Lai 1

Vien Lai

WRITING 2

Professor Speiser

17 March 2017

Vlogs vs. Reality TV Shows

After a long treacherous day, you relax on your couch scrolling through TV channels and

stumble across a scene of Keeping up with the Kardashians. Right before she bursts into tears,

Kim Kardashian expresses her anguish to her sister in a broken strained voice, If you know how

I feel, why would you say that?! Like, you put me in such an uncomfortable situation, like, you

know I'm not happy, you know that I'm trying to see if it'll work out here but I know that its

not! (2012). The tone of her voice and the expression on her face draws you in and you cant

help but wonder what theyre fighting over. Before you even know it, an hour has passed right

by. What is it about reality entertainment that enables it to easily ransack our attention? The

ratings are high, and the views accumulate in tremendous amounts. Keeping up with the

Kardashians is one example of a genre within the topic of reality entertainment: the reality TV

show. Reality entertainment also comes in another genre called vlogs, which are extremely

different from reality TV shows even though they are under the same category. Although reality

TV shows and vlogs are different in many ways, both are able to attract the attention of their

audience and revenue through their persuasive rhetorical characteristics of purpose, format,

context, and mood/style/tone.

Vlogs, a combination of the words video and blogs, are videos mainly published on

Youtube made by people (mainly Youtubers) who depict instances going on in their daily lives.

Vlogging ranges back to 2000, and its popularity increased in 2005 when Youtube came into
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existence (Dean, 2005). Some features of vlogs that shape it into the genre that it is include a

single or small number of producers, a personal feel, and actual realism. Usually, vlogs are

independent productions that can be made by anyone who knows how to work with cameras and

computers. These authors are regular people and are able to come from any background they

do not particularly have to have any background in the film industry in order to know how to

make a vlog, since vlogs that arise in popularity often come from creators that already have a

background on the Internet.

For example, one popular vlog series on Youtube, called itsjudyslife, depicts a woman

named Judy Travis and her life with her husband and their three daughters (itsjudyslife). Travis

gained her popularity on the Internet as a makeup guru on her channel called itsjudytime by

making videos on makeup such as tutorials or reviews (itsjudytime). Traviss audience includes

anyone who is family-oriented or makeup lovers. Her huge audience on her makeup channel

enabled Travis to build two additional platforms on her vlog channel and her mommy

channel (called itsmommyslife) which has videos on mommy hauls, product reviews, and

more (itsmommyslife). Often, vlogs are not scripted and thus provide a more honest type of

reality entertainment. In a second person point of view, the vlogger speaks directly to the camera,

making the video feel more personal as if the vlogger is a friend talking to the viewers

themselves. For example, Traviss starting line in most vlogs would be, Hey, guys! or Good

morning! The one-man or one-woman production stance provides a more homemade feeling

towards the audience.

Another example of a vlogger is Casey Neistat, a filmmaker and Youtube personality.

Neistat can be considered one of the most popular daily vloggers on Youtube (CaseyNeistat). His

videos are known to be aesthetically pleasing due to his background as a filmmaker. Neistat films
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his daily life events like DIY (do-it-yourself) projects, famous events he attends (i.e. Oscars,

Presidential Inauguration), and his travels to different countries. While most other vlogs just

paste clips recorded throughout the day to patch together a video, Neistat tells a story through his

vlogs by using time lapses, which carry the viewer through the day. In other words, he

transforms his vlogs into a movie with a coherent storyline that the audience can follow through

with. In his first video, Neistat said he viewed vlogging more as a forum as opposed to a daily

journal. A major difference between Neistat and Travis is their audience compatibility. Traviss

vlogs only attract a certain audience while Neistats vlogs can be entertaining for almost

everyone.

On the other hand, reality TV comes from big productions, can feature well-known

celebrities or regular people, and lures in an audience by basing their shows on drama, fights,

passion, and romance. Reality shows document real life situations involving a group of people

usually just brought together for the show. They mimic documentaries in a sense, but not in the

scientific sense. Reality TV lure in viewers through pathos -- creating conflict among the

characters, so the viewers can relate through their emotions. Since most of these conflicts are

either scripted or a tiny disagreement forcefully emphasized to be a dramatic, life-changing

event, this ultimately takes away the realism of it. A very popular example of a reality TV show

is Keeping up with the Kardashians (2007 present). This show features the lives of the

Kardashian-Jenner family, who came from an elite socialite background. A theme that occurs in

almost every episode is conflict. Dramatic edits such as intense, lively music is incorporated with

camera close-ups as two people start an argument over something completely blown out of

proportion. Although these situations can be real and non-scripted, the edits can make the
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instances seem way more heightened than it actually is. A lot of the viewers love to hate the

Kardashians, and thats what only makes them more popular.

Another example of a reality TV show is Jersey Shore (2009 2012), which is about

eight young Italian-American strangers whom are brought together to spend their summer at the

Jersey Shore. Drama and romance ensues the minute everyone is together. Audiences also love to

hate the cast of Jersey Shore, as they do with the Kardashians. The six seasons long television

series draws people in with its ridiculousness and the outrageous things the characters would do.

Although the cast was not initially famous, the show still gained views and popularity by its

unique format it was one of the first shows to document how a few strangers would interact

with one another under one roof. This format introduced a real world aspect into the television

network.

