Fluid Boundaries in Reality TV Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Fluid Boundaries in Reality TV - Essay Example Reality TV constructs the boundary between the ordinary and extraordinary by depicting and contributing to ambiguities between reality and fiction. Bourdon explores the changing definitions of reality TV in â€Å"Self-Despotism: Reality Television and the New Subject of Politics†. He notes that while the media industry was initially slow to label the genre of reality TV, scholars used the label to help them analyse the growing social interest in it: â€Å"Among academics, reality television is an ideal notion for theorists like Jason Mittell who seek to...use them simply as one element of a set of wider ‘discursive practices’ that help to categorize texts†. The category launches and supports scholarly inquiries. Reality TV, however, has changed dramatically since the anthropologist, Margaret Mead, called attention to the new Public Broadcasting System series, An American Family, which captured the lives of the Louds, a middle-class California family. Mead d escribes the show as â€Å"a new kind of art for,† an innovative form that can be â€Å"as significant as the invention of drama or the novel†. Sanneh, in the article â€Å"The Reality Principle,† stresses that since An American Family, reality TV has become an â€Å"amorphous category† because of emerging new forms of TV shows that depict themselves as reality TV, such as What Not to Wear and The Apprentice. She is concerned of the â€Å"reality† in some of these current reality TV shows, when assumptions about beauty are based on fiction

Argue for or against the elimination of speed limits Essay

Argue for or against the elimination of speed limits - Essay Example (Reddy) Germany's autobahn is free of speed limits for most of its 12,000 km. The Germans' pride in their free-speed autobahn is wellknown. The autobahn was in the news recently when Greenpeace ctivists put up banners that read "120", demanding a speed limit of 120 km/h on the Autobahn. But the powerful German car makers' lobby disagrees. Car manufacturers argue that emissions from cars are already very low. Limiting the speed has no additional benefit, they say. One car maker went as far as to say that the idea of speed limits was like "hitting the automobile industry between its legs!" (Connolly) This is not surprising, since car manufacturers promote their products as macho machines. Reckless speed is equated to manliness. Their stance that emissions from cars are low does not address the safety issue or the fuel wastage. Predictably, politicians are on the back foot - unpopular decisions are best postponed indefinetely. The public mood in Germany is also said to be one of "anger" - anger at the perceived erosion of their freedom. A strong, sustained campaign targeted at the grass roots is the need of the hour.