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What is constructed reality television?

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Reality TV : Constructed Reality Video - Shmoop

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© 2018 Shmoop University, Inc. All rights reserved.

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*Complete reading The Outsiders through Ch. 9
*Complete mini-unit reading packet on reality tv.
* Using your claim from Monday, either follow through with your original claim or compose a new claim, and write a quality argument piece on the topic: "Reality Television: Good or Bad?" Don't forget to include a broad intro, strong thesis/claim, topic sentences, evidence, etc.

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* Writing into the day
*Writing on Demand- Writing Portion
* Close-read Ch. 7
* Role Play, if time allows

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1. If you created a reality tv show, what would the title be and why?
2. List 2 positives and 2 negatives concerning reality tv. Explain solutions that would correct the 2 negatives.
3. In your opinion, do reality tv shows portray real life situations or do you think it's mostly made-up, scripted events? Use evidence and examples to support your opinion.
4. Create a cartoon, magazine ad, or television commercial to promote a reality tv show you would like to see broadcasted on tv.

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Questions about issues in the news for students 13 and older.
"Jersey Shore" had its final episode in December, but MTV is ready with a new reality show to take its place this month. But does the new show, "Buckwild," exploit stereotypes of West Virginia and Appalachia just the same way that "Jersey Shore" caricatured Italian-Americans? If so, should we be watching? How do shows like this affect us?
In "Feeling Dragged Through the Mud, as MTV Comes to West Virginia," Trip Gabriel reports on the controversy surrounding "Buckwild."

Even though it has yet to be broadcast, a reality TV series set in this corner of Appalachia has created a stir for its portrait of young people prone to fighting, swearing, careening in all-terrain vehicles and wallowing, scantily clad, in the mud.

The series, "Buckwild," will fill the MTV slot vacated by "Jersey Shore." Like that series, the new show has aroused anger over what some consider the exploitation of broad cultural stereotypes.

"It doesn't help the lousy reputation we already have," said Greg Samms, 31, a dishwasher on a break at the Charleston Town Center mall. "You go west of Ohio, west of Kentucky - people think we're hillbillies."

Kent Carper, the president of the Kanawha County Commission here, said dryly, "Some folks in West Virginia wear shoes, believe it or not."

Based on a two-minute trailer that MTV has released online, Senator Joe Manchin III, Democrat of West Virginia, labeled the show a "travesty" and called on MTV to cancel it. "This show plays to ugly, inaccurate stereotypes about the people of West Virginia," Mr. Manchin wrote in a letter last month to Stephen K. Friedman, MTV's president.

He accused the show's producers of egging on a cast between ages 19 and 24 to misbehave for the sake of ratings. "You preyed on young people, coaxed them into displaying shameful behavior - and now you are profiting from it," Mr. Manchin wrote. "That is just wrong."

Students: Tell us ...

Do you think reality TV shows like "Jersey Shore" and "Buckwild" promote stereotypes? If so, do you think they're just harmless entertainment, or do you think those stereotypes are dangerous?

Do you think reality TV has a responsibility to show "reality"? Or do you think viewers know that a show's cast is performing for an audience?

Do you ever watch reality TV? What do you like about it? What don't you like about it?

If you could produce your own reality TV show, what would it be about? Would you try to avoid promoting stereotypes? How?

Students 13 and older are invited to comment below. Please use only your first name. For privacy policy reasons, we will not publish student comments that include a last name.

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Does Reality TV Promote Dangerous Stereotypes?

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Questions about issues in the news for students 13 and older. "Jersey Shore" had its final episode in December, but MTV is ready with a new reality show to take its place this month. But does the new show, "Buckwild," exploit stereotypes of West Virginia and Appalachia just the same way that "Jersey Shore" caricatured Italian-Americans?

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* Writing into the day
* Writing on Demand-
Reading Portion
* Close-read Ch. 6

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* Writing into the day
* Close-read article and answer questions in small group
* Close-read Ch. 5 in The Outsiders
*Closure: Write a claim based on today's topic.

