Reviews

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/sep/05/tvratings.television

3.3 million viewers
-I thought this quote was relevant, as it shows such how many people watch reality TV show and how the people may use reality TV shows as escapism.

Mock the Week - 2.9 million, 13% share in 30 minutes
-I took this quote out of this article as it shows just how many people watch big brother. This quote is relevant to my study as it shows how many viewer the show gets and low other TV shows viewers are.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/aug/08/tvratings.television

100,000 viewers ahead of Harley Street
- Shows hows interested Big Brothers audience is into other people lifes - Uses & Gratification
further 330,000 watched Big Brother on Channel 4 +1
-How people are again more interest into other lives then their own - escapism?
Vanessa-Mae show gained 2.9 million
-

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/aug/19/jade.bigbrother

hugged Goody before she entered
- From their past conflict on the Big Brother show in England, this show how they have put their issues to one side. The hug being shown on a show where media can capture it, will show the media the making of their new relationship.

Mark Thomas former editor of the People newspaper, said: "It is pretty obvious that she was looking forward to her time in the house but her health is the first priority and she is flying back for treatment and more tests."

Migrain

M - Birds eye view so audience can see the impact of the incident

- Close up of where he had been hit to show the audience as they are not there to witness it

- Dialogue - Mickey swearing to express anger

I - Channel 4/Virgin

G - Reality TV show

R - Older men are shown to just have a laugh all the time e.g. when Mickey had been hit Rex laughed it off and they all began to say "Sorry" as they may have felt guilty. Where as when Mickey is taken inside the woman e.g. Rachel had asked "Is he Ok" showing sympathy and not guilt to make Mickey feel better.

- But this may show the typical view of a woman and man - woman - caring/sensitive , man - guilt/never admits.

A - Feel sympathy for Mickey as he has been hit by a ball and secondly because he is blind, and other house mates such as Rex are laughing and not sympathising with him.

- Watched for surveillance purposes, as they may have strong view on the affects/circumstances of having a blind person in a house under no supervision can be like.

I -

N - Reality TV show

- Show edited into 1hour programme

Med 5 Targets

A01
I know of all the key concepts, but when looking at a text and relating key concepts to a particular text I need to look at the key concepts in more depth and explain it more.

A02
I need to work on this assessment objective as I find it difficult to relate the SHEP concept to my text I know this is a key assessment objective and would like to relate it to my text and look at this in depth too.

A05
I need alot of research on my text. The more i research on it the more I will learn my self about it and also the more I can talk about my topic in my final independent study. The research i have done so far is very broad.

Exploiting housemates - 2006

Big Brother's history of bother

Last year's Big Brother 7 was accused by fans and health groups of exploiting housemates and neglecting their welfare.

Concerns were raised over Pete, who has Tourette syndrome and went on to win, and Shahbaz, who threatened to kill himself after five days in the house.

The Mental Health Foundation said Channel 4 appeared to be "exploiting vulnerable individuals to make a TV show".

But Ofcom said the show stayed within the bounds of acceptability and did not breach the broadcasting code.

Misleas phone voters - 2006

Big Brother's history of bother

When four evicted housemates were reintroduced to Big Brother 7, more than 2,600 people complained to premium rate phone line watchdog Icstis.

They claimed to have been misled after paying to evict Grace, Lea, Mikey and Nikki once - only to see them return.

Icstis upheld the complaints, saying there was an "unprecedented number" and "undoubted strength of feeling".

Channel 4 admitted the oversight. It escaped a fine but was ordered to pay almost £50,000 in administrative costs.

Complaints from viewers - 2005

Big Brother's history of bother

In 2005, Ofcom said Big Brother 6 operated "at the limits of acceptability".

Some 887 complaints were received about the series - with 259 relating to Kinga simulating sex with a wine bottle.

Others objected to Makosi and Anthony getting intimate in a hot tub. Ofcom raised "serious" concerns - but said the scenes did not break its code.

And presenter Davina McCall was cleared of racial discrimination over what some viewers called a hostile interview with Zimbabwean Makosi.

Poor me, poor me, pour me a drink - 2006

Big Brother's history of bother

The last series of Celebrity Big Brother was marked by bitter exchanges between entertainer Michael Barrymore and politician George Galloway.

During an argument, Mr Galloway taunted Barrymore, a recovering alcoholic, with the phrase: "Poor me, poor me, pour me a drink."

The MP was also heavily criticised by constituents who felt he abandoned them and should have been in Westminster.

But that was all overshadowed by his infamous impression of a cat.

Big Brother Is Bully - 2005

Big Brother's history of bother

After walking out of the celebrity show in 2005, Germaine Greer accused Big Brother of acting like a playground bully.

