Reality TV has dominated our screens for over 10 years. The deregulation of terrestrial television meant the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Five had competition with a range of niche channels, through the introduction of cable. In danger of losing its mainstream audience, terrestrial TV had to provide a “cheap alternative to drama” , which was found in “Reality TV”, a factual based genre with high entertainment values. It requires no actors, no scripts and no expensive settings which led to an increase in reality TV shows for a range of audiences. Especially in this unstable economic climate, it provides a source of revenue as “people stay at home and avoid costly live events” .
The reality genre is a form of bricolage meaning it’s a combination of other existing genres; a “mix of fact and fiction, of popular elements of documentary or news, popular elements of lifestyle or talk shows and drama like melodrama or soap opera" which appeals to many audiences. Secondly, its “entertainment orientation" and its provision of voyeuristic pleasures also make the genre popular. The genre also claims to represent and reflect real people, their real lives and real emotions, but when studying the genre, it becomes clear that this reality is somewhat constructed and mediated in many different ways. This essay explores the construction and success of the genre with a with reference to the self improvement fly-on-the-wall documentaries Series 7, episode 1 of Wife Swap and Series 2, Episode 1 of Supernanny.
Reality shows aim to reflect reality by using real people in real situations, however Supernanny and Wife Swap have a more constructed nature to them. Cinema verité was a movement that inspired filmmakers to explore realism in film; no use of narrative and little ideology was imposed in the text. This is seen in Titicut Follies (Frederick Wiseman, 1967), a documentary about “the horrid conditions at a Massachusetts asylum” showing the “raw, hellish reality of living” there. The cinema verité style is also seen in Police (Roger Graef, UK, 1982), a popular “fly-on-the-wall documentary” . These documentaries showed real people in real situations, and this concept of “reality” is what programmes like Supernanny and Wife Swap aim to achieve. For example, Supernanny’s voice over provides specific information about the family, representing them as real people with real situations. We are given their names, “the Collins family”, we see them in their house and back garden. However, some may argue this is hyper-reality, "the simulation of something which never really existed" , and that audiences are unable to distinguish reality and constructed reality.
Both Supernanny and Wife Swap take full use of the codes and conventions of documentary, as it is a well regarded factual genre. These conventions include fly-on-the wall footage, voice over, interviews and music, which is seen in Wife Swap. In Wife Swap, the voice over is male and provides the audience with information reinforcing the stereotype of an authoritative, omniscient male voice. For example he says “the Escotts are a liberal family from Liverpool. Deb and Andy have a daughter, 3 year old Emily and 16 year old Becks is Deb’s daughter from a previous relationship”, providing background knowledge about the families, which the institution may have constructed for audiences to side with this liberal family. The interviews are used to gain an insight into the participants, although at times it is manipulated for entertainment. For example in Wife Swap, the Ahmed wife talks to the camera about Becky eating the pizza on a cardboard box, at which she begins to cry. The direct address shot is almost like a video diary and allows audiences to see the wife’s feelings, especially as she lets her emotions out to the camera.
The most noticeable documentary convention used is the hand held camera style, providing a voyeuristic feel and highlighting society’s love of viewing others lives in our "open society" . In the opening of Supernanny, hand held shots of the children screaming and swearing are used to signify disruption and chaos in the home, as well as being a fly-on-the wall convention. One shot in particular is a medium close up of a little boy, topless in tracksuit bottoms, swinging a baseball bat. This could foreshadow his future as a “bad” or “thuggish” teen; a representation perpetuated by the media, creating moral panics as Cohen described.
Unlike Titicut Follies (Frederick Wiseman, 1967) and Police (Roger Graef, UK, 1982), which kept editing to a minimum, some historical fly-on-the wall programmes were highly mediated to entertain audiences, like Wife Swap and Supernanny. An American Family (Craig Gilbert, USA, 1972) followed the "experience of a nuclear family” over 12 episodes edited from “300 hours of footage” and Sylvania Waters (BBC 1, 1993) was "highly selective and skilfully edited" . Audiences would “trust that people have been treated fairly” in programmes however “both families [from these programmes] complained that they had been misrepresented and false perceptions constructed by the editors” showing how the reality genre isn’t always an accurate representation of reality.
