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Bria Board
JAC 407
Dr. Ma
December 8, 2014
Reality TV: Enlightenment or Promoter of Stereotypes
Reality television is defined as the television programs in which real people are
continuously filmed, designed for entertaining rather than informative. The popularity of the
television genre has increase rapidly in recent years. Yet, the genre is as old as the medium of
television. In 1948, Candid Camera premiered on ABC as one of the first reality shows, which
consisted of cameras going to the streets and secretly recording peoples reactions to elaborate
jokes. In the 1950s, variety shows included reality tv segments by recording everyday people.
In 1979, NBC debuted Real People. Real People was about several real people who
did unusual things, like eating dirt (Thompson). In the 1980s, due to the popularity of home
video equipment, people were able to make their own funny movies. Reality shows like
Americas Funniest Home Videos, in the 1990s, utilized everyday peoples funny moments as
entertainment for the masses. Viewers were asked to submit home videos in hopes of winning a
cash prize.
Other forms of reality shows include investigative and crime related concepts. Americas
Most Wanted aired on Fox in 1988 and later on Lifetime. Unsolved Mysteries aired on NBC in
1988 and later on CBS and Lifetime. Both shows recreated dramatized stories about crimes
committed by suspects still at large by using actors. Pictures of suspects were shown at the end
of these shows. With the story and pictures, viewers became helpful in apprehending criminals

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from the results of their calls in reaction to episodes. In 1989, Cops premiered on Fox. The
show consisted of a camera crew following around the police as they patrolled different areas.
The current form of reality television most known today is partly due to the 1973 PBS
show, An American Family. The documentary series showcased the Louds, a family living in
Santa Barbara, California with issues unusual for the time period. The parents were dealing with
a broken marriage and their son, Lance, was living an openly gay lifestyle.
In 1992, MTV debuted a reality show which surpassed the drama seen in An American
Family. The Real World set the mold for future reality shows. The Real World followed seven
young adults with big personalities, each selected from thousands of applicants. The seven
selected have never met each other but must live and work together for several months in an
apartment or house in a major city, supplied by MTV. Cameras follow the young adults inside
and outside their home. Footage of their lives are edited into 13 half-hour episodes for viewers
entertainment each year. The show set a false sense of reality because the shows cast members
were set in a controlled environment.
In recent years, reality television shows have become a popular phenomenon gracing
viewers televisions daily. Topics of these shows can range from game shows to watching the
rich, famous, or ordinary people live their daily lives. Whatever the topic audiences are tuned
in night after night. However, is the reality television genre more enlightening to its audiences
by allowing them a peek into different cultures, or is it being used as a platform to further
stereotypes about different cultures?
Among popular cable channels that air reality shows are MTV and VH-1. Besides The
Real World, MTV is known for popular reality shows like Jersey Shore and Buckwild. VH-1 is
responsible for the popular reality show series Love and Hip Hop.

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In 2010, Jersey Shore aired on MTV. The show followed the lives of eight, eventually
seven, young Italian-American adults spending the summer in the Jersey Shore resort town of
Seaside Heights. The young adults were place in a shore house selected and supplied by MTV.
Before the show premiered, promotions advertised Jersey Shore as being set in a house like
youve never seen, full of the hottest, tannest, craziest Guidos (Franklin). Offended New Jersey
tourism officials protested and called MTV to cancel the show, which did not work.
Jersey Shore promotes stereotypes about Italian-Americans. Instead of depicting the
eight cast members in an informative way, MTV chose to promote what cast members call the
guido lifestyle. Mike Sorrentino describes a guido as being a good looking, smooth, welldressed Italian (Friedman). The mixture of 20-something year olds in a party-ready house full
of alcohol is bond to lead to regretful nights for the cast members and entertainment for viewers,
while strengthening negative generalizations of a culture. The president of the National ItalianAmerican Foundation, Joseph Del Raso frowned upon the show and its use of the term guido.
Del Raso stated, We find this program alarming in that it attempts to make a direct connection
between guido culture and Italian-American identity. Guido is widely viewed as a pejorative
term and reinforces negative stereotypes (Friedman).
One of MTVs most controversial shows, Buckwild, premiered in January 2013.
Cameras followed the lives of young adults behaving wildly in Sissonville, West Virginia in the
Appalachia. Unlike a lot of reality shows premiering at the time, the cast of Buckwild lived in
poverty. Sissonville, West Virginia is a town of one stop light and a lot of homespun
ingenuity (Caramanica). MTV capitalized off the groups innovative use of the materials they
had to create wild behaviors. During the first episode, the group turned a dump truck into a
swimming pool.

