Media Rituals-Isabella Borvice

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Based on the class reading, “Media Rituals”, the reality that people desire most to see in the media is based upon a societal reality.  I want to argue that ‘liveness’, however obvious its meaning might appear at different historical moments, is a socially constructed term, tied not just to television’s but to the media’s claim to present social ‘reality’. (Couldry 2003).  However, when zooming in on television specifically, the reality that, historically, most people like to see is that which a smaller percentage of people live in, an idealized version of one’s societal reality.  One specific example of a form of reality television, according to Couldry, is soap operas, because although it is fiction, it is based on a reality.


The U.K. Netflix series, “The Crown” represents an idealized version of a historical liveness.  Obviously a soap opera, currently filmed and representing a small percentage of a larger society, that is Great Britain.   “In fiction, although in a different form, the claim of broadcasting to present social ‘reality’ also became more insistent, for example by addressing current social issues in soap opera plots (Geraghty 1995). (Couldry 2003).  The issues that were current are desirable to a certain audience of today and the demand to have a show which presents the lives of the point one percent of people who (the royal family) who represent a lifestyle that is, from the outside, desirable to those who make up the rest of society.  It engages with the viewer by giving them a significant, elite, unattainable piece of reality that takes them away from their own and into the idealized version of an exclusive, untouchable reality, making media the medium for the utmost access of virtual reality.   “The claim to offer special access to ‘reality’ is quite compatible with many formats, including elements of fictional packaging (the ‘docusoap’) or humorous commentary…” (Couldry 2003).  “The Crown” is a fictional docusoap because it takes historical significance and presents it in a perfect package, with editing of all sorts, to the lives of ‘real people’.  Therefore, according to the reading, docusoaps such as "The Crown" are in line with the media ritual of 'reality-television', a type of fictional reality television that portrays real public figures; a kind of presentation that came about during the 1990's (Couldry 2003).



References:

Couldry, Nick. (2003). Live ‘Reality’ and the Future of Surveillance. Media Rituals: A Critical Approach pg. 96, 102.



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