Reality Bites Back: The Troubling Truth About Guilty Pleasure TV
by Jennifer Pozner
Published 2010 by Seal Press
392 pages
Recommended by Melissa Harris-Perry via twitter (sadly, not directly)
Purchased by me from a local independent bookstore
Do you feel guilty for indulging in reality television? I will admit, for the merits of this post, to watching American Idol and Project Runway regularly, and being a former viewer of America’s Next Top Model, The Real World, Survivor–even, horrors of all horrors, Flavor of Love and Rock of Love. And these are just the ones that I watched for entire seasons.
Chances are, if you’ve watched American reality shows, you’ve either pretended not to, or you’ve followed the sentence “I watch [reality show name here]” with “But just because it’s funny.” In Reality Bites Back, Jennifer Pozner argues that watching reality television has consequences on culture that go beyond being merely entertaining; happily, she does it in a way that doesn’t make you feel like a terrible person for indulging. So rest assured: even if you can name all the winners of American Idol in order (ahem) or you can recite Tim Gunn’s favorite lines (“Use the bluefly.com accessory wall thoughtfully”), you won’t come away from this book feeling guilty for watching.
You will, however, feel a whole heck of a lot smarter and aware of the stereotypes and -isms (sexism, racism, classism, etc.) reality television perpetuates. It’s an excellent and readable feminist analysis of popular culture. With chapter titles like “Bitches and Morons and Skanks, Oh My!” Pozner keeps her humor cap on, fully aware of the ironies of “scholarship” and “reality television” while arguing convincingly that there is much to be done to make reality tv more inclusive and less reliant on typecasting and archetypes. The chapter I mentioned, for instance, lays out four tropes that reality tv relies on when portraying women:
1. Women are catty, bitchy, manipulative, and not to be trusted, especially by other women.
2. Women are stupid.
3. Women are incompetent at work and at home.
4. Women are gold diggers.
–p. 98-127
If you’ve ever watched any of these shows, I’m sure you can come up with a bunch of reality show “stars” who fit those categories. We can all agree, I hope, that women are more than, and better than, this–so why aren’t any of those women on reality shows?
The most unique, impressive part of Reality Bites Back, is that unlike many other feminist books on popular culture, there is a chapter full of resources on what you can do to make it better. There are drinking games (although Pozner thoughtfully encourages you to use non-alcoholic beverages because if you followed the rules with alcohol, you’d end up with alcohol poisoning). There is a “backlash bingo” game to help stay aware of the portrayals of women and minorities on the shows. There is a guide to writing useful protest letters to the networks that broadcast the shows. Instead of just leaving the reader angry without a way to be proactive about what’s going on, Pozner’s resources to fighting back will help you be mad and ready to do something about it.
Highly recommended to anyone who has ever watched and enjoyed a reality show (but cringes at the ridiculousness of it all).
Grade: A
Also: Pozner gets extra points for including a short essay from Julia Serano (author of the brilliant Whipping Girl) entitled “Improving Representation of Transgender People: Tips for Media Makers.” Can’t let that go unmentioned, since it made me really, really happy.
I’m glad you liked this! I really liked that Pozner took the approach of identifying problems with reality TV instead of completely condemning it. She has made me think of reality TV in a different light, which I appreciate. I can still being entertained but also understand consequences and underlying messages that reality TV tell sus. I also loved the games in the “resources” part of the book.
Exactly, Emily! I think that was just the argument she was trying to make–clearly she succeeded! Now if there were only more books like this, on different topics. So good.
I actually watched the whole first season of Rock of Love in one sitting because I was curious, and then I could not stop watching the train wreck. By the end I was really hoping Bret would end up with the most horrible person possible, because he deserved it. Half of the time when talking about the “good points” of the people he kept on the show he mentioned mostly how hot they were or how big their breasts were…often TO THEIR FACES. Why any woman would want to date a man like that for any reason other than money is beyond me.
Anyway, excellent review, I’ll have to put this on my reading list.
Thanks Amy. One of the great parts of Reality Bites Back is that Pozner actually addresses the question you raise about why women would want to date the men featured on the reality shows. I think you’ll really appreciate her argument!
Oooohhhh this really does sound fantastic. WHY haven’t I picked it up yet? Oh right, stupid dare. heh
You will either be bringing this back with you or be receiving it from me in the mail. You’ll love it!
The resource chapter sounds like the best part to me, actually! Looks fun, I give her major props for including that, and I second your enthusiasm for her inclusion of ANYTHING by Julia Serano
Oh Julia Serano. I need to re-read Whipping Girl, asap. So much goodness.
I love the idea of the book (and the cover) but even the idea of reality programming gets me all frustrated.
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