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Writing into the day #3
1. Read the following article.
2. Draw a simple graphic that represents the relationship among these three articles (photo).
3. Write a short explanation of your graphic. Save it to use tomorrow.

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Writing into the day #2
1) Read the following article.
2) Underline or note in the margin the main claim of the article.
3) Highlight what you consider to be the writer's strongest evidence.
4) Then write informally for 5-7 minutes, adding to what you wrote yesterday.

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Reality shows such as Bravo's "The Real Housewives of Beverly... (Photo credit: Nicole Wilder...)

In the future, what will our well-dressed, mean girl leaders have in common? A childhood filled with a lot of reality television.

A revealing survey released this week from the Girl Scout Research Institute exposes the good, bad and ugly influences reality TV may be having on our impressionable female youth. The survey included 1,141 girls across the U.S. age 11 to 17 who were asked about their reality TV-watching habits as well as their opinions on relationships, self-confidence, self-image and success. A little less than half of the girls who took part considered themselves regular reality TV-show watchers, and about a quarter said they rarely or never saw those shows.

Overall, the girls weren't clueless--everyone surveyed thought reality shows promote bad behavior, 86% felt the shows often set girls against each other to make things more exhilarating and 70% believed that reality TV leads people to think it's all right to treat people badly.

But when they were divided into regular viewers and non-viewers, differences began to appear. Given this statement: "You have to lie to get what you want," 37% of regular reality TV-show viewers agreed versus 24% of non-viewers. On "Being mean earns you more respect than being nice," 37% of viewers agreed versus 25% of non-viewers, and for the statement, "You have to be mean to others to get what you want," 28% of viewers said thumbs up to that, versus 18% of non-viewers.

On the subject of self-image, 72% of regular viewers said they spent a lot of time on their appearance, while 42% of non-viewers said they did. When asked if they would rather be recognized for their outer rather than inner beauty, 28% of reality show watchers said yes, versus 18% of non-watchers.

Getting a picture here? Don't be so fast to judge--there's more.

Girls who watched reality TV on a regular basis were more self-assured than non-viewers, with most thinking of themselves as mature, a good influence, outgoing, funny and smart. More aspired to leadership than non-viewers (46% compared with 27%) and were more apt to regard themselves as role models (75% versus 61%).

The shows proved helpful in other ways: 68% thought reality TV made them think they could achieve anything in life, 75% said reality shows featured people will different backgrounds and beliefs, 62% said the shows have made them more conscious of social issues and causes, and 59% reported they found out about new things they may not otherwise have learned. Just what those new things were isn't known. Here are some things we've learned from watching reality TV: Histrionics and flip-outs are much better when there is some action to go along them, such as table-flipping, hair-pulling or object-throwing. If you have to be restrained by several people, that's a win. Also, if you lose at something, make sure you blame everyone and everything within a five-mile radius for your woeful underperformance. And always, always, cry.

"Girls today are bombarded with media--reality TV and otherwise--that more frequently portrays girls and women in competition with one another rather than in support or collaboration," said Andrea Bastiani Archibald, a developmental psychologist with Girl Scouts of the USA, in a news release. "This perpetuates a 'mean-girl' stereotype and normalizes this behavior among girls. We don't want girls to avoid reality TV, but want them, along with their parents, to know what they are getting into when they watch it."

We have to wonder if this is a chicken-or-egg thing: Are girls who have a predisposition to being mean, shallow, but also confident and driven drawn to reality TV, or does watching such shows make them that way?

Do you let your children watch reality TV and if so, do any of these statistics ring true? Let us know.

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Reality TV may shape the way girls think

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Reality shows such as Bravo's "The Real Housewives of Beverly... (Photo credit: Nicole Wilder...) In the future, what will our well-dressed, mean girl leaders have in common? A childhood filled with a lot of reality television.

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Writing into the day #1
1. Analyze the advertisement.
2. What is the main idea here?
3. Write down what you consider to be the strongest evidence to support the main idea.
Write informally for 5-7min.

What do you want to know more about?

Where do you stand on this issue today?