An additional characteristic of the vlog genre is that it is diverse, yet the same in many

different ways. Vlogs come from different people in different places doing different things. They

can be created in any shape or form, but in the end, all of these different videos are considered to

be one genre. The context of a vlog is to entertain by sharing information with other people. Its

exigence is to provide more content for viewers outside of the main Youtube channel. Vloggers

vlog to share more about themselves and connect more closely with their audience. Naturally,

people are interested in the lives of other people whom they find to be intriguing. A major

example of this phenomenon is celebrity gossip magazines. It seems natural that people are

drawn to vlogs because most vloggers start off by having a background on the internet prior to

making vlogs, so that they are in fact Internet celebrities. Vlogs can be an equivalent to gossip

magazines but they are more honest and actually told by the celebrities themselves. Additionally,

vloggers can stay more in tuned with their fan base. They view their audience as friends, so they
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would talk to the audience as such. Phrases used by the vlogger usually include, Hey guys! How

are you doing? or So today, we are going to, to provide a more interactive feel.

On the other hand, the context of a reality TV show is to also entertain and make money.

Although vloggers can make a significant profit off of their content too, they increase their sales

through authenticity and not deception like reality TV. Like vlogs, they also have a different

variety of shows such as Jon & Kate Plus 8, 16 and Pregnant, or The Housewives of Orange

County. Although these shows portray the lives of different people, they all incorporate the same

ideas, and in turn, creates the same rhetoric. The stars in reality TV talk to the audience by

sharing their thoughts through commentary scenes that pop up every few minutes to update the

audience on what the character is thinking at the moment. However, a major difference between

the way characters in reality TV talk to the audience compared to vloggers is that they never use

the pronoun you and always use the pronoun I. These characters tend to talk only about and

never directly to the viewer, hence the lack of use of the you pronoun. This language is a big

distinction between vlogs and reality TV, and it further explains how vlogs are more intimate and

personal interactions while reality TV is one-sided interaction. Furthermore, reality TV draws a

line between its viewers and characters while vlogs marinate the two groups together. Some

people might prefer vlogs instead of reality TV because it conveys a more interacting with a

friend type of feeling whereas reality TV conveys a soap opera based on real people.

Considering the way reality entertainment is done and the rhetoric it gives off, its convention is

effective given that its overall purpose was to entertain through an everyday, lifestyle-based

setting even though the episodes are heavily edited and manipulated within a short time frame,

which does not accurately depict the circumstance.

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Another similarity vlogs and reality shows have in common to persuade their audience to

keep watching is worked through ethos, pathos, and logos. For ethos, vlogs have the real

person aspect in their videos. What is portrayed are real life situations that you would normally

encounter with only friends, family, or coworkers, but in this case, the encounter is with a

stranger, who might also be a celebrity. Additionally, the vloggers have real life jobs so it gives

them credibility when they talk about a certain topic in their vlogs. For example, Judy Travis is a

makeup artist who often vlogs about makeup. On the contrary, reality shows also portray ethos,

but only through the fame of their cast. They are more driven towards using pathos by igniting

the viewers emotions through the characters turmoil. Vlogs give off pathos through cute kids,

delicious food, and relatable stories. They also attract new viewers by creating a click-bait

thumbnail with a thought provoking title. As for logos, vlogs and reality shows generally do not

use it directly. Although, a current vlog enthusiast can convince their friend to watch Neistats

vlogs because he has over 6.3 million subscribers (CaseyNeistat) or Traviss vlogs because she

currently has a total of 725 million views and counting (Social Blade). Reality shows can be

judged upon their ratings or viewer count.

All in all, reality shows and vlogs are quite different and yet they are still the same by

providing a real life based entertainment to their audiences. Reality TV connects with the

audience through drama while vlogs connect to the audience in a personal way. These

connections are what draws us in and can be interpreted rhetorically through its editing style,

language, and content. Although reality shows and vlogs fall in the same category, their specific

rhetoric is able to pull them apart into two specific genres. Overall, reality entertainment has

become popular because it distracts the viewers from their own lives and offers them a new

perspective and outlet.

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References

CaseyNeistat. (n.d.). Home [YouTube Channel]. Retrieved from

https://www.youtube.com/user/caseyneistat.

Dean, Katie. "Blogging Video = Vlogging." WIRED. WIRED, 13 July 2005. Web.
<https://web.archive.org/web/20080411002100/http://www.wired.com/entertainment/mus
ic/news/2005/07/68171>.

"Goodbye, New York." Kourtney and Kim Take New York: Season 2. Prod. Ryan Seacrest,
Jonathan Murray, Jeff Jenkins, Gil Goldschein, Russell Jay, Melissa Bidwell, Kris Jenner. Ryan
Seacrest Productions, 2012.

itsMommysLife. (n.d.). Home [YouTube Channel]. Retrieved from

https://www.youtube.com/user/itsMommysLife.

itsJudysLife. (n.d.). Home [YouTube Channel]. Retrieved from

https://www.youtube.com/user/itsJudysLife.

"Itsjudyslife Youtube Stats." Social Blade. Social Blade, n.d. Web.

<https://socialblade.com/youtube/user/itsjudyslife>.

itsjudytime. (n.d.). Home [YouTube Channel]. Retrieved from

https://www.youtube.com/user/itsjudytime.

Jersey Shore. (2009-2012). Prod. SallyAnn Salsano, Scott Jeffress, Jacquelyn French. 495
Productions.

R Keeping up with the Kardashians. (2007-present). Prod. Ryan Seacrest, Jonathan Murray, Gil
Goldschein, Jeff Jenkins, Farnaz Farjam-Chazan, Kris Jenner, Kourtney Kardashian, Kim
Kardashian, Khlo Kardashian. Ryan Seacrest Productions, 2017.
R