Inside the industry that made Donald Trump president

Emily Nussbaum has been wanting to write a book about reality television since the early 2000s. It’s a good thing she waited, she wrote in the introduction to that book, Cue the sun! The invention of reality televisionwhich was published Last June. If she had written it earlier, she would have missed some of the genre’s greatest hits, including… American Idol, Bachelor’s degreeand Keeping up with the Kardashians. She also missed how these shows changed American culture and in what ways traineewhich transformed Donald Trump from a failed businessman into a popular presidential candidate, politician.

Nussbaum, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and longtime television critic the The New YorkerShe wrote, she wrote Cue the sun! Not only for people who love reality TV but also for those who hate it. Fans will find no shortage of trivia about their favorite shows, from behind-the-scenes drama to untold oral histories of their development. Meanwhile, haters will be surprised to learn that the genre has a history stretching back to the 1940s and has already produced some innovative, thought-provoking and meaningful television moments.

Because reality television is often considered low-key, more entertainment than art, it tends to receive less attention from academics than other forms of media such as film and scripted television. This is unfortunate, Nussbaum says in the book, because the impact of reality TV on our society has been far-reaching. He broke the taboo. The distinction between real and fake, public and private is blurred; He even helped determine who would occupy the White House. In the following interview, Nussbaum reveals what makes reality TV such a juggernaut and speculates on how the genre will evolve in the coming years.

Examination of historical reality

Cue the sun! It traces the history of reality television back to World War II and an ambitious media executive named Allen Font. While producing radio programs for the U.S. Army Signal Corps, Font acquired the latest military technology: a portable audio recorder.

“Until then, tape recorders were bulky and too heavy to lift from a desk. When I interviewed someone, they knew they were being recorded,” Nussbaum wrote.

Funt realized the possibilities opened up by the new recorder. At first, he was simply eavesdropping on random conversations. When these matters became too boring, he began playing the role of agitator—a practice that formed the basis for both his 1947 radio show, Candid microphoneand its television adaptation, Candid camerareleased the following year.

In a testament to Funt’s foresight, these two shows contained the qualities that would keep people coming back to reality TV for decades: the winner’s cheers, the loser’s screams, the reaction of the person being pranked, and the look on their faces when the trick is finally revealed to them. In short, the overt gesture and the joy of watching someone be themselves.

The fact that this joy seems to transcend cultures has enabled forms of reality such as Big brotheroriginally developed in the Netherlands by Dutch media tycoon John de Mol Jr., has been successfully exported to countries around the world – often to the surprise of importers.

“When they tried to sell Expedition Robinson “In Sweden,” Nussbaum tells Big Think, referring to the popular British game show in which contestants compete in challenges across exotic locations, “locals said, ‘We’re a nice nation; We are a kind nation; We’re a nice nation. We’re not doing this American capitalist thing. But the producers insisted it would work, and it did. There’s something in human nature that makes it work every time.

This doesn’t mean reality TV is all fun and games. Another reason for the popularity of this genre is that it is cheap to make, especially when compared to scripting. Production crews were (and still are) largely non-unionized, which meant they could be paid less. Cast members, who are usually private people without agents or managers, are not usually paid. Their compensation is the opportunity to extend their 15 minutes of fame into hours, days, or perhaps years by building their personal brands. This payment system neatly explains why reality TV is so popular in places like the Netherlands, where a small market of native speakers makes scripted programming too risky to invest in on an ongoing basis.

Perhaps more troubling than the financial realities of the genre is its underlying philosophy. While reality TV has succeeded in touching our hearts and sometimes stimulating our minds, it is also inherently exploitative. Nussbaum points out Queen for a daya program from the 1940s and 1950s in which housewives would tell host Jack Bailey about the sometimes funny, sometimes incredibly tragic problems in their home lives to win huge prizes.

“There was a compassionate element to it Queen for a day“, she says Big thought“, “But it’s also something akin to schadenfreude. Most reality TV shows work this way. “They may be doing something liberating but it’s also exploitative.”

A candid look behind the cameras

The impact of reality television on society is multifaceted. Starting with the good stuff, the genre deserves praise for making television more representative of the general population. Nussbaum notes:Hell’s Kitchenfor example, features everyday chefs, as opposed to the elite chefs on other shows, giving us insight into how actual kitchens work. Many of the cast also included members of marginalized groups, including women, people of color, and the LGBTQ community.

