Week 11-12

How have the documentary genres ‘Direct Cinema’ or ‘cinéma vérité influenced reality TV and the presentation of the ‘real’? Discuss in the context of a contemporary reality TV show.

I think it is arguable to say that cinéma vérité has profoundly influenced reality TV shows due to the apparent low quality realism of present day shows like Survivor. In Survivor there is this heavy feeling of manipulation of reality through the use of the shows host. The host is constantly initiating confrontation between contestants through the use of subtle dialogue which otherwise would remain unknown to some of the contestants until after their departures from the show and this almost always has an enormous effect on the final outcome of the game. For instance, the host named ‘Jeff Probst’ would ask certain contestants questions at the section of the show which contestants vote one another off and those questions always provoke conflict between not only enemies, but even allies as well. While techniques like these make the show far more interesting and confrontational, it tends to reveal things that wouldn’t have been revealed until later on and therefore it arguably influences the realism and final outcome of the show.

Now looking at direct cinemas influence on the same show, I think one could say that if Survivor was purely restricted to direct cinema techniques and maintained that true style of realism, it could be one extremely boring television show. "In terms of reality programming, the extent to which programs such as Cops or Survivor address issues of realism, accuracy and truth is significant precisely because these programs do not eschew such values, and yet at the same time are unable to stay within the conventions of documentary realism due to their reliance on entertainment formats" (Hill, 2005). If a contemporary television show like Survivor was entirely realistic with no outside influence, then it’s quite possible that it would have never passed the first season. “A series such as survivor relies on contestants facing life-transforming decisions in order to ‘survive’, both physically, emotionally, and in relation to the game” (Hill, 2005). Conflict and drama is what makes Survivor and without interference and manipulation, the majority of the time it would be severely lacking in the entertainment department. Although it does have some aspects of direct cinema, if it relied solely on those aspects it would more than likely be doomed to fail.

 

Hill, A. (2005) The rise of reality TV. In A. Hill, Reality TV: Audiences and Popular Factual Television. (pp. 15 – 40). Oxon: Routledge.