I certainly can’t claim to be an expert on reality TV from personal experience: I’ve never watched a full episode of any of the many types from beginning to end.
I couldn’t manage watching “reality” when almost everyone knew the situations and conflicts were prearranged and manipulated by the producers. If the actors are good, major arguments might appear to be real, but the scripted conflicts are necessary to feed the shows’ only plot line: ordinary people fighting, scheming, or experiencing some sort of unpleasantness.
Dozens of reality shows have been charged with or admitted that what they advertised as reality was actually fiction. In its very first year, “Survivor” ended up in court when a contestant charged the producer with influencing two contestants to vote her off the island instead of an older man who was less popular with the others but better for the TV ratings.
One of the biggest beneficiaries of the reality TV craze was our previous president. He was the main focus of “The Apprentice” series for 14 years, shown as a “calm, infallible decision-maker, who listened to others but came to his own conclusions,” according to researchers at the University of Buffalo. His tagline, “You’re fired,” was meant to show him as decisive, unafraid of conflict, and satisfyingly angry at anyone who didn’t meet his high standards.
The researchers believe those hourlong appearances were a big factor in his 2016 election. The reason: Viewers naturally form “parasocial relationships” with people they watch regularly on TV or other media.
People crave human relationships, and will bond with characters on TV in the absence of other, truly human connections. Parasocial relationships are completely one-sided: “one party extends energy, interest, and time and the other person doesn’t know they exist.” The one investing energy actually feels like the other is a friend, someone who can be trusted, and would look out for their best interest. Just like real friends, people usually give them the benefit of the doubt if there is a question of fact or interpretation.
Of course, all politicians strive to create a favorable persona that may have little to do with reality. They use every effort to build a positive, likable image, and spend millions of dollars for TV ads promoting that image. But it would have been impossible to purchase the amount of face time Trump got from “The Apprentice.” Trump appeared in his scripted masquerade for about 200 hours, which resulted in over $1 billion of equivalent political ads (using low-end estimates of about $50,000 for a 30-second national, prime-time TV ad).
Many people saw the show as “reality,” different than political ads designed to spin an image.
Barring major surprises (and what is the world today, but a succession of surprises?), the Republican presidential race may pit a reality TV star (Mr. Apprentice) against a wannabe reality TV star, Ron DeSantis (Mr. I’ll-Fight-With-Anybody-Including-Mickey-Mouse).
One of the staples of reality TV is finding and using contrived conflicts to gain attention and show off a false toughness. Trump showed his mastery of the art even when announcing his candidacy in 2015, labeling Mexicans crossing the border as “rapists.”
DeSantis has focused on one false crisis after another, including the teaching of Critical Race Theory, discussions of gender identity, objectionable books in school libraries, transgender athletics, everything “woke,” and gun laws that prevent carrying concealed weapons without a license. These false or exaggerated crises divert attention from truly pressing problems like the children and others gunned down on a daily basis, extreme weather due to an overheated planet, and the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a tiny percentage (1% and 0.1%) of Americans.
Other research shows that reality TV celebrates “con artists” who have excellent powers of persuasion as well as the “dark triad” of personality traits needed to manipulate others: a lack of both empathy and remorse, narcissism, and the ability to rationalize cruel or misleading behavior because “the end justifies the means.” Trump and DeSantis lead the way in this race to the top of the ratings and the bottom of positive leadership.
And the horror of another presidential campaign is just around the corner. We live in a world of conflict and anger, divided by politics and religion, with weather crises too severe to ignore. And what choices will we get to lead us toward a brighter future?
Spin, spin, and more spin. It will, again, be a choice of the lesser of two evils.
Allen Woods is a freelance writer, author of the Revolutionary-era historical fiction novel “The Sword and Scabbard,” and Greenfield resident. His column appears regularly on a Saturday. Comments are welcome here or at awoods2846@gmail.com.