Wife Swap and Supernanny are highly mediated as they are two week events edited down to an hour. Some might argue that documentaries used for mainstream entertainment, with little educational content, are replacing “challenging forms of documentary” . This could lead to the dumbing down of programmes as “standards will not be maintained” . If we look at the hypodermic needle theory, it could be argued audiences might perceive this constructed “reality” as real but this is based on the assumption that audiences are passive. A more realistic audience response is Blumler and Katz’s uses and gratifications theory as audiences are becoming more active, negotiating or opposing the dominant readings.
Although the genre is called “reality” and supposedly represents it, the institutions involved in the text construct it to fit their own ideologies. Wife Swap and Supernanny are broadcast by Channel 4; a Public Service Broadcaster that aims to entertain, inform and educate. These ideologies are clearly reflected in Supernanny and Wife Swap’s entertaining yet informative nature. However, some institutions implicitly reflect their ideologies though means of mediation and this applies to both documentaries.
Firstly, institutions are looking for “a special kind of performance ability” , like Big Brother’s “Nasty Nick”, to provide entertainment and this process begins with the selection of characters. The institutions involved in Supernanny select families with extremely naughty children and stressed out parents to create conflict and therefore it entertains. In Supernanny, The Collins family’s children are referred to as the “mob”, the “gang”, “aggressive” and “destructive” by the voice over. These children are stereotyped as the Proppian villains and the mother, a passive princess that needs to be saved from her children’s destructive behaviour. While the institution may see this as resolving society’s issues, it could be argued that programme makers are exploiting participants to create negative stereotypes about our society and therefore unjust and misleading representations of our whole society.
The selection of the Supernanny, Jo, also creates conflict but also reinforces the ideologies of the institution. She fits the role of stereotypical maternal woman, yet is the powerful and dominant heroine. The opening sequence of the documentary shows her dressed in a formal skirt suit with a large bag and glasses. Her costume signifies both dominance and power, but also femininity which reflects her character and role in the documentary. Her forceful entrance to a family home, her disruption and later resolution could be interpreted as the ideologies of the institution; the powerful and elite always prosper, hence the positive new equilibrium at the end of every Supernanny episode.
Secondly, institutions use editing to create conflict in their documentaries, which provides entertainment and increases the popularity of the documentary. Wife Swap selects contrasting characters such as “moderns” swapping with “traditionals, urbans with rurals” . Parallel editing is used to highlight the contrast between the families to create and exaggerate conflict; “no friction, no show” . The voice over describes the families as the “liberal” Escotts family, who contrast with the Ahmed family, who are “traditional Muslims”. The institution represents the Ahmeds through shots of the mosque, clothing and close ups of their cultural food. This distances and alienates the family from some audiences as they may not be able to identify with these shots. This contrasts with the British family where the non-diegetic music (by The Feeling- Fill My Little World) is well known, allowing British audiences to identify with this family. Not only are opposite families selected to create conflict, but the institution mediate the swap to make one family favoured by the audience; in this case it is the Escotts. This is because the Escotts reflect our “open society” and diverse nature of families in Britain with a lesbian daughter, breadwinner mother and a step father. The Ahmeds may have been poorly represented due to post-9/11 attitudes, and does little to challenge and accurately represent their religion and culture. This shows how institutions promote certain ideologies, which may affect the views of the target audience and perpetuate stereotypes.
"Reality TV couldn’t be the success story it is if it didn’t appeal to lots of different kinds of audiences” . Wife Swap is targeted at 16-45 year olds with a wider audience of 14-60 year olds. Interestingly, the documentary has the capability to appeal to all of Young and Rubican’s 4Cs as the documentary represents these people through their lifestyle and values, which audiences can identify and support. For example the Ahmed’s are a Resigned family as they stick to historical and cultural traditions as the father says “it is Islamic tradition when we touch food to wash hands”, while the Escotts are Reformers, independent with their individual values as “the one thing they are united on is drama student Beck’s sexuality”. Not only does it appeal to a wide range of 4Cs but a wide range of ethnicities as they want to see how they are represented in the documentary showing its wide appeal.
