A Step Towards Quality?

This blog post is a response to Grace’s post about The Only Way is Essex, with specific attention to her analysis on the disclaimer that opens the show. Essentially, text appears on the screen describing what can be expected in each episode and how the show is absolutely scripted and staged to a large extent. Grace’s point is that this strategy serves to identify the show for what it really is, and therefore, “cuts the crap” out that many American reality TV shows still cling to—namely, that the programs are still documenting unscripted and mainly unfiltered “reality.”

I couldn’t agree more with this conclusion. I think it is a very smart marketing initiative by the producers because the show will still attract reality trash enthusiasts, but will also go further by attracting more viewers outside this primary target audience. The reason for this is that these people can justify their own viewership based on the fact that the show is admitting what it is and is making fun of itself before the first frame airs of each episode. Hence, it is okay to subscribe to a trash show, as long as it is aware of its own nature and is already mocking itself.

However, rather than viewing the opening description of the program as making fun of itself, I would like to suggest the idea that it is in actuality making fun of its own genre. I believe that this subtle distinction is significant in that it provides a reading of this disclaimer as commenting on the stereotypes which the show is itself embodying. By correctly stating its identity at the beginning of each episode, The Only Way is Essex is subsequently removing itself from the genre of “poser” reality TV. Audiences are no longer in any doubt as to whether what they are watching is real or is contrived. In effect, the program can now be viewed as a comedy program that is providing a satiric perspective on the reality TV genre, rather than being a member of that genre. As a result, it is moving closer to the genre of mockumentary, as it is employing the filming techniques associated with documentary filmmaking while also providing a comedic script.

So it appears we have a similar version of The Office on our hands, right? Absolutely not. And I wouldn’t dare insinuate that The Only Way is Essex is more like quality mockumentaries than it is reality trash like Jersey Shore or The Hills. Clearly the filming styles, acting, production values and overall subject matter are more closely aligned with the latter than the former. However, the point I am trying to make is that both genres are not very far away from each other, considering the basic film styles (zooms, handheld, etc.) are very similar and both, regardless of what reality TV tries to claim, are highly scripted. Thus, I wonder if it may be possible in the future to see more reality programs take this stance and even possibly drift further down the spectrum towards mockumentary to the point that a true hybrid is made and this gap in the family tree of these two distant cousins is filled.