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Once the show premiered, it saw criticism immediately. Critics claim that Buckwild is a
low-budget Jackass, an MTV reality show about a group of male friends performing stunts and
wild shenanigans. West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin wrote a letter to MTVs president,
Stephen Friedman, calling the show a travesty that profits from its depictions of the poor
decisions of our youth (Linkins). Buckwild is being used as a platform to promote daredevil
behavior in youth, while furthering the redneck stereotype. A redneck is defined as a white
person who lives in a southern small town or in the country, who typically works and is seen by
others as uneducated and having offensive opinions and attitudes (Redneck). MTV found a
cast that fit that definition and broadcast for the world to see as representing southern West
Virginian Americans.
Another Viacom channel, VH-1, has aired popular reality shows like The Surreal Life,
Flava of Love, and Basketball Wives series. Currently, the channel is showing its popular reality
series Love and Hip Hop. The Love and Hip Hop series follows women, in different cities, and
their relationships, personal and professional. Originally, the show started in New York. Since
its success, Atlanta and Hollywood have been added to the series settings. Love and Hip Hop:
Atlanta follows a group of women who range from working in the hip hop industry to having
relations with hip hop industry professionals. The cast members mainly consists of AfricanAmerican and Hispanic people.
Since the series success, Love and Hip Hop has undergone serious criticism due to the
shows promotion of negative stereotypes about the African-American and Hispanic communities
and women. In Love and Hip Hop: Atlanta, the women are in relationships with emotionally
abusive men. Dr. Burton calls the show a travesty: an exercise in men abusing and humiliating
women whose self-esteem is so low that they would allow themselves to be mistreated for the

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purposes of stardom in the reality-TV world (Burton). Black men are depicted as being
emotionally abusive, having infidelity issues, and being mamas boys. The show places
African-American and Hispanic women into two categories: the emotionally broken woman who
is chasing after a dead-beat man or the woman who is strong but alone. The edited lives of Love
and Hip Hop cast members should not be taken as an accurate depiction of relationship skills of
African-Americans and Hispanics.
Reality television has come a long way from its start as small segments on variety shows
to an inescapable television genre on majority of cable networks. It is impossible for one to
scroll through their TV guide without coming across a reality show. It is also impossible for
audiences to ignore the blatant promotion of negative stereotypes in reality shows. Culprits like,
MTV and VH-1 are responsible for airing shows to the world that depict Americans behaving in
inappropriate manners. Jersey Shore, Buckwild, and the Love and Hip Hop series are reality
shows that remain popular amongst audiences, despite how they glamorize derogatory opinions
about different cultures in America. If we wish to stop negative stereotypes about our culture,
we must stop airing shows that degrade our people. Instead of worrying about entertainment
value, networks should focus on also enlightening audiences about realistic depictions of
different cultures in our melting pot country.

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Works Cited
Burton, Nsenga K. "Love and Hip Hop Atlanta: Cancel It?" The Root. 24 July 2012. Web. 9 Dec.
2014.
<http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2012/07/love_and_hip_hop_atlanta_cancel_it.
1.html>.
Caramanica, Jon. "The Rainbow That Follows Jersey Shore." The New York Times. The New
York Times, 6 Jan. 2013. Web. 9 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/07/arts/television/buckwild-washington-heights-andblack-ink-crew-on-tv.html>.
Franklin, Nancy. "Jersey Jetsam." The New Yorker. 18 Jan. 2010. Web. 9 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/01/18/jersey-jetsam>.
Friedman, Emily. "MTV's 'Jersey Shore' Garners Critics Over Use of Term 'Guido'" ABC News.
ABC News Network, 11 Dec. 2009. Web. 9 Dec. 2014.
<http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/mtv-show-jersey-shore-angers-italian-americangroups/story?id=9292815>.
Linkins, Jason. "'Buckwild' Is What Happens When People Stop Being Polite And Start
Producing Poverty Voyeurism." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 10 Jan.
2013. Web. 9 Dec. 2014. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/10/buckwildpoverty-reality_n_2448937.html>.
Thompson, Robert. "Reality TV." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, 4
Feb. 2014. Web. 9 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1513870/Television-in-the-UnitedStates/283656/Reality-TV>.

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"Redneck." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster. Web. 9 Dec. 2014. <http://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/redneck>.