Reality-Based TV Genres
WEEK 5
DOCUMENTING THE REAL THROUGH
COMEDY AND DRAMA
Candid Camera
The Panopticon (Jeremy Bentham; Michele Foucault).
- Being watched without our knowledge
- The normalization of being watched within
hierarchical structures.
("On the whole, therefore, one can speak of the formation of a disciplinary society in this
movement that stretches from the enclosed disciplines, a sort of social ‘quarantine’, to an
indefinitely generalizable mechanism of ‘panopticism”)
Candid Camera
According to the author Candid Camera operates to
assuage
simulation anxiety – the inability to
distinguish between the real and the
manufactured
surveillance anxiety – the fear that one’s
actions are being constantly monitored.
Candid Camera
Within a Cold War context Candid Camera reinforces
and normalizes the American citizen’s duty to:
- OBSERVE
-RECORD
-INFORM
Spying becomes a form of ENTERTAINMENT
Candid Camera
Establishes an aesthetic that has highly influenced the “visual
realism” that is present in today’s Reality TV programming
Narrative tension relies on voyeuristic pleasure of audience
Establishes a low-pay business model for “real people” featured in
observational programming.
Candid Camera “targets” were paid $50.00 (1994). (as SAG
member would make aprox $450 for a day’s work in 1994).
The Writers Guild of America CITES Candid Camera as the first
“reality TV show” in their on going effort to unionize reality writers.
Candid Camera
Documenting the real –
- “illusion of transparency” (Reality TV is
constructed to resemble the real.)
- Reality TV reinforces and STRENGTHENS the
SIMULACRUM (the manufactured representation
of the real becomes seen and thought of as the real).
i.e. (people go to EPCOT rather than EUROPE).
Candid Camera
Candid Camera overview
Ran from 1948-1992. Appeared on ABC, NBC,CBS,
The Playboy Channel, and national syndication.
Spawned NUMEROUS “hidden camera prank”
shows across the globe.
Japan
An American Family
A small documentary film crew filmed the Loud
family for seven months in 1971
Exec Producer Craig Gilbert billed the show as “a
real life soap opera”
Filmmakers Alan and Susan Raymond attempted to
maintain ethical practices in observational
documentary. They did not have final edit and were
credited as CREW not directors.
An American Family
Son Lance Loud was the first openly gay
person/character to appear on American television.
The Raymonds maintain that Gilbert operated to
DESTROY the Loud family.
Gilbert denies feeding information to Pat about her
husband’s infidelity.
An American Family
Upon release of the 13 episode PBS series the FAMILY
was vilified not the producers. The “crew” however
were blacklisted from many documentary funding
sources. Alan and Susan Raymond
Interview with Lance and Loud Children
Take away:
The documentary’s interconnectedness with PBS
helps AAF maintain a “high art status”