Shedding reality on Reality-TV

Intelligence has great importance within a society. Societies that increase 

intelligence have a great chance of increasing innovation and bringing 
their population to a greater future. The more people listen to and learn 
from intelligent sources, the greater chance of positive outcomes in the 
future as they move on to bigger and better things. 

Then there's reality TV. 

Reality TV to me is a perfect example of de-evolution. We have brought 
ourselves to an outstanding place in technology, with numerous 
possibilities ahead of us to try and enhance life as we know it. So I find 
it is simply irresponsible to spend this time that we could be using to 
enhance our livelihoods watching other people do stupid things on a show 
that the TV producers try to pass off as 'real'. It is not that I have a 
problem with watching things on TV; people can share really original and 
creative ideas through movies or Talk Shows, inspiring others through their 
works. But there is really nothing stimulating or inspirational about 
seeing Snookie hookup with guy #125, or watching a mother spray tan her 
bawling four year old daughter. 

To increase intelligence in society, positive values and ideas must be 
circulating around to give people a good moral base. Modern Reality TV 
takes away from that completely, reflecting terrible values and showing 
entertainment that is the opposite of stimulating. There are three examples 
of shows that do this, and honestly just make society a more frustrating 
and morally saddening place to live. 

The first example is the infamous show known as Jersey Shore.

  Having never 
seen a Jersey Shore episode, I decided to subject myself to one for the sole 
purpose of this assignment. 2 minutes and 21 seconds later, I feel I really 
do have all I need to explain why this show is not a good show to subject 
society to. I found myself laughing at their trivial problems, such as 
everybody crying and giving such dramatic emotion for Snookie getting a 
warning by police after parading around the streets drunk. It's exactly that 
kind of behavior that makes Jersey Shore one of the last shows that should 
turn into a phenomenon. Its morals are to get drunk every night, get a spray 
tan during the day, and get a perfect body so you can hook up with countless 
amounts of girls and have meaningless sex again and again. 

The job of trying to teach children about how to respect women and be fine 
upstanding citizens that schools and parents happen to be stuck with is 
difficult enough, but is just unfair expectations to hold to those powers 
when kids are being fed these morals every time they turn on the TV. Jersey 
Shore is not just annoying to hear about, its stupidity is bringing its 
audience down with it, making it a harder job for those who enjoy quality 
entertainment to try and advance society

A second example of a terrible reality TV show is the show Toddlers and Tiaras.

 This show doesn’t feature terrible examples for teenagers; instead, it goes right to showing terrible things HAPPENING to children. The premise of the show is that they take little 3-5 year old girls and try to get them to win beauty pageants by making them look ‘the best they can be’. But these poor toddlers are dressed up in a tad more than tiaras, their crazed mothers going so far as to give them spray tans and put them on crash diets. “Oh, but she likes it!” declares the mother of a child who is bawling for the spray tan to stop. This show causes mothers to take away their kids toys and trade them for dresses and excessive amounts of makeup, showing them that beauty is all that really matters in life. This show causes mothers to look past the well being of their daughters and solely at pleasing the judges, making their little girls miserable in the process.

The final show that I consider an embarrassment to society is one that only survived its first season: Bridalplasty.

  I consider the concept of this show so ridiculous I don’t even see how it made it past its first episode. Basically, there are 12 wife-to-be’s who are competing in various challenges. Whoever wins each challenge gets any item of plastic surgery they would like done, and the overall winner gets the wedding of their dreams and enough plastic surgery to re-haul her whole unhappy body. Here’s the twist: the husbands don’t even know what their future wife is going to look like until the day of the wedding. This show takes women, feeds into their thoughts of not being good enough the way they are, and causes their husbands to basically marry a stranger when it’s all said and done, likely ruining marriages and people’s lives in the process. 

Music Video goshdarn Response

The music video for the song Savin Me by Nickelback is an incredibly original work of art, actually managing to have an engaging story and be about something meaningful. 

Construction of Reality: The video is realistic in the sense that we would react to what is happening in the video the same way that they do. If we were saved by somebody anonymous, and then we suddenly started seeing peoples life spans above their heads, we would probably be just as confused as this guy was. The main idea of the video, seeing lifespans so you can essentially save people and pass on that ability, is a very original and interesting idea to include in a music video. It may not be entirely realistic, but it is definitely something to appreciate and think about.

The songs meaning is conveyed beautifully by the music video. The reality portrayed is that if people had the power to save lives, they would, and essentially that responsibility would pass on to someone else. This reality gives people hope for the good in humanity and also emphasizes the song, which is about needing to be saved. Though the music video fits the songs meaning really well, it may only appeal to a portion of the artist's fanbase. Much of the Nickelback fanbase are the "party hard rock and roll" kinds of people, so a serious song about saving people may not necessarily appeal to that demographic. In that same sense, it may not appeal to the pop culture of today, considering it is not about things that cause immediate pleasure such as sex and drugs, but instead about a meaningful message. 

Codes and Conventions: A stereotype used in this video would be shots of the band playing the song in an abandoned building type of setting so as to add dramatic effect to the song. There is also a very typical formula to the song, how it includes repetition of the chorus and a guitar solo. There aren't many typical stereotypes in this rock song, it's much more creative and meaningful than an every day rock song. 

Creeds and Values: A value statement that this video is expressing is the importance of helping others when one is given the ability. If someone has the power to help or save someone, such as when the person pulled the lady away from the falling piece of metal, they should act upon it so that the person can do the same for someone else. This is also reflected in the lifestyle choices that are displayed by the characters in the video, choosing to help when given the knowledge to do so. Also the importance of paying it forward, helping after you are helped. No racial differences are shown in this video, equality is EVERYWHERE.

Commercial: This is a very effective way to sell the song. It causes people to look deeper at the meaning of the song, and specifies that it is about life and death, not simply a love interest, which viewers may assume after hearing just the song. The video makes people want to buy the video with the song (I know I did) because it adds a completely new element of creativity to the experience by adding in the story aspect. The target audience would be anyone who is attracted to deep, meaningful lyrics and a compelling story, though it does not appeal to the 'party going' fans that Nickelback tends to have. The video does fit the song very well, and even adds a new layer to the song by giving us another element of creativity to appreciate.