The range of narrative pleasure and gratifications that come from reality TV also suggest why it is so popular amongst audiences. In terms of Blumler and Katz’s Uses and Gratifications theory, audiences can gain a lot from Supernanny and Wife Swap. Supernanny is arguably targeted at a female, maternal audience, as mothers can gain information about childcare from the documentary, as Jo Frost has “16 years of experience” with tips like “you give a child a warning first” then “if their behaviour continues, straight to the naughty step”. There is also an element of escapism, which allows audiences to voyeuristically interact with a dramatic family’s life for a few weeks, in the comfort of audience’s own home. In Wife Swap, the entertainment is provided when audiences see how the wives and new families struggle to get along with each other or settle into the new rules, again like the Ahmed wife crying about the way the Escotts eat dinner. The ways in which families respond to the wife’s swapping allows audiences to identify faults and possible improvements in their own family lives: this provides the information and learning element of the theory. The last few minutes of the episode, shows the Ahmeds helping the wife by doing extra chores around the house, signified by shots of them vacuuming and cleaning Similarly, the Escotts’ lives have “changed for the better” with shots of them happy together at the park. Audiences can then see the faults in their lives and act on them like these families, to make their own lives change “for the better”.
Other narrative pleasures include happy endings, which is an audience expectation in the “self-improvement” genre. For example, Supernanny often begins with equilibrium of extremely naughty children with defenceless parents and the arrival of Jo is the disequilibrium causing disruption in the house. The new equilibrium would be Jo restoring balance of power within a family.
The reality genre is also popular because it fulfils our nation’s voyeuristic desires. Reality TV programmes reflect our open society, with its “‘nothing is sacred’ philosophy" and scopophilic pleasures or “the pleasure of watching” . Both Wife Swap and Supernanny are set in contestants’ homes; their private and internal spaces, which are broadcast on national television. In particular, both documentaries have voyeuristic characters within these documentaries, whether it’s dominant Jo in Supernanny or Wife Swap’s wives invading the personal lives and values of other families.
The genre also looks at current issues, making it relative and identifiable to a range of audiences such as the third episode of Police (Roger Graef, UK, 1982), A Complaint of Rape. A woman was ridiculed, “bullied and cajoled by three male officers” after her complaint of rape and as a result, they dismissed her claim because she had a “history of psychiatric treatment” . This shocked society and “changed the way police forces handled rape cases” . This reflection of events in the media and its effects on society can be seen with the cultural conflict between Shilpa Shetty and Jade Goody in Celebrity Big Brother, and the fast, over-bearing fame and arguable exploitation of Suzan Boyle in Britain’s Got Talent. This also shows that “fly-on-the-wall doesn't just watch the world. It can change it too.” Therefore, it could be argued that reality TV allows audiences to identify and be informed about the different issues within society.
Both Wife Swap and Supernanny also have an informative nature and aim to deal and fix some of the moral panics within society, which could suggest why it’s successful. Moral panics are “a condition, episode, person or group of persons [who] become defined as a threat to societal values and interests” and what reality TV does is brings up “a moral issue and make people confront it” or take a view point. Both Wife Swap and Supernanny deal with “family breakdown, or the ‘broken Britain’ theme” , the concern of failed marriages in the UK and the great concern in the bad behaviour of young people. Stanley Cohen argued that the “mass media fashions these episodes”, dramatising them and as a result “turning them into a national issue” ; he named this “control media” . “Whether it resolves the issue for people is another matter" , as these stereotypes and representations are constantly shown, it could have a cultivating effect on society and therefore contributes to these moral panics rather than resolving them.
To conclude, Reality TV is constructed using conventions of documentary, to reflect its representations of the truth and reality. These fly-on-the wall documentaries represent themselves as “real”, but institutions mediate the content to reflect their own ideologies such as hegemony, to produce high entertainment values. However, we must consider audiences are becoming more active in their viewing, and there is a “heightened general awareness of fakery” in reality documentaries, affecting the reputation of “more serious, kinds of documentary” that it adopts from. Supernanny and Wife Swap are popular because they appeal to a wide range of audiences and reflect issues and cultural differences in society.
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