 2. The Amazing Race → Surveillance
“the eyes of all people are upon us”
- John Winthrop
post 9/11 utopia of a panoptic society
Dr. Verena Laschinger | Teaching American Reality TV | | November 27, 2015

14. 3. Sources Thank you for your attention!
The Amazing Race (CBS, )
Andrejevic, Mark. Reality TV: The Work of Being Watched, 2004.
Augé, Marc. Non-Places. An Introduction to Supermodernity, 1992, 2008.
Crary, Jonathan. 24/7 Late Capitalism and the Ends of Sleep, 2013.
Crèvecoeur, J. Hector St. John de. “Letters from an American Farmer”, 1782.
Florida, Richard. The Rise of the Creative Class, 2002.
Hartley, John, ed. Creative Industries, 2005.
Hill, Annette. Reality TV: Audiences and Popular Factual Television, 2004.
Miller, Perry. Errand into the Wilderness. 1956, 1993.
Murray, Susan, and Laurie Ouellette, eds. Reality TV: Remaking Television Culture,
Urry, John. The Tourist Gaze, 1990.
West, Nancy Martha. Kodak and the Lens of Nostalgia, 2000.
Winthrop, John. “A Model of Christian Charity,” 1630.
Thank you for your attention!
Dr. Verena Laschinger | Teaching American Reality TV | | November 27, 2015