What about Reality TV?

I'm a self-confessed reality TV junkie. Everyone says how stupid it is, calls it trash TV" and that it's not really reality but scripted reality, but for me it's just incredibly addictive...I love it!! :D

I was watching Fear Factor over the weekend and Survivor just earlier tonight and I couldn't help but notice how much the backing music affects the mood and feel of what is going on on screen at the time. It almost seems inaccurate to call it backing music since the music, in my opinion, seems to foreground the scene more than anything.

I wonder, is it just me? Am I too gullible, too easily sucked in? During the last stunt on Fear Factor, the fast suspenseful score that was accompanying it made me feel just as anxious; I was asking myself, will they succeed, will they beat the last team's time? Needless to say, I was at the edge of my seat throughout that stunt!! The same can be said about The Amazing Race - another favorite of mine - I mean, how suspenseful is it when it is down to a race to the finish line between the last 2 teams of the pack right?!

As for Survivor, I'm talking about that infamous music cued to start up at the end of tribal council once someone has been voted out. It's so much a part of this portion of the episode, that if you pressed the mute button, it would just feel weird!!

I just find it so amazing how much music can become so integrated with what is on screen that you do not realize its impact and affect on how you interpret the visual text until you take it away. Now that's the power of music, folks.

And when it comes to reality TV it's so ironic, because in reality, when that person gets voted out, there is no tribal-esque instruments that accompany your exit from the game, is there?

It does raise the question of how credible, or how much reality is in reality TV if the programs use a lot of music to drive and influence what is going on on screen. In other words, the audience does not feel the real atmosphere of what is going on at the time but are made to feel a certain way through a constructed atmosphere, which is done predominantly via music.