Blog 3 (Reality Bites)

I don’t feel that there are really any similarities between the Truman show, The Bachelor, Survivor, the real World, and other “Reality shows”. Truman was born only for the purpose of the show. He had no choice; he didn’t even know that he was being filmed for over thirty years, and because of that it is very possible that majority of his rights, especially his right to his on privacy was extremely violated. Truman was just an average Joe man, but the people around him were actors. With shows like The Bachelor, Survivor, and the Real World, almost all the cast from those shows, are looking for their fifteen minutes of fame, whether it’s to be a Singer, actress, model, or just to be on camera. They signed off on everything and they are fully aware of the cameras, the production crew, and the consequences of their action. From what I’ve seen some people are actually comfortable with what they let millions of people see no matter how embarrassing their action may be. Although the Truman show was in some weird way tastefully done I still feel that the public who watched the Truman show where just as wrong for watching Truman than the producers for making it, because they knew that Truman had no idea that he was being filmed. It may have been fun and exciting to watch, but I’m pretty sure that they would be singing a different tune if it was them being filmed and they were completely unaware. As far as “reality shows in are world being similar to that of the fictional Truman show are shows that pull pranks on unsuspecting people like… Candid Camera, Punk'd, Girls Behaving Badly, Just For Laughs Gags, The Jamie Kennedy Experiment, Boiling Points, Trigger Happy TV, and Howie Do It. The people on those shows may not be aware that they are being filmed, but by the end of the prank they find out that not only are there cameras everywhere, and the people are actors, they also have to sign off on them being filmed, which means that if they don’t sign the release form then the company cannot show that segment in any public form, if the studio shows it without that persons permission then the studio can, and most likely will be sued. Another show that is slightly close to the Truman show (only because of the time it’s been on the air) would be the “Real World”. The Real World started in 1992 on MTV, about seven strangers picked to live in a house (that does not belong to any of them) that is the basic plot of the show and is not only in its twenty second season it’s already scheduled for another four years, and is the longest running Reality show in TV history. That fact that people had no problem watching The Truman show knowing that he did not know he was being filmed, and that we in today’s world love to watch the Reality Shows that will have the most negative drama, where are we going as a society?