Stop, it's paper time!

That was really cheesy, but that's how I've felt lately. I've had to stop everything and focus on this paper, and while it's a little taxing on me mentally and emotionally, I'm so incredibly happy with my thesis and I'm so excited to write about it. It's not much, but it's where I'm at right now:

It is the genre of television we love to hate, and admittedly hate to love. Whether you have accepted America’s fascination with the genre as inevitable, or whether you remain in denial, clinging on to the hope that your fellow citizens have “classier taste”, reality television has still managed to captivate millions of viewer worldwide multiple nights a week, and sometimes even multiple times a day. With the most recent season finale of popular dating show The Bachelor raking in 10.8 million views in a single night (a 14 percent jump from last season’s viewer count), and popular singing competition, American Idol pulling in a whopping 21.6 million during it’s 2012 season finale (still down 22 percent from pervious years, but still doubling Bachelor’s total), you can’t deny that a good portion of America has become captivated with reality TV.

Critics, bloggers, journalists, and writers alike have poured over this obsession the American people have developed with this often-absurd genre.

(I'm still working on this section. Professor Burton really helped me figure this out when I talked to him the other day, so if you're struggling with anything, I strongly suggest visiting with him).

I argue that reality TV is a derivative of Shakespearean theater (with maybe a little less class), even finding its roots in early theatrical aspects such as commedia dell’Arte, or the use of stock characters. Reality TV use of editing and controlled settings makes it less realistic and more in line with the traditional idea of acting, giving it a new story-telling aspect that's often over looked in the superficiality of the genre; superficiality that comes from the producers and "actor's" decisions to draw attention away from editing. By focusing on the artistic, albeit ridiculous, aspects of reality TV such as editing to form a plot and the creation and dramatization of stock characters, we can shed reality TV in a new light, taking away from some of the superficiality that we can't seem to shake in reality TV.