The Not So Real World

Before being in this class, I had always been fascinated by society's pop culture and celebrities. Much of this fascination, or 'obsession' if you will, came from watching hours on hours of TV and in many ways it shaped my life over the years. I remember the first episode of Real World I ever watched, late at night with my mom when I was about 8 years old. I was so fascinated by the way these people lived their lives on camera, learned about one another and themselves, and became a strong family at the end of it. I am ashamed to say this, but ever since watching that first episode I became obsessed with The Real World and dreamed of the day I would be on it. It seemed like such a cool thing to do! Be on reality TV, meet 6 new strangers, find out what happens when people stop being polite and start getting real.... No but seriously, I thought it would be fun. But as I grew older and started to learn more about the world, I naturally began analyzing media texts more closely. The day I found out that the cool Real World houses that the cast lived in didn't have complete walls was a sad day for me. It represented this fantasy that I built up in my head of this awesome reality TV world being not so real after all. If the walls weren't even real, then what else was fake? I started noticing how cast members would wear the exact same outfit, but 5 episodes apart. Was the storyline actually being manipulated?? Did that dramatic fight between the roommates really happen that far into the season, or was the audience being fooled? As I watched more and more seasons of The Real World, I began to see how things were not so real after all, and being on reality TV didn't seem so appealing any more. This class reminded me how naive I once was, and still can be when I watch media texts. It is important to take classes like these in order to become more aware of what the media is feeding us, and to understand that we should not believe everything we see on the screen. I have gained alot from taking this course and I already find myself analyzing texts much closer than before. I still am fascinated by pop culture and today's world of entertainment, but I take what I see with much more of a grain of salt.