Gossip as strategy: The management of talk about others on reality TV show ‘Big Brother’

2004 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 246-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna Thornborrow ◽  
Deborah Morris
Keyword(s):  
Reality Tv ◽  
Big Brother ◽  
Tv Show

Cyber Sutra: The Internet Is for Porn

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ravi Agrawal
Keyword(s):  
Negative Impact ◽  
Family Values ◽  
Reality Tv ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Local Version ◽  
Big Brother ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Production Company ◽  
Tv Show ◽  
Google Search

In the year 2012, a generation ago in digital technology, the person who generated the most internet searches in India was not a cricketer or a Bollywood star. Nor was it a politician or a religious figure. None of them were close. The person most Indians were curious about that year—as measured by the total number of Google searches—was Canadian-Indian Karenjit Kaur Vohra, a.k.a. Sunny Leone, a former porn star and Penthouse Pet of the Year. It wasn’t the case only in 2012. As hundreds of millions of Indians continued to discover the internet through 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and even 2017, Sunny Leone remained the most-searched-for person in India. People simply couldn’t get enough. (Prime Minister Narendra Modi made it to number two in 2014, the year he was elected, but Leone remained the clear favorite.) Prudish, conservative, family-values India . . . and a porn star? Leone was no longer even performing; she had stopped around 2010 and started her own production company with her husband and manager, Daniel Weber. In 2011, she came to India as a guest on the reality TV show Bigg Boss, a local version of the Big Brother franchise. Leone’s appearance was predictably controversial (by design, of course: it was good for the ratings). Although most Indians hadn’t heard of her, it didn’t take long for word to spread: “A porn star—from America—here in India?” At the time, parliamentarian Anurag Thakur complained to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, arguing that Leone’s presence on a nationally telecast program would “have a negative impact on the mindset of children.” Thakur added: “When children see these porn stars on TV and then do a Google search, it shows a vulgar site. It will have a bad impact in the long run.” There were no laws, however, to stop Leone from appearing on TV. While the production of pornography was officially illegal in India, Leone could justifiably argue she was no longer involved in the industry. She was trying to pivot to general entertainment.

The Faux and the Schmo

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Friedlander
Keyword(s):  
Reality Tv ◽  
Big Brother ◽  
Real People ◽  
Tv Show

This chapter engages with the reality TV show parody The Joe Schmo Show, whose premise rests upon a cast of actors convincing an earnest participant that he is competing in a Big Brother–style reality. It compares The Joe Schmo Show with a series of made-for-TV movies based around “true events” and “real people,” with which it aired contemporaneously. It argues that, unlike docu-dramas which enable viewers to “see through” the fictionalized scene, The Joe Schmo Show functions in an unexpectedly disruptive way. Through setting up a seemingly irresistible scene for “seeing through” the ruse and then exploiting its attendant traps, the show accomplishes the subversive task of undermining the power of the ideological call of mastery associated with the realist form.

A Ruse for the Real

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Friedlander
Keyword(s):  
Public Art ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Reality Tv ◽  
The Real ◽  
Public Square ◽  
Art Installation ◽  
Big Brother ◽  
Tv Show

This chapter analyzes “Bitte liebt Österreich” (“Please Love Austria”), the controversial public art installation created by the late German conceptual artist and provocateur Christoph Schlingensief. Schlingensief staged a variation on the reality TV show Big Brother, in which asylum seekers were housed in a structure in a public square in Vienna, Austria. Passersby were invited to cast their vote each night for which detainee should be evicted the following day. By staging his intervention as a “game” that borrowed from the familiar “reality TV” genre, Schlingensief invites us to consider the question of whether using a fictional, game-like mode of representation to describe a politically reactionary event may help to subvert it. He thus offers an important twist to the logic which undergirds the position that realistic depictions of revolutionary events can themselves be politically potent.

scholarly journals That’s Me: Nationalism and Identity on Balkan Reality TV

2009 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zala Volcic ◽  
Mark Andrejevic
Keyword(s):  
Reality Tv ◽  
Big Brother ◽  
Living Together ◽  
Nationalism And Identity ◽  
Tv Show ◽  
The Way

Abstract: In this article, we consider the themes and reception of To Sam Ja (That’s Me), a Big Brother–style Balkan reality TV show filmed in Macedonia in 2004 and 2005 that featured several cast members from former Yugoslav republics living together. Drawing on examples taken from the production and reception of To Sam Ja, we explore the way in which the show manages political and economic conflicts by transposing them into the realm of the personal.Résumé : Dans cet article, nous considérons la réception de To Sam Ja (C’est moi), une émission de téléréalité réalisée en Macédoine en 2004 et 2005. À la manière de Big Brother et Loft Story, To Sam Ja met en vedette plusieurs représentants d’anciennes républiques yougoslaves vivant ensemble. En nous fondant sur des exemples provenant de la production et de la réception de To Sam Ja, nous explorons la manière dont cette émission gère les conflits politiques et économiques en les transposant dans le domaine personnel.

