In the past several years, there has been a huge ...

In the past several years, there has been a huge rise in the variety and popularity of reality television, a genre that finds its most valuable content in individuals volunteering themselves to be put on display as they part with their dignity, privacy, and composure. Although the details differ from show to show, the general formula remains the same; the participants on these reality programs all want to transform into an image that is ideal to themselves and ultimately to society. As the main appeal of these shows is that everything happening on screen is “real”, the conflicts that occur become even more dramatic and are immediately relatable by the audience. Television producers are satisfied that they have found an extremely profitable genre of television programming due to their cheap production costs and the endless stream of willing volunteers for their shows and more importantly, the viewing population is left content as well since reality shows how regular people can become important, famous and “successful” as defined by a media-saturated environment. Even if not all these reality TV shows are well receieved, many do achieve significant popularity and cultural prominence which is why it's important to ask whether or not reality television is merely just for entertainment or does it permeate into other areas of our lives?