Loal

Jessica Lavalley
Dr Chatman- Riley
English 1-A
12 June, 2013 Pre-Write Television, one of the World's favorite technology. With billions of people watching, you would think that television stations would air shows that would be fruit for the mind, something that they could learn from. Sadly, this is not quite the case. Audiences are fed poison in the form of absurd reality TV shows. When watching an episode of MTV'S "Jersey Shore", one would agree that this provides nothing for the mind, body and/or soul. Most reality shows are exactly that, pointless with no educational purpose. Most. There are an elite few of these types of shows in which, not only entertain immensely, but also serve a deeper meaning. MTV'S debut of "True Life" was an immediate success. The show follows the lives of certain individuals that you wouldn't really expect to be on television; heroine addicts, homosexuals, surrogates, texaholics, diabetes, embarrassing parents, the list could literally go on and on. This show is about struggles with the choices people made, and I believe that watching it could serve as a warning to the audience who might go down the same road. “I don’t see how anyone can go through this, walk in my shoes, mom. You would hate yourself if you were in my shoes,” Rene, age 26 says, with tears flowing down her face. Rene is a beautiful girl, but has a disorder. She despises the way she looks. She cannot even fathom the thought of looking into the mirror without her reflection making her sick. She has suffered from this mental illness ever since she was a young girl. It has ruined her relationships with her friends, her family, and has also ruined her motivation to go out and get a job. Reality TV is usually watching a group of people who act like barbarians and make poor choices in their lives. True Life shows the bitter truth about people, like Rene, and it could trigger someone who’s watching the program who is suffering like Rene, to go out and seek help. It could show the true consequences of the things that the individuals on the show go through daily. That is exactly what this reality show is about; learning from a mistake, and pushing out in hopes for a positive outcome. The individuals on the show go on the show purposely in order for the audience to heed their warning. On True Life’s very first show “True Life: I’m Addicted to heroine” it showed the struggle of a woman whose addiction to heroine was so strong, she pushed everything aside for the substance. She regrets ever having anything to do with it, and wishes she could find the willpower to stop. Although human nature is barbaric, this show presents the subtle barbaracy as a caution, which in a sense, the action itself isn’t all that barbaric at all. TV broadcasters need to take notes on this show. This is what reality television should be about, not about little obese girls being praised for being wacko. Reality, defined bluntly, is the sad truth. It’s not supposed to be entertaining, but to be something to enlighten you, not to make you ashamed that you walk on the same continent together. The next time you turn on the television, ask yourself, “Is this beneficial for me? Will I learn anything from it?” Just because something is highly entertaining doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s helpful to us. And just because a few horrible shows give the genre a bad name, does not necessarily mean that the entire genre itself is bad. Going through the shows with a fine toothed comb is a process, but as an end result it’s worth it, because something that is real, entertaining and also enlightening is hard to find, but finding it is worth it. Your views can broaden, and so might your outlook on reality television.