Representing Society On Reality TV | Independent

I know I’m not the only one who’s a sucker for reality TV shows. Something about them is frustratingly addicting, whether it be the characters you love to hate, the over-dramatisation of EVERYTHING or the desire to know who will be eliminated and who will win. Right now in fact I’m trying excruciatingly hard to sit down and blog instead of succumbing to the realms of X Factor, my not so guilty pleasure of the moment.

…Oops, I gave into temptation. X Factor just finished but I am back! Reigan Derry for the win guys!

Back on topic. So recently I tuned into the ABC’s Reality Check, which gives viewers an insight into what really goes down in the production of reality TV. Host Tom Ballard and a panel of industry experts analyse current and past programs and the reveal the secrets of their make up. The show really appealed to me as being a fan of the genre myself, it was interesting to gain insight into the perspectives of those involved in the production process.

One of the topics of discussion of last week’s episode was the representation of culture on Australian’s TV screens. In this case, the panel discussed the tendency of producers to either undermine or exploit the multiculturalism that exists within our nation. Whilst shows like X Factor and The Voice tend to feature competitors of a range of ethnic backgrounds, others such as The Block have a track record of an exclusively Ango-centric cast. In what appears to be an attempt to solve the issue noted by many, it is likely that their culturally rich Sydney couple Chris and Jenna intend to challenge the stereotype. Reality Check showed a controversial clip from The Block introducing the mixed-race couple, in which the pair were literally labelled (can’t find a visual, but it involved on-screen text and arrows) with their cultural background.

chrisandjenna

Way not to be subtle, Channel Nine! I respect that they are branching out and attempting to showcase a more realistic sample of our multicultural society, but I’m not sure if this was the right way to go about it. The debate is never ending however as there seems to be a fine line between cultural diversity and racism on our screens.

Nonetheless, Reality Check is definitely worth a watch. Check it out on ABC iview here.

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