Themes and Corresponding Works

Running Head: The Values and Changed Viewing Habits of Reality Television 1

The Values and Changed Viewing Habits of Reality Television
Jomaine Calhoun
English 122: English Composition II (ACE1322E)
June 17, 2013

Running Head: The Values and Changed Viewing Habits of Reality Television 2

The Values and Changed Viewing Habits of Reality Television I chose my topic from the Arts, Media, and Philosophy. “What values do reality television shows appeal to? How have they changed television viewing?
My research will involve searching for values that these reality shows have for the millions of viewers that tune in weekly to watch them. I would like to learn why they are so addicting to all the viewers that they attract daily. I have sat down and watched a few of these reality shows and what I see is a lot of violence and families that are vey dysfunctional. As I watch one of the Housewives series it seems to be just about money and power and who looks good or bad. Are all these shows true or less than true? While every reality TV show is likely to endure some level of skepticism and/or criticism, there seem to be many that inspire viewers. There are a few shows that have positive aspects like “The Biggest Loser, Americas got Talent and The Amazing Race. I would like to find out in my studies if people would prefer to watch reality television as opposed to watching sitcoms. There have been surveys taken of the topic and the two most commonly truths about reality television is that they watch them in order to talk with friends and co-workers about the show. Another is when watching shows about couples enticed to cheat on their partners, one of the main differences between fans of the show is not the interest in sex but a lack of interest in personal honor they value experience not morality. There was not really a lot of information supporting my topic in the Ashford library
Running Head: The Values and Changed Viewing Habits of Reality Television 3 so I went to the public library and asked the librarian where I could find resources on reality television. There was not a lot of information in any books so I checked out a few magazines which had some information that I could use but not a lot. Went back to the computer and scanned information about all the different types of reality shows. After gathering all my information there was one aspect that all of the reality T shows had in common which was their competitive nature. Contestants were vying with one another for a cash prize and were engaged in building alliances and betraying allies. The attitude that best separates the regular viewers of reality television from everyone else is the desire for status which is just a means to get attention. Ordinary people can watch the shows, see people like themselves and imagine that they too could become celebrities by being on television. We must choose very carefully what it is that we watch on television. Reality television shows that feature bands and music are so successful because of the past success of the marriage between music and television. The message of reality television is that ordinary people can become so important that millions will watch them. And the secret thrill of many of those viewers is the thought that perhaps next time the new celebrities might be them.