Jonathan Bignell presents a wide-ranging analysis of the television phenomenon of the early twenty-first century: Reality TV, exploring its cultural and political meanings, explaining the genesis of the form and its relationship to contemporary television production, and considering how it connects with, and breaks away from, factual and fictional conventions in television. Relationships with surveillance, celebrity and media culture are examined, leading to an appraisal of the directions that television culture is taking in the new century. His highly-readable style is accessible to readers at all levels of Culture and Media studies.
Preface and Acknowledgements Introduction PART 1: GENESIS Introduction The Documentary Heritage The Possibilities of Production Technologies Television Institutions Risking Reality TV Reality TV as the End of Documentary History Case Study: Wife Swap PART 2: THE WORLD IS WATCHING Introduction Reality TV and Theories of Globalization International Programmes and Formats from Britain The Globalization of Privacy Publicized Reality TV and Television Scheduling The Globalization of Institutional Forms Local Regulatory Cultures Case study: Big Brother as a Transnational Property Conclusion PART 3: REALITY TV Introduction Generic Conventions and Docusoap Docusoap, Ordinariness and Celebrity The Aesthetics of Reality TV Reality TV and the Public Sphere The Passion and Revelation of the Real Narration and Mediation Case Study: The House Series; Simulation, Recreation and Education Conclusion PART 4: DRAMA Introduction Narrative Forms Performance and Genre Characters Melodrama Dramatizing Gender Reality TV and the Displacement of Drama From Docusoap to Drama Case Study: The Cruise , Performance and Authenticity Conclusion PART 5: SURVEILLANCE Introduction The Prison of Real Spaces of Surveillance Discipline and Confession Rights and Regulations Threat and Reassurance Car Crash TV Case Study: Witnessing and Helping in Crimewatch UK Conclusion PART 6: BIG BROTHER CULTURE Introduction Cross-platform and Intermedial Texts Audience Composition and Modes of Address Audience Perceptions of Reality TV Television Institution and Reality TV Audiences Television Talk and Gossip Poaching and Fandom Case Study: The Osbournes , Celebrity and Multi-accentuality Conclusion CONCLUSION Bibliography Index