“Homosexuality, especially for gay men, has become a staple part of reality TV,” Nussbaum says. “Many gay men have worked behind the scenes, and there is something about masculinity as a performance that lent itself to this form.” Lance Loud of American family He was the first openly gay man on television, and he was just being himself, and that performance of “Are You Gay or Not?” “It was a spectacle for people.”

Reality television’s pursuit of shock and spectacle has led the industry to break many taboos. Queen for a day It aired when it was inappropriate for women to talk about their mental health or marital problems, while Funt Candid camera She used pranks that questioned the norms and values ​​of the American public. in Cue the sun!Nussbaum wrote of a 1963 sketch in which actress Fanny Flanke pretends to be the first female American airline pilot, “provoking expressions of annoyance and concern from bystanders.”

Developing alongside the Internet, it should come as no surprise that reality television predicted certain aspects of today’s Internet culture. In the early 2000s, when Nussbaum began thinking about her book proposal, Big brother — a show in which contestants live together in a house linked to security cameras — was already broadcasting 24-hour footage on its web page. Meanwhile, reality appears like Policemen and America’s funniest home videos It was essentially a televised precursor to scrolling, introducing everything from meme forums to YouTube, Vine, and TikTok.

On the negative front, reality TV is associated with fake news and our societies’ increasing inability to collectively agree on what distinguishes fact from fiction. The terms “reality TV” and “unscripted television” — the latter favored by industry insiders — have become increasingly misleading. While reality shows do not operate with scripts detailing every event and line of dialogue, their contents are, more often than not, manipulated by producers who direct cast members and distort, distort, or fabricate footage for the sake of entertainment.

In some shows, this manipulation is obvious. In other cases, this is not the case, leading viewers to accept its contents as real and authentic. This was the case for traineeNussbaum wrote, presenting Donald Trump — indebted, forgotten, and having failed in every business venture he was involved in — as a successful, charismatic leader with a golden touch.

“I think Trump’s election was, in large part, a product of trainee“Nussbaum says Big thought. “This show rebranded him as a symbol of success. It wasn’t true, but it was effective in selling it to the audience and creating a persona that carried him in his campaign.”

Reality television has shaped not only its stars, but also its viewers. By blurring the boundaries between real and fake, the genre encouraged people to choose for themselves what they did and did not want to accept as realistic. “If something uncomfortable happens on a particular show,” Nussbaum explains, “the viewer might say, ‘That’s fake and scripted.’ But if it strikes them as real or dramatic, they can say, ‘Wow, I witnessed something real.’” People switched their views not based on what they found most compelling, but based on what made them feel more comfortable.

The future of reality TV

Although one can only speculate about the future of reality television, media analysts tend to agree that tomorrow’s shows will prioritize viewer interaction and incorporate new technologies such as artificial intelligence, virtual or augmented reality, and mobile applications that will enable real-time (as in real-life) audience engagement. I tried With modern programs such as Circle).

Economics is bound to play a big role in the future of reality TV, just as it has in the past. Historically, the genre has flourished whenever unionized sectors of the entertainment workforce go on strike. Interestingly, the current strike wave is having the opposite effect. according to the Hollywood Reporterthe industry is in such bad financial shape that reality shows are suffering, with budgets shrinking and job offers disappearing. Unwilling to take risks, companies limit themselves to tried-and-tested formulas for their biggest successes – meaning that in the next few years, we can expect more of the same rather than something new and radically different.

The same may be true of the industry’s labor policies, which are unlikely to change despite growing support from scripted film and television professionals. “From what I heard, there were signs toward consolidating reality crews,” Nussbaum says. While unions could lead to short-term downsizing, they would improve labor standards that range from imperfect to downright deplorable: “Some get well-compensated. Others don’t, and protection is scarce. Mistreatment of low-level crew affects how cast members are treated, too.” In the darkest chapter of my book, about… Bachelor’s degree“There are those who compare it to working in prison.”

“Hollywood is going through a huge crisis,” Nussbaum concludes when asked about the fate of this type of film. “I don’t have any solutions or predictions, but it seems that reality TV will continue because there is a huge audience for it, especially among young people. It is hard to imagine that the industry will stop producing when so many consider themselves fans of it.”