She said producers' "superior" tactics like making housemates cold and hungry could encourage school bullying.

"It was demonstrating the role of taunting in the playground," she said, charging Big Brother with behaving "like a child rather than a parent".

Greer left the show after failing to persuade other contestants to stage a naked protest against Big Brother.

Nasty Nick - 2000

Big Brother's history of bother

After Big Brother landed in the UK in 2000, it did not take long for controversy to rear its head.

"Nasty" Nick tried to influence the nominations by writing notes and showing them to fellow contestants.

But his housemates confronted him in a moment of high drama that gripped the nation. Eventual winner Craig told Nick: "I just thought you were genuine.

"I was misled and you made me look a fool." Channel 4 threw Nick out for "persistent infringement" of the rules.

Genre

Big Brother belongs to the genre of reality TV shows.

The conventions
1- Contestants are voted off one at a time to leave a winner.
2- There are private interviews with contestants everyday, allowing them to have time to express their private thoughts.
3- Contestants have to complete a range of tasks - often to earn food for that day
4- Although contestants are filmed 24 hours a day, the programme is edited down just one hour of material - the identity of contestants is therefore constructed by editors.
5- Viewer participation is increasing - viewers can vote off contestants by phone, by text, or interactive TV. This audience participation is helping to grow the genre.
6- Contestants become C list celebrities simply by taking part in the programmes. Most of them gain little in the way of prizes or prize money so it is the fame that attracts them to the genre.

Narrative

Big Brother has a active audience view where by the audience re-creates the meaning of what is shown, therefore the institution Big Brother has become pasive as it has no control over how the audience re-creates the meaning of the text.

In reality TV shows heroins and villains are created such as people that may start arguments or talk in abrupt ways, such as Jade Goody and also from this series Alexandra. Hero's are created in the audience eyes hero's may be female or male but mostly male. Heros in reality TV shows may support other contestants when they feel down, and also stay by thier side in arguements. Also in the reality show "I am Celebrity Get Me Out of Here" heros are created from the contestant that may win food supplement sfrom takin gpart and completeing the task set.

The role of the sound and music in Big Brother and reality TV shows play a big part. As soon as contestants hear the voice of who they must listen to and follow (in Big Brother this would be Devina or Big Brother from the Diaryroom), they instantly become aware and alert. Therefore the sound and voice of BigBrother plays a role of the master who the consestants must listen to.


Jacques Derrida (Deconstruction)

Jacques Derrida explored the relationship between the institution and the audience.
He suggest - The audience deconstructs a text within the context of its logos. So there is not a single meaning to the texts, but diffrent meanings and interpretations based on the way the audience chooses to receive the text. E.g. the audience made have make previous knowledge of related texts. (So big brother's audience may have watch other reality TV shows and then seemed interested in Big Brother)

Media Languages and Forms

Conventions of Reality TV show: Typical to the genre. Show the reality of people inside and outside of the diary room.

Subversion of the conventions: There are many things which subvert the Reality TV shows, particularly Big Brother as there are many different people .e.g white people, gay people.

Non-verbal structures of meaning: There are many zoom ins in reality TV shows. The zoom ins are particularly fast when something shocking has happened, and are often repetitive to show how it sinks in. Many close ups are used as well to put an emphasis on a contestats facial expression.

Settings: The setting is in a house made on one floor with a garden. The setting is of a normal house with a family of contestants living inside of it. Where as the setting of "Im a celebrity get me out of here" is in a jungle, makes it less appealing to a audience.

Soundtrack/Language: The Big Brother soundtrack is the only soundtrack used in the one hour catch up. Its catchy but does not have any lyrics, also they have a voice over to help the audience recognize what is going on inside the programme.

Media Representations

Alexandra is a single mother who had her daughter when she was 16 years old. Alexandra is proud of what she's achieved, in raising her child on her own, while also having a good job and nice cars,which shows she is a dependent woman. She was raised as a Christian, but a few years ago converted to Islam and despite trying to go to her mosque as often as she can, she now describes herself as a non-practising Muslim.
Alexandra's philosophy in life is "go hard or go home", she believes that private schools should be scrapped and that everyone should be educated to the same standard for free this mean that everyone has an equal start in life.

Her own worst critic, Alexandra is not very pleasant to live with as Big Brother has to kick her out due to aggressive behaviour


Belinda is a 44-year-old mum. She is radical, intellectual and argumentative. She once appeared on stage naked.She is currently an artistic director for a theatre group - which she describes as a 'multimedia experimental arts jam'. She has only ever been the boss and has never worked beneath anyone before. Which shows another independent woman!

