Archive for: Reality Programmes in Serbia – A GLOBAL OR NATIONAL PHENOMENON

In Serbia, reality television programmes came to life with “Big Brother“, an invention of Dutchman “John“ de Mol, initiated as a kind of experiment that was inspired by contemporary artists’ research into how police and security services use video cameras. This resulted in creation of a space in which everyone comes to be seen and to see others. In the meantime, many circumstances have changed, both globally and in Serbia, so after “Big Brother”, the reality television programmes in our country have evolved considerably and have taken forms that fall outside the reality, adopting a wide range of mostly negative influences from different spheres of society. To what extenth as television, with its displaying of various forms of non-culture and kitsch through television broadcasts and shows, exerted its influence that such a stunning transformation of this form of reality TV has occurred? And does it mean that an unfortunate bare picture of the overall social situation in the country and the far-reaching goals of certain structures underlie these negative enough influences? By bringing small states into an economically dependent position, the great powers not only considerably shape their economic policy but also indirectly influence the formation of other segments of society that emerge or that are in some way connected with their emerging economies. One of these segments is culture, and its spread is achieved through cultural globalization which breaks down cultural barriers.However, at the same time, it distorts and shapes the cultural identity of a particular society according to its own needs. Although the well known Latin maxim of “bread and games” (panem et circenses) can be applied to reality television programmes, their negative effects extend much deeper and can affect different segments of society. This danger has become real with the development of the society itself, but also with the unpredictable and elusive movements of globalization, the consequences of which can be felt at national level, even on a smaller sample of reality television programmes. The hierarchy, which was vertical in the “global” reality (directed by the global towards the national leaders), becomes horizontal within a nation, thanks to the reality television programmes (leaders are drowning and concealing their roles behind the screened absurdity, and the reality itself becomes a means to certain ends). If we exclude psychotherapeutic effect, which in some sense cannot be denied, the reality TV sends a not at all naïve message, with potentially harmful effects on its viewers.

Reality shows are mirrors of spiritual metamorphosis of our civilization.The text summarizes historical conditions, ideas and ideologies which have, more or less indirectly, shaped the contemporary mass culture and reality programmes as its specific segment. It also raises the question of responsibility of intellectuals in such course of events and particularly their responsibility in the process of erasing clear lines that separate elite and popular culture. Defining culture as human activity in general, without valuing it, has significantly contributed to creating an illusion of its democratic nature. This paper particularly emphasizes the character of contemporary civilization as a civilization of/without death, thus interpreting, along the same lines, the symbolic level of reality programmes. 

The style of expression in various media is a particular field of scientific research. Clarity of style implies that expressions appropriately convey certain information, but in reality programmes there are no essential facts that need to be expressed clearly. This implies the possibility of impairing the clarity of style and the use of a non-public lexical stock,such as vulgarisms. The increasing use of vulgarisms is evident in the reality programmes of Zadruga and Parovi, which are aired on the two Serbian commercial television stations with national frequency with the highest viewership, ratings and the longest daily and annual broadcasting times. Exploring the role of vulgarism in these shows provides a deeper insight into the editorial policies, discursive rules and creative freedoms of those who decide what is said and how it is said in the media. In this paper, a comparative study of the two most viewed reality programmes was made and several certainties regarding vulgarisms occurring on one or the other programme were highlighted,with a contextual review of the social, moral and creative role of expression in the reality programmes.

This paper provides an analysis of cultural, psychological and communication patterns that could be used to explain popularity and receptivity of the audiences that consume reality programmes. These programmes have started broadcasting in 2006, through the format of Big Brother. They have gained great popularity since then, and the number of viewers has not decreased. In order to better understand the phenomenology of reality programmes, closely analysed their characteristics, especially concerning their format, both the selection and characteristics of reality programme participants, the dramaturgy and the wider social context these shows are realized in. The authors are dealing with specific characteristics of this television form,communication processes that lead to the desired “outcomes” necessary for increasing the viewership, by tendentiously directed roles and behaviour patterns (conflict, sexual content) as well as with possible psychological perspectives that could, to a certain extent, explain the motivation of the audience to engage in the consumption of such content (watching the content, commenting on social networks, voting, favouring certain participants). Some of the psychological explanations for the popularity of such programmes could be found in the high level of identification with the participants who externalize most intimate contents of their inner worlds, and also in the complete equalization of the private and public sphere, as well as in the analytical concept of a Shadow that is related to the inferior and in acceptable parts of the human nature. Our Ego recognizes such content as “someone else’s”and connects it more frequently with the behaviour of others than with our own behaviour. Very often, the bearers of those projections are representatives of the so-called marginal groups, therefore the selected participants of reality shows “provide” the space for Shadow projection.Finally, we analysed the wider social context suitable to sustain and„nourish” this form of public discourse. This is actually a relational and contextual question that opens a space for understanding of the needs that underlie the collective dipping into naked privacy and primary processes of the group that we observe through reality programmes.