Reality TV in relation to television Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Reality TV in relation to television - Essay Example As mentioned earlier, the concept of surveillance society has influenced reality TV greatly due to the relationship that exists between the two (Lyon, 2001). For most of the time, TV shows come to the audience in a well scripted and practiced format. Because of this, it becomes very difficult to know what actually takes place in the lives of participants in a very normal life situation. Because such forms of TV programmes are the commonest, the audience finds it difficult to satisfy their surveillance society demands, which demands that they will know what goes on in the lives of people as realistic agents of society. In a study, Trottier (2011) noted that most audiences are constantly looking for the answer to the question of how other people will behave if the people found themselves in situations that audience found themselves in real life. To get a candid answer to such questions, social surveillance becomes the tool that can be used. This is because the concept of surveillance s ociety requires that people will be monitored in their most natural environments. Using reality TV shows â€Å"Big Brother UK†, audience come face to face with how other people behave in everyday natural situations. Basing on Foucault’s idea of a panopticon, however, reality TV may be subdivided into those that inmates are aware they are being surveyed and those that they are not. This is because, from the concept of a panopticon, those who are being monitored are not expected to be aware that there is any surveillance on them.