ShmoopTube

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We speak student!

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[ yodeling ]

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Reality TV Part Six

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Fame and Reality TV

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[ bird caws ]

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Why are people lining up to be on reality TV?

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You know, we have the people who you're calling these desperate losers.

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We do have the low self-esteem person

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who wants to be famous.

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It is so easy to be famous.

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I guess, what we consider fame today.

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It's so easy to get that.

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You know, put your cat on YouTube

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and you might become famous.

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Same thing goes on -- Go on TV,

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and date a random person who no one knows about,

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and you might become famous.

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So I think that fame is so tangible

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that it just makes people wanna do it.

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There's also the people who we also talked about

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who aren't doing it because of low self-esteem,

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they're doing it because they want to be a rock star

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and they think if they go on the show

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and their name gets out there, they might be a rock star.

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So there's the people who want the reality TV fame

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and then there's the people who use reality TV fame

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to try to get other fame.

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I think one of the things that

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grabs people about reality television

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is the whole question of

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why are these people putting themselves through this?

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Either they're a masochist and they just want to have people,

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I don't know, I guess look down on them or look at them

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in negative ways. Or they're delusional

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and they think people actually admire them in some form.

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Or they're so desperately lonely,

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that they need the feeling of at least being recognized

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to feel worthy somehow.

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And it's very interesting,

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Tamra on Real Housewives of Orange Country

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was open about being suicidal and depressed and all that.

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And you look at her behavior and you're wondering

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why these people do this.

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So what is that about? Is that something

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systemic in society now?

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We've become so desperately lonely

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or at least an element of us that we need that kind of

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dirty laundry aired and so on?

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How does that work in the...?

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Yeah, I think it's a combination of all the factors you mentioned.

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It's incredibly sad, especially, as you said,

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when there's no prize at the end.

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Sometimes when people are embarrassing themselves

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and doing things and you're like, "[ hesitant noises ]

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If I was going to be given a million bucks,

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- maybe I'd do the same thing." - Yeah.

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When it's just kind of this documentary style,

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it's incredibly sad, but it is reminiscent of

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what all of us are doing.

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Websites like ChatRoulette and Omegle,

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which are these places where you just go on,

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turn your webcam on,

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and then just talk to a stranger.

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People feel more comfortable airing their dirty laundry

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to strangers than they do to people they know.

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And I think that's kind of

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what these reality TV stars feel like.

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They're airing their dirty laundry

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to people they will never meet.

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The result of that is bullying.

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And what you're describing is that

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people thinking negative things about them

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and talking negatively about them.

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Even what we're doing right now

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saying like, "Oh, these poor people. They're so lonely and depressed."

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It's a form of bullying.

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And they're putting themselves into that kind of situation,

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but you can't say, "Oh, they're asking for it."

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Because should we as a society

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be saying negative things about people

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and propagating this attitude? No, but we do it.

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We absolutely do it.

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So it's kind of like a chicken and the egg, right?

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Okay, these people signed up for this, yes,

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but they also -- Does that mean we get to treat them badly?

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[ pen writing ]

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Does the need for celebrity expand into everyday life?

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It's a famous normal thing now that every wide receiver in the NFL

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has to have their own touchdown dance.

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And The Simpsons parodies this all the time.

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So does Family Guy and some of those other shows.

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They almost take on a character

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that extends beyond the role and position

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and they kind of humanize it.

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And they can merchandise that.

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And there's all this crazy stuff that's going on

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as people fight

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a more lonely universe

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to try to find their own identity.

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And it kind of maps to a lot of the themes that we saw

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in 20th century fiction coming out

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from that era.

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I think this maps really nicely into the whole course,

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the whole pop culture literacy course.

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Everything that happens

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everywhere, not just reality TV.

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Sports, everything that happens, is tied into

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the thing of pop culture.

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A book is written,

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is there gonna be a movie made?

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Will there be action figures

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made of the characters in the movie from the book?

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So whether you're a reality TV star

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or a football player

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or the President of The United States,

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you become a part of pop culture.

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We have those little like -- I think someone I know

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has a little Obama can opener thing.

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It's like you become a celebrity if you are

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at all put in the public eye,

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You now become a celebrity.

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As opposed to their being the select few

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super famous celebrities

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and then everyone else.

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There's kind of this scale where

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almost everyone is famous in some capacity.

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[ pen writing ]

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Why would anyone wanna be on TV?

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Why do we crave being a celebrity?

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What does this say about society?

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[ singing ] Fame! I'm gonna live forever...

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