FINAL DRAFT

“Like it or loath it, celebrity culture is with us: surrounds us and even invades us. It shapes our thought and conduct, style and manner. It affects and is affected by not just hardcore fans but by entire populations”

-Ernest Cashmore

As celebrities govern the contemporary media landscape in society, it is inevitable that audiences will be systematically exposed to a high dosage of celebrity culture. The “global phenomenon” of the reality TV genre is the primary source of the distribution of celebrity ideologies and values to the nation. Reality TV is “like a documentary as it is a factual form concerned with investigating human behaviour and relationships using ‘fly on the wall’ camera techniques” . It thrives off the audience’s constant demand for entertainment and offers audiences gratifications which are similar to those that feature in a documentary, for example the element of voyeurism. The fact that reality TV shows feature on both terrestrial and satellite television reflects how incredibly popular this genre is with mainstream audiences. Ideologies associated with celebrity culture are predominantly projected through American shows such as MTV Cribs that appear on satellite channels like MTV. However recently, due to globalisation, British institutions have adopted the same mentality, producing programs such as Celebrity Big Brother. Historically, reality TV has been dominated by “ordinary people”, however at the start of the last decade there was an influx of celebrities (including Katie Price and Jade Goody) entering the reality TV genre bringing forth dominant celebrity ideologies. Arguably, such ideologies have a positive affect on the audience as they promote success, thus encouraging the audience to become successful. However many ideologies endorse the idea that financial gain is everything and being a celebrity is dependent upon looks rather than talent.

The main reason why reality TV shows are dominating the contemporary media landscape, is because, from an economical perspective it is generally very easy to produce and cost efficient. As reality shows such as MTV Cribs often “involves a smaller production crew, for non scripted programming, few scriptwriters or professional actors” , it is therefore “economically attractive” and encourages large media conglomerates such as Viacom to produce reality TV programmes. Taking into account that the world is suffering from the aftermath of a recession, huge institutions need to a have a method of maximising their profits. Because MTV Cribs features on commercial channels such as MTV and VIVA, Viacom make the majority of their money through advertising. Due to the fact that there are so many reality shows, it has given celebrities the opportunity to appear and distribute their values and ideologies.

Ever since the reality TV genre exploded onto our screens during the early 1990’s, it has rapidly evolved into the most successful genre ever created. “The success of Reality TV is partly due to the increasingly voyeuristic nature of the society in which we live and partly due to the obsession with celebrity and everyone wanting to be one” . Celebrity culture is abundant in reality TV because the audience desire to see how celebrities such as Kim Kardashian live their lives, so that they can mimic certain aspects. Kim Kardashian is perceived as an idol that female audiences who are psychographically deemed as aspirers wish to be like. In the opening sequence of the text, the montage portrays the glamorous side of a celebrity. Kim Kardashian is wearing an elegant dress that compliments her assets. The use of high key lighting in this medium shot connotes that she is angelic, thus reinforcing the idea that she is an excellent role model. Reality TV programmes such as Keeping up with the Kardashians, which position the audience voyeuristically in a celebrity dominated environment, offer maximised audience gratifications. This is because the camera is positioned as a ‘fly on the wall’, whilst Kim is living her glamorous Hollywood lifestyle, which means the audience feel as though they are there with her. The audience gain a sense of scopophilia, “the pleasure of looking” , as they are viewing Kim being depicted in sexually gratifying shots but cannot be seen themselves. Also, most of the success has been due to the fact that this genre “exploits the unpredictability and excitement that other areas of television have lost” , such as the random outburst of arguments on Celebrity Big Brother. For example, the very heated conversions between the rapper Coolio and Ulrika Jonsson shows the unpredictability of reality TV. Therefore celebrity culture is apparent as it conveys gratifications such as scopophilia that audience were never exposed to before.

