Under pressure: an analysis of the “real” effect in reality television

Abstract

This paper summarises the history of reality TV in western countries and Spain. The purpose of this paper is to identify the key features of this television genre and understand how the “reality” on which it is based is constructed. The analysis reveals that reality TV has evolved from programmes that represent a pre-existing and external reality to programmes that create an artificial environment in order to cause uncontrollable emotions and reactions in the participants. Thus, these programmes emphasise the indexicality of the image and, at the same time, ignore the historical world. Finally, this paper suggests simulation (representation of a system) as a useful concept in order to understand the connection that reality TV establishes with reality.

Keywords: reality TV, real effect, media history, audiovisual language, audiovisual narrative, simulation.