There is currently a new series of Bachelorette on Australian Tv. This is a program where the female protagonist looks for love, when a number of partecipants try to attract her attention and develop a relationship with her, while living together for a period of time. This year the program has a little higher interest, as for the first time the protagonist is bisexual, and so there are both male and female participants.
Throughout the episodes, one by one the protagonist selects those who will be sent home, until finally the winner is chosen.
A similar series exists, Bachelor, where the protagonist is male.
These programs, and many many others around the world, fall part of the program genre of reality TV. These have the characteristic of a group of participants, generally but not necessarily unknown to each other, who live together for a period of time, with cameras and microphones in virtually every corner of the location they are in.
The aim of the participants is generally that of winning some prize, such a sum of money or in the case of Bachelorette or Bachelor of finding a partner. Little by little the participants, or contestants, get eliminated, either by voting amongst themselves, or by voting by the public, or some judge.
The program usually consists of parts of their daily life, what they would be doing, saying, discussing, playing, fighting etc. etc. together with a commentary, either by the producers of the program or of selected participants.
The first time I saw a program of this type was Big Brother. Others that have been broadcast in several countries around the world are Survivor (living in some remote jungle or island), Idol (singing), My Kitchen Rules (cooking) etc.
This genre is interesting in principle, however I have several objections to it.
Firstly is that that situation is manufactured or artificial. It is not normal, or common, to be surrounded by cameras and microphones (or be wearing one and have a contract saying that for almost no reason are you allowed to remove it). When under this type of continuous surveillance, you would probably act differently to what you would in the privacy of your home, even if probably even this surveillance can become normalised and almost get forgotten or ignored somewhat.
The second is that the program producers many times dramatise what goes on in the place, by emphasising aspects and overlooking others, giving particular impressions events using music, special effects, lights etc. Some people are portrayed positively, others disagreeably, one other as manipulative, yet another as the devil incarnate etc.
It is not the first time that participants declare after the program is over, that they found themselves having achieved notoriety that negatively affects their lives and even leave them with mental health issues such that they regret having participated.
There are also situations that are created with some particular aim, participants inserted for some undisclosed reason in cahoots with the producers etc.
Here are we talking of reality, or artificiality?
Speaking for myself, this genre does not convince me at all. What I see are programs that are aimed at stimulating interest with whatever means possible, to achieve purely commercial objectives, period.
I do admit that sometimes curiosity gets the better of me when encountering one of these programs, especially when the wife would be watching some cooking show, or one based on singing like The Voice, but I generally avoid these programs like the plague.
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