final word
rob crimmins
True Lies In which the author explains the artifice of reality television. Can you say “oxymoron”?. A friend of mine, a local television producer, Television is a poor medium for news because there isn’t time to put things in context. A picis working on a reality show. As he does so he’ll keep a few realities of his own in mind. ture may be worth a thousand words but they’re
Illustration by Nancy Harrison
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First, there’s no such thing as “reality television”. The term may replace “original copy” as the dictionary example of an oxymoron. Electron beams energizing phosphor dots are the reality at the viewer’s end and the camera only sees a tight field of view for a limited time. Reality includes everything outside that field and behind the camera and the events before the shutter was open and after it closed. I produce television too so I know how the image is crafted. All I have to do is put the camera down to know that television is incapable of re-creating reality. The only modern programming that attempts to present real, human events are news, sports, hidden camera programs, and physical feats. Of those, sports programming is closest to the actual event. With the exception of a good script directors like nothing better than rules, time limits and boundaries. For the same reason stunts are compelling subjects for television. When the guy on David Letterman stops the blades of an electric fan with his tongue I can’t turn away. To me, the slow motion replay of that Stupid Human Trick is the funniest ten seconds of video ever recorded.
February 2001 DELAWARE TODAY
all redundant. The “Real World”, “Survivor” and the others have very little to do with reality and they’re not new. In fact they are variants of the original film genre. Edison’s and the Lumière brothers’ first movies were of people engaged in normal activities. Initially audiences were fascinated but ticket sales soon collapsed. Hollywood and story telling made motion pictures a success. “Big Brother” showed little more than people cohabiting and the novelty quickly wore thin. My twenty-year-old, healthfully cynical son put it in perspective: “My life isn’t boring enough so now I’m supposed to watch other people’s.” Sometimes shows that seek, not reality but real emotions deliver, but not often. Everybody puts on a face when the camera is on. Garry Shandling told his fellow actors at last year’s Emmy Awards, “I don’t like this reality television, I have to be honest. I think real people should not be on television. It’s for special people like us, people who have trained and studied to appear to be real.” Everyone laughed but the line is completely valid. Television may not be able to display reality, but it can tell the truth. Most of today’s reality shows are what’s called in the business “event videography” and compared to other kinds of programming they’re cheap to make. It’s harder for producers, with the help of writers, actors and technicians to craft accurate, non-fiction tales and enlightening fiction. It’s good to understand the realities of a program’s creation as you observe the glowing dots and interpret the artificial sounds. Then you may even be able to decide if either are telling you the truth.
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January 2000
DELAWARE TODAY