Historically, The Real World is often regarded as the first reality TV show ever broadcast. It featured eight average class people from culturally diverse backgrounds, living in a house together for several months and was broadcast by one of Viacom’s institutions, MTV. Andy Warhol notoriously expressed that “everyone will be world famous for 15 minutes” , in 1992 when The Real World started broadcasting it gave ‘ordinary people’ the opportunity to rise to quick fame and success. In today’s society, reality TV is more faithful to the more powerful figures, because it is an “important part of celebrity culture as it creates and maintains ‘celebs’ such as Jade Goody, and reinvigorates faded personalities” . This is the primary reason why celebrity culture is abundant in reality TV shows such as Celebrity Big Brother, because it increases the popularity that the C list celebrities in society have. A prime example of this is the return of Jade Goody into the contemporary media landscape after her triumph in Big Brother series 3 in 2002; she then appeared on Celebrity Big Brother in 2007. During her 5 years out of the spotlight her personality was rapidly diminishing until she returned again. Another reason why celebrity culture is popular in reality TV is because it helps them to promote themselves. For example, during the time that Aggro Santos featured on I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here in 2010, he built up a certain amount of popularity with the audience. Following his departure from the show, Aggro released his mix tape, many would argue that Aggro deliberately appeared on a reality show in order to boost his fan base and gain maximum profit out of his mix tape. This point confirms the idea proposed by the French Marxist theorist Louis Althusser who believed that the media is an “ideological state apparatus” which operates “entirely in the interest of the state and the ruling elite” because celebrities use the media to promote and market themselves.

The celebrity culture that is abundant in MTV Cribs helps celebrities, such as Akon, to maintain their dominance. The fast paced montage of clips extracted from Akon’s music videos, enables the audience to identify with the celebrity. When the music artist Akon appeared on MTV Cribs, there was a substantial amount of celebrity culture portrayed. This was predominantly done via the camera angles and movements used. As the camera tracks and pursues Akon around his luxurious home, the audience feel as if they are following him but at the same time getting an exclusive tour. In turn, this makes Akon appear more almighty and powerful because the audience are being obliged to follow. Also the use of low angle shots used makes Akon appear more superior. The theory of hegemony proposed by Antonio Gramsci, “the total cultural, economical and political dominance achieved by the ruling elite” , is evident as Akon is exerting his economical power over the sub dominant groups in society. The props in the mise en scene, such as the device that Akon carries round used to control the house entices the audience and makes them wish to have one. The use of high key lighting makes Akon appear virtuous and like a person of high importance. Narcissism is also an aspect of celebrity culture that is conveyed within MTV Cribs, as Akon boasts and shows off the expensive materialistic items that he possess. The way in which the episode is edited, with specific shots repeated, heightens the magnitude of its importance. For example the double shots of Akon’s car, reinforces the negative ideology that materialist possessions should be more valued than life itself. Reality shows such as MTV Cribs bring forth ideologies that celebrities are the ruling elite in society. Celebrity culture has ultimately “become an incestuous, cannibalistic device of the medium" used to promote hegemonic values and ideologies.

It could be argued that in Celebrity Big Brother, the high angle surveillance shots are used specifically to ensure that the audience are gaining a sense of power. Furthermore, the audience are in control over who gets evicted from Celebrity Big Brother, which means that the hegemonic structure of society is reversed as the working class get to decide the fate of celebrities. Through the use of voting, the audience are more interactive which means that society is pluralistic rather than Marxist because it is the audience who are ultimately in control over who they want to view in the house. Also, this interactive element of Celebrity Big Brother gratifies the audience with a sense of social belonging, as they feel part of a community which express their opinions together.

Although ideologies are distributed by the MTV institution, it is the audience who ultimately have the power to accept or disregard them. This makes for a more pluralistic society, as the audience are more active in deciding what to accept. The target audience for MTV Cribs is predominantly males and females aged 16-25 with an additional secondary audience of 25-40 year olds. Like Blumer and Katz suggested in their Uses and Gratifications theory, the voyeuristic camera style the scene uses creates a sense of escapism for the mainstream audience as it diverts them away from their own lives. The positive ideology that is presented is the concept that a hedonistic lifestyle is not hard to acquire – this is the dominant reading which the audience may automatically accept. George Gerbner suggested that as audiences have been exposed to an ideology over an extensive period of time, “they gradually develop certain views about the world, some of which are false” . This is definitely the case with MTV Cribs because the audience have been cultivated into believing that they too can acquire a glamorous lifestyle. Some of the ideologies affect the audiences negatively, such as the idea that money and materialistic items are the only thing that the audience should treasure. Recent research has revealed that “celebrity culture is damaging the success of British students” .It could be argued that this ideology has been artificially injected into the audience as proposed by the hypodermic needle theory and has led to a ‘dumbing down’ of the students in society.

