CMCstudent 11/15

Postmodernism asks what is real, is there real, and can it be defined beyond what someone makes it. I think we constantly question this ourselves when watching television, especially reality TV shows. Reality TV shows us what society, or the hegemonic, want us to believe is real, thus making it real from a postmodernist standpoint. This is because we create what is real and they are only as real as we create them.

“Our notion of what is real has changed,” Roger said in class. This is true because times and society change what is real. In the 1950’s a “real” family was a white middle class family living in the suburbs. The wife would cook breakfast for her husband every morning who then would leave the house in his work suit carrying a briefcase. The two kids, one boy one girl, would come to eat their breakfast while the mom packed lunches and they would be off to school. The wife would spend the day doing things around the house for instance, dishes, laundry, vacuuming. She may even go grocery shopping, but she would make sure to be home when the kids returned from school. Most likely she would be in the kitchen beginning to prepare dinner. By the time the husband got home dinner would be set at the table, and the family would eat together and talk about their lovely day. I guess this eventually got boring and too predictable and now we can watch a “real” family like the Osborne’s.

In class Roger quoted that art is abstract, “why would we be interested in anything we can understand.” I feel like this is not only true to art but to our lives in general, especially entertainment. Once thinks become predictable they get boring, that is why there are so many reality TV shows popping up each new season. Since reality is what we make it, I guess it is not a lie to call it reality television.