Digital distribution

Digital distibution of TV shows

1930's   

• Scheduled to air in specific time slots
• Specific days to watch certain tv shows. -No catch up system available.  
• Tv shows were not accessible for all. 

Today

• You can watch tv shows on catch up whenever you want -bbc iPlayer.
• You can watch programmes all at the same time.
• Netflix and Amazon Prime -pre-paid subscriptions.
• Websites which allow you to watch America exclusive tv shows wherever you are.
• You can use your phone, iPad or laptop t watch tv shows -no longer need to rely on tv time lots. 

Overall, the change of TV distribution from the 1930's has been more beneficial to the public as it has allowed people to be able to stay up to date with their favourite TV shows without being restricted to scheduled time slots. However the amount of viewers that watch TV  has declined which has affected broadcasters like the BBC because people would rather use their devices like a phone, iPad and laptop to watch TV, especially if they want to watch shows in their spare time which may not necessarily be broadcasting on TV at that time. This is the reason that BBC3 decided to be online based as they were able to notice that their audience preferred watching TV shows in that format. Netflix in particular is a popular way of online video streaming as its legal and doesn't include any advertisements which is useful for binge watching unlike having to wait a week or so to watch the next episode which was the norm during the 1930's. 

                   

Essay plan

Essay Plan

Title: Representations in Reality TV

Brief overview of my two texts:

• The Real Housewives of Atlanta - Reality TV show about a group of women all based in Atlanta. 
• Love and Hip Hop -Reality TV show on women who are either trying to get into the music industry or are already in it.
• Explain overview of brief findings - Why black women are represented in a negative way?     - Why these black women allow themselves to be                                                                  represented in this particular way?                                                                                           - Why do the producers allow this type of representation?

 Love and Hip Hop

• Forms and conventions -
• Audiences- African Americans, ranging from 18-49 years old
• Institutions -VH1 (American cable television)
• Representations - Aggressive, single mothers, promiscuous, hip hop 
• Values, Ideologies and Theorists - Bell Hooks 'Black women are objectified and sexualised in Hip Hop reflecting the colonialist view of black women' -Tricia Rose- 'Hip Hop gives black female rappers a voice introducing female empowerment'

The Real Housewives of Atlanta

• Explain similarities to above but also the differences of the cast members involved. 

• Conclusion 

-Overall judgement of why the the women are represented in this way. (My findings)

-My personal opinions on why they are represented in this way?

Report on research progress

Report on research progress.

• Bell Hooks- Black women are objectified and sexualised in hip hop reflecting the colonialist view of black women. 

• Tricia Rose- Hip hop gives black female rappers a voice introducing female empowerment

• Stuart Hall- Often associating particular races with a particular class 
• Stuart Hall - Comodified blackness -A mediated view of black culture is the norm. 

• Alvarado Theory 1987- 4 key themes on racial representation, The exotic, the dangerous, the pitied and the humorous.

Love and Hip Hop - Reality TV show on women who are either trying to get into the music industry or are already in it.

• Conventions of hip hop is that they usually come from a tough destructive background and through advertisement they end up making it. 

Cast members

• Joseline Hernandez- Ex stripper, because of her background she will always be judged even though she was a stripper in the past and she is now making something out of herself. This show mainly portrays her in a negative way such as showing her in revealing or even hardly any clothes as a way of making audiences still see her as a stripper rather than a talented rapper/singer. However she is the one who decides to dress up how she wants so by her dressing in a provocative manner expresses whether she is actually the one reinforcing this negative approach of black women rather than trying to draw away from this representation. 

The Real Housewives of Atlanta- Reality TV show about a group of women all based in Atlanta. 

Cast members

• Cynthia -Model. On the season premier it shows her topless about to undergo a breast enhancement. This emphasises the idea of black women being sexually objectified and also expresses the male gaze by Laura Mulvey which in this case is showing that bigger breasts are more attractive. In addition to this the audience may be thinking why did she decide to include her naked upper body in the reality TV show ? This could be a way of producers representing black women as fake and as objects to satisfy male needs. However it could also be reflecting how these black women are trying to gain attention from the audience. 

Overall reality TV shows are a way of expressing the post colonial view of women being housewives and focusing on their appearance as they want to appeal to their man.

Coursework

Why are black women represented negatively in reality TV?

I want to investigate why ethnicity is represented in a negative way through a variety of reality TV shows.I will also try to find out whether the way Black women are represented is due to producers wanting to entertain their audience or whether the black women themselves are trying to gain attention from the audience by acting in a negative stereotypical way. In addition to this I will be analysing the idea of scripted reality tv which again will be a way of finding out if black women choose to represent themselves in the negative way that reality TV shows portray them therefore showing that black women are not exactly challenging this.

For my linked production piece I will be filming an opening sequence of an upcoming reality TV show. This will be expressing the same idea of how women are represented negatively in reality TV, e.g. wearing tight clothing, revealing their assets etc. I have decided to make my opening sequence reflect the same negative representation of women because I think that reality TV is still reinforcing this idea instead of contrasting it.