Also, as the audience are exposed to celebrity culture, they instantly imitate certain phrases as suggested by the copycat theory. When Nikki Grahame appeared on Big Brother, her catchphrase ‘who is she?’ became very popular. This led to audiences mimicking her phrase and even introducing it into modern culture, via setting up fan pages on Facebook. The housemates that are chosen to appear on Celebrity Big Brother determine whether the audience will be affected positively or negatively. Jodie Marsh and Danielle Lloyd, who are both glamour models, had a negative effect on the audience when they appeared in Celebrity Big Brother in 2006. The sexually gratifying shots depicting both in bikini’s and revealing garments in the shower enforce the negative ideology that being a celebrity is dependent on appearance rather than talent.

The predominant debate that is associated with the reality genre is how real it actually is. It could be argued that MTV Cribs is not truly reality but is a heightened version of reality referred to as hyper-reality. The mise en scene within MTV Cribs is very magical; during the episode featuring Akon it appeared as though it has been artificially constructed. The scene began with fast paced establishing shots that introduce the surreal setting, surveying the mansion in which Akon lives. Theorist Jean Baudrillard famously expressed that “art today has totally penetrated reality” , meaning that large media institutions have manipulated and ultimately mediated footage, to the extent of which actuality no longer exists. Reality TV shows such as Celebrity Big Brother “manipulate and process those events that they have selected for us” , in order to ensure that the audience are receiving a high dosage of celebrity culture and to maximise audience ratings. Conrad Lodziak expressed that “media theorist[s] often have a tendency to exaggerate the broader social significance of their subject of study” . This could explain the reason why the theories proposed by Jean Baudrillard et al have been widely accepted, arguably because they are hyperbolised in order to attract attention of the nation. Media institutions such as Viacom and the Channel Four Television Corporation (C4C) deliberately distribute a heightened sense of reality because the audience “value a ‘simulated real’ over what is real” , therefore, as reality TV is the zeitgeist in society, this concept of hyper-reality is merely intended to cater for the audiences needs at this present age.

Overall, celebrity culture is abundant in reality TV shows such as MTV Cribs and Celebrity Big Brother because it helps celebrities exert there dominance through boosting about aspects of their lives. Also, it helps to regain the popularity and sustain the power that dominant figures in society have over the minority groups. Some media theorists believe that celebrity culture is present to convey ideologies that inform the audience that anything is possible in life. The ideologies presented affect the audience both positively and negatively and affect a wide range of audiences due to globalisation.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Works Cited
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Cashmore, Ernest. Celebrity/culture . Abingdon [England: Routledge, 2006.
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Hill, Annette. "1." Reality TV: audiences and popular factual television. London: Routledge, 2005. 6. Print.
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Ferguson, Galit Media magazine; How to make sense of audience theories (2003)
Understanding Reality TV;
http://media.edusites.co.uk/index.php/article/understanding-reality-tv/

Reality TV What’s Happening: http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/mm/subscribers/downloads/archive_mm/_mmagpast/RealityTV.html
http://ezinearticles.com/?What-is-the-Best-Reality-TV-Star-Endorsed-Perfume?&id=4876861
http://reality-tv.lovetoknow.com/Category:Celebrity_Reality_Shows

http://nitawriter.wordpress.com/2008/03/18/celebrity-culture-the-greatest-peril/
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Works Consulted
Wall, Peter (2007): Media Studies for AQA GCSE. Hammersmith London, Harper Collins Publishers.
Esseen, Mandy Phillips, Martin Riley, Anne (2004): GCSE Media Studies for AQA. Oxford, Heinemann
Evans, Jessica Hesmondhalgh, David (2005): Understanding Media: Inside Celebrity. Milton Keynes, England, Open University Press
Turner Graeme (2004): Understanding Celebrity. California, Sage Publications
Guiness, Paul. Globalisation . London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2003. Print.
Rayner, Philip Wall, Peter, Kruger, Stephen (2004): AS Media Studies: The Essential Introduction. London, Routledge.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Real_World
http://thecelebritycafe.com/features/24315.html
http://www.celebrityculture.net/
http://www.gnmagazine.org/issues/gn91/celebrity-culture-the-distorted-mirror.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scopophilia
I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here (2010)

Moving Image texts
MTV Cribs (2010) -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7T7np6HetU
Keeping up with the Kardashians (2010) http://www.letmewatchthis.ch/external.php?title=Keeping+Up+with+the+Kardashians&url=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5tZWdhdmlkZW8uY29tL3YvM1FMWDNMNks
Celebrity big brother (2010)