Dale is a super confident he is desperate to be rich and famous and have girls screaming his name. This shows the typical stereotype of men. He is also described as friendly, funny but mostly arrogant, bigheaded and over confident.
Dale is currently studying to be a PE teacher although deep down he dreams of being a pro-footballer.
Dale loves "fit" girls and His dream celebrity dates would be Mischa Barton and Abbie Clancey.
If Dale where to win Big Brother means everything "f*** taking part, no one remembers the losers". He says he should be on the show because of his good looks and that he gets on with everyone, especially the girls. This shows that Dale is the typical guy that is shown and shows himself as arrogant.

Darnell was deported to the UK after getting involved with gang culture in the States and now focuses much of his time in mentoring community youth groups in North London. This shows made new equlibruim and now helps others from his mistakes. Darnell was born albino.
Darnell also currently writes songs professionally and loves all music, especially R'n'B and Hip Hop but hates death metal. Shows he is a dependent male who does not gaze other other female such as Dale.

Dennis says that things that make him happy are having his ego massaged, dancing, singing and performing.
If he could make any law, it would be that everyone must wear fake tan, and his dream job is to be a dancer and then perhaps a personal shopper. On a typical day he stresses out in front of the mirror for hours, and gets changed about three times before going out. This shows that he is a feminine guy, which goes against the norms and values of men who are usually the "bread winner" and are shown as being strong!


Jennifer is as ambitious, ruthless and opinionated - and she wouldn't enter Big Brother if she didn't think she could win. She has a 22-month-old daughter who has made her the proudest person in the world. being a single mothershe is still proud which shows that she is goin againt she norms and values of society. Jennifer says she uses her beauty and brains to get what she wants, which shos she is a woman who takes advantage of what she has. Jennifer's her motivation for doing Big Brother is to make her daughter and loved ones proud.

Kathreya came to the UK from Thailand seven years ago to study, and has since become a British citizen. Her dream is to travel the world and taste cookies in every country. A Thai massage therapist, she would love to one day open her own Thai massage agency, or alternatively open her own restaurant as she's also passionate about cooking. She admires to become a independent woman. Kathreya is a Buddhist, believes strongly in Karma and will do anything to avoid an argument. On the subject of her physical attributes, Kathreya likens her shape to a potato - "If you like jacket potato you will love me". This shows she is not a streotypical woman who would like to be slim.

One half of the first ever summer Big Brother couple, Lisa who is dating fellow new housemate Mario. She is a former bodybuilder and is a fitness and health fanatic who teaches fitness classes alongside her regular job as a sales rep for tanning products, being a body builder goes against the typical jobs of a woman which now shows in society woman are takin male jobs. She is also a proud mother of an 18-year-old daughter Lisa says she's often likened to Xena Warrior Princess, and says she's "like a magnet exerting powerful attraction".

You Tube MIGRAIN -Jade & Shilpa

M: 1- Jade walking towards Shilpa with such power shows anger towards situation and use of violence but she knows she cannot be violent
2- Shilpa laughing at Jade shows Shilpas calm sense towards the situation that has been blown out of proportion.
3- "Its pathetic, your pathetic my opinion of you is fake!" - Jade whilst holding her hand on her, by Jade repeating herself may show that she has no other way to defend herself out of this situation
4- While Jade and Shilpa fight Danille and other girl laugh, this may show the influence other people such as Jade has grown on them

I: 1- Channel 4; public-service television broadcaster

G: 1- Reality TV show; showing how strong Shilpa is and how she can defend herself against 3 people
2- The reality of Jade has come out, as the audience can now see how argument she can get over childish things.

R: 1- Women in particular are represented as strong in a way as they are shouting at each other and nobody out of the two had cried.

2-But Shilpa as a woman maybe shown as weak as she needed a male to ease her nerves down

3- Men are represented as the peace maker in this scene as they re not shouting but sitting and observing. This fits in with the stereotype of men being patriarchal in a household in this scene the Big Brother house.

A: 1- Likely to be aimed at the typical target audiences of nuclear families, or people in India as they may be able to relate to this as they feel they can relate to Shilpa.
2- People most likely to be consuming for diversion purposes, particularly as there is a lot of drama.

3-also be for personal identity uses and gratifications, as the audience can build a relationship with the character.

I: 1- Some people such as Jade feel they have to fight there side of the argument by shouting, this may reflect the way she is brought up and show what norms and values she has been taught.
2- Male calming the woman down. This as said before portrays a stereotype of men having the upper hand.

Jade Goody & Shilpa Shetty