'Big Brother': Conniving Lives as Public Events - The Spectre of Reality TV

'Reality TV supposedly placed 'ordinary' people in 'extraordinary' situations and allows other people (including the crew) to watch them react. It supposedly provides a microcosm of social interaction. This is really the ultimate signifier of alienation. In our effort to maintain a modicum of social connection, we turn to the simulated socialising offered by Reality TV. The media creates a cultural understanding of social fears, and it is in this framework that we can see the conniving presence of media and social control reflected in Reality Television.'