This is the true story... of seven strangers... picked to live in a house...work together and have their lives taped... to find out what happens... when people stop being polite... and start getting real. Actually this is story of how the MTV’s hit reality series The Real World is designed to appeal to me and how I am effected by it.
Through out the years MTV has pin pointed their target audience to a tee, which are young adults. At that in time in my life MTV already targeted me to its network let alone their shows while growing up. But besides hooking me to their network, their was one show that always is targeted to me which is The Real World. Like it isn’t already interesting enough to have seven strangers live in a house and being taped for any audience, MTV found many ways to attracted me to The Real World. One of the obvious attractions was the age of the seven strangers that were living together. Most of the cast members of the Real World ages rage from late teens to early twenties. This happens to be the ages I was when I religiously watching the show. Not only does the age of the cast members attract me to the show but also the cast member’s demographics. If you have ever seen The Real World, you know that the cast members are totally different from the next. Cast members vary from a white sheltered country girl that has never been to a big city to an openly transgender female. And of course when you make them all live together in house there is going to be drama. These are just a few of the examples of how MTV draw me into the show and kept me coming back to watch each new episode.
By having MTV market The Real World to me in those different ways, it actually works by drawing me in and making me want to watch each new episode. I have realized through out watching season after season of The Real World, I was being drawn into The Real World by stereo types that I never agreed with. The Real World I have learned draws its viewers in not only by having a diverse cast but having a cast that most resembles American stereo types. For instance in most every Real World cast that has be taped, there has been a flamboyant gay male living in the house. Of course this is one of the reasons I was drawn to the series because I could relate. But season after season, I realized that it was just another way MTV was getting me to watch its series. By learning this tactics that MTV uses to lure unexpected audiences in, I have also learned that the media will do anything to get you to watch or do something. Even if it goes against what you believe in. What I have learned about my self while growing watching The Real World is that no matter how much I think I won’t be drawn into the media, the media will also somehow draw me in even if its is “seven strangers... picked to live in a house...work together and have their lives taped... to find out what happens... when people stop being polite... and start getting real”.
Peter,
ReplyDeleteI loved the the entrance. I remember hearing those same phrases while I would turn on the television and watch it. I liked that you included the different stereotypical personalities that they try to find within each cast member. *Side note* I don't know if your friends were in love with this show, but I think also mentioning comments that your friends had would have made your point even more precise. I remember always running home, turning it on, watching it with one of my friends, and then talking about the episode with all my friends in Jr. High. Again, I don't know if this was the case with you and your friends, but even after I grew out of this phase (shortly after the third or so) I remember still hearing about the craze that MTV still had on my classmates. Just food for thought! Otherwise, I liked the structure and information that you provided.
I think Emily makes some good points. I agree with her more general sense that the topic is appropriate and interesting, but I find myself wanting something more . . . you describe the show well, but it's an old show now, and it's hard to picture what this piece could add to the reams and reams of writing that have been done about it. I feel like you could use some angle to get past general observations to saying something new about the show. How "real" is the Real World really? Especially now?
ReplyDeleteOf course, with no links whatsoever (!!) readers might just assume no one else has ever written about it? (I kid.) One way you could address the issues Emily raises is by pointing your readers to some of the many, many fan discussions about the show that can be found all over the place online.