Monthly media and arts column

Talking about reality TV comes a close second to talking about the weather.

Everyone has an opinion about it. This seems to be particularly true in evangelical circles, where there is almost an unspoken understanding that if you watch Reality TV then you can't possibly be a keen Christian.

It has to be said that there are certainly many brands of reality-based game shows and late night 'documentaries' that celebrate sin in a way that can never be supported by Christians. However, the whole of the reality genre tends to get tarred with the same brush. Here are three things that I've grown to appreciate about the black sheep of TV.

History of the genre

Firstly, Reality TV has a rich heritage. If the genre is defined as 'the filming of non-actors as they experience real-life situations' then we can discover its origins at the birth of film-making. In 1894, the Lumiere brothers produced the first reality footage; single-shot, unedited film shorts called Workers leaving the factory and Feeding the baby. In 1924, Robert Flaherty took his cameras to Greenland to film the memorable Eskimo, Nanook, going about his chores of hunting, fishing and trading. In 1974, UK television produced its first fly-on-the-wall docusoap, The family, in which the Wilkins family of Reading, were followed by cameras to show the whole of their daily lives, 'dirty pans and all'. Reality TV is not a modern phenomenon after all. For as long as we've had the technology to do it, we've been prying into the private lives of anyone who will let us.

Crossing boundaries

Secondly, I like the fact that the programmes break down barriers of prejudice. A sub-genre of Reality TV has grown up in which individuals are exposed to a sub-culture that is completely alien to them. Examples of this are Faking it, Wife Swap, Back to the Floor and the one-off When Michael Portillo became a single mum. Wealthy and poor, powerful and vulnerable, eccentric and staid are flung together in scenes of laughable impossibility. Yet the endearing fact is that the majority of these individuals walk away with deeper respect for each other. Alex, the posh country boy, parted from his new found East End bouncer mates in Faking it was made to promise he'd come back soon. Even Channel 4 couldn't stop unlikely loyalties growing up between contrasting characters on Big Brother, a show designed to make everyone deeply suspicious of each other. The Faking it series in particular has made us realise that for all our attempts to find fault with other groups of people who are not 'like us', human nature is actually pretty much the same all the way through.

Man in the street

Thirdly, Reality TV helps to write history as seen by the ordinary person. When we flick through the history books to discover truths about the past, it's kings, commanders and inventors we read about. When we want to know about the attitudes, beliefs and daily diets of the Roman or the Victorian in the street, we are less informed. Novels and diaries have always been cherished by historians for revealing the minutiae of life, yet familiarity with our own daily existence breeds sufficient contempt that we hate to watch it on TV. Paul Watson, a Reality TV film maker for over 30 years, said recently: 'I bet that in a hundred years' time, if somebody shows my films, they will be popular and they will really say something about the last century. I hope that their historical value is much greater than their present value'. The popularity of the 1940s house and its sequels shows that we crave visual documentation of daily life from different eras.

Big Brother may not be representative of your everyday existence, but it will serve those in the future who want to find out about the times in which we live. Perhaps we will learn that rather than society 'getting worse', mankind has always been self-obsessed, comfort-seeking, and rebellious towards God. The fact that Reality TV shows have included The 1940s house and its obvious sequels demonstrates that we crave visual documentation of every era. Now that we are carefully documenting the times in which we live, future generations will know more about us. They will be able to identify the passions we have for increasing our status and increasing our comforts. They'll soon see that, like them, we were obsessed with ourselves and unbothered about God.

Plus and minus

The genre of Reality TV has the potential to be used both positively and negatively. Ever since the printing press, developments in the media - cinema, TV, video and the internet - have caused suspicion because of their abilities to communicate ideas to the masses extremely quickly. Yet all of them have in their various ways become useful vehicles for the gospel to be proclaimed. Maybe someday we'll be able to say the same of Reality TV. The format tends to give a pretty good insight into human nature. Whether it's Johnny Rotten in I'm a Celebrity, Get me out of here!, Maureen from Driving School or Nadia from Big Brother 5, anyone filmed for any sustained length of time will reveal the truth that they have rejected the God who made them, turned to idols and are in need of forgiveness to bring them back into relationship with God.

And if you're still not convinced ... well there's always the 'off' button.

Eleanor Margesson

© Evangelicals Now - November 2004
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