Reality TV

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Popular Culture
Explain the statement “comedy is a tragedy that happens to other people” in relation to what you read in Chapter 8. How does this concept help us understand society’s desire to watch sitcoms and reality television?
Comedy is said to be linked to the distresses and feats of the ordinary people. Most people tend to turn other people’s problems into funny jokes that people tell during their leisure stories (Danesi 243-248). However, it takes a certain period before other people make the tragedy a joke that one passed through. In some instances, people may joke about something that depresses them, but they wait until a certain period has elapsed for them to say it out to a group of people as a joke. When tragedy is given time, people start making it sound like a joke or convert it into a comedy (Bianculli). For example, a politician might be arrested by the police, but after some time, people start taking that act as a comedy that they act for people to laugh. This concept helps us understand the society’s desire to watch sitcoms and reality tv because people want to enjoy the different challenges that people face and how they react to those challenges until they come out of it (Danesi 243-248). The Candid Camera is an original and mischievous tv show that captures people during their most unguarded, spontaneous and most natural positions (“Smile My Ass | Radiolab | WNYC Studios”). Some people had criticized it and referred it as a peeping Tom.

Despite the criticism, the show still succeeded and changed the perception that people had on reality tv (“Smile My Ass | Radiolab | WNYC Studios”). The tv seemed to have gained more ratings as a result of most viewers enjoying how other people’s tragedies unfolded. According to pop culture sociology, people who do not own a tv tend to be boring since they only speak about how they do not have one (Miller). However, those who own and watch it are said to be interesting since they find some humor in some of the shows, which they eventually come to share with other people.
Based on what you read in Chapter 8, explain the concept of simulacrum in your own words. Then give an example of a TV show that illustrates this concept and explains why/how it does.
Simulacrum generally means an imitation or a representation of a person or something, usually a flawed one. To some extent, there should be a particular type of relationship between objects of a particular kind, the object being imitated and the simulacrum. So the two objects have a detailed likeness, with structural and physical correspondence between the parts. “Fargo” is a modern anthology series that can be classified as a simulacrum because of the format in which it has been developed (Deggans). Although the show contains different characters from the first show and set in a different period and location, the mood of the show still remains.

Work Cited
Bianculli, David. “NPR Choice Page.” Npr.Org, 2018, https://www.npr.org/2015/03/17/393596736/forget-binge-watching-great-television-happens-when-networks-pace-shows. Accessed 21 Oct 2018.
Danesi, Marcel. Popular culture: introductory perspectives. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015. Print.
Deggans, Eric. “NPR Choice Page”. Npr.Org, 2018, https://www.npr.org/2014/08/06/338234077/modern-anthology-series-could-revolutionize-television. Accessed 21 Oct 2018.
Miller, Galanty. “People Who Don’t Own Televisions Are Boring: The Sociology Of Pop Culture.” HuffPost, 2018, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/galanty-miller/people-who-don’t-own-telev_b_3844746.html. Accessed 21 Oct 2018.
“Smile My Ass | Radiolab | WNYC Studios.” WNYC Studios, 2018, https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/smile-my-ass. Accessed 21 Oct 2018.