scholarly journals Along which identity lines does 21st-century Britain divide? Evidence from Big Brother

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-222
Author(s):  
Tom Lane
Keyword(s):  
Regional Differences ◽  
Age Discrimination ◽  
Reality Tv ◽  
Region Of Origin ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Level Of Education ◽  
Big Brother ◽  
The North ◽  
Tv Show ◽  
Opposite Gender

This article measures discrimination in the reality TV show Big Brother, a high-stakes environment. Data on contestants’ nominations are taken from 35 series of the British version of the show, covering the years 2000–2016. Race and age discrimination are found, with contestants more likely to nominate those of a different race and those different in age from themselves. However, no discrimination is identified on the basis of gender, geographical region of origin, or level of education. Racial discrimination is driven by males, but females exhibit stronger age discrimination than males. Age discrimination is driven by the younger contestants discriminating against the older. Regional differences emerge, particularly between contestants from Greater London and those from the north of England; northerners have a stronger tendency to engage in racial and age discrimination, and to discriminate in favour of the opposite gender.

Privacy and exposure on Israel’s reality TV show, Big Brother

2020 ◽  
pp. 283-297
Author(s):  
Amit Lavie-Dinur ◽  
Yuval Karniel
Keyword(s):  
Reality Tv ◽  
Big Brother ◽  
Tv Show

scholarly journals A defense of the modern, high-tech redneck on reality TV: Why the world loves Duck Dynasty and its resulting redemptive representation of Rednecks

SURG Journal ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 5-14
Author(s):  
Sarah McGuire
Keyword(s):  
Social Groups ◽  
Reality Tv ◽  
High Tech ◽  
Television Studies ◽  
Southern Culture ◽  
The World ◽  
Tv Shows ◽  
Key Terms ◽  
Tv Show ◽  
Modern Form

This article uses key terms and concepts from Television Studies to “close read” the reality TV show Duck Dynasty in its visual form. This article questions not only how Duck Dynasty represents rednecks, but also how the representation of the “redneck” is understood by the TV audience. It explores the success of Duck Dynasty as a reality TV show and argues that it redeems “rednecks” from Hollywood’s previous portrayals of the overly caricatured redneck stereotype. The Robertsons have the ability to convey truth – even if it is through a partially fake/mediated realm – and what they actually represent is a more subdued, modern form of redneck identity in comparison to classic Hollywood depictions. However, viewers cannot trust reality TV to wholly or singularly inform how they understand other social groups despite how “real” reality may appear on reality TV shows. Instead of viewing the redneck jokes and portrayal on reality TV as offensive, Duck Dynasty’s jokes and portrayals can be powerful tools for exposing the absurdity of the stereotypes previously perpetuated by Hollywood and can help subvert them. Keywords: Duck Dynasty; Duck Commander; Buck Commander; Robertson; redneck (representations of); reality TV; television studies; hillbilly; Southern culture; stereotypes; sitcom; American dream; American television

scholarly journals Et Tu Ru? Entrepreneurship and the Commodification of Drag in RuPaul’s Drag Race

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Buck
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Reality Tv ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Drag Queen ◽  
The Face ◽  
Value Changes ◽  
Historical Moment ◽  
Tv Show ◽  
International Success ◽  
Selection Of

Historically, drag is a taboo which has been marginalized in the face of centuries of repression against non-heteronormative activity. Yet today drag has become highly visible in popular culture, and this is in large part attributable to the international success of American reality TV show RuPaul’s Drag Race (2009-present). Its bold representation of drag on a mainstream television show is unprecedented and the selection of drag queen competitors by the show’s producers has demonstrated a plethora of representations as Drag Race showcases a diverse range of identifications from the world of drag performance. The blossoming of Drag Race’s success comes at a historical moment in which we are seeing a huge proliferation of queer representations (re)produced in US television and other media over the last decade. However, as I will argue, the apparent liberalization of drag queens in popular culture is not simply a celebration of so-called ‘progress’ in the recognition of the marginalized, but may also be prompting the promotion of other value changes within late capitalism’s ideals of consumerism and entrepreneurship. Contestants are increasingly pressured to construct their drag performances to conform to a recognizable brand to reach the heights of their own private ‘success’. Mainstreamed depictions of queer subjects are susceptible to co-option, particularly in televisual forms such as Drag Race which prospers by channelling the emancipatory and subversive desires of the subculture. Through trans-textual considerations and historical contextualizations, I show how the representation of drag in Drag Race is depoliticized through neoliberal discourse as the show’s continual demand for competitors to ‘work it’ privileges and maintains the impetus for competitive profitmaking above the needs and demands of disempowered groups.

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