Morgan McGinn

Introduction

How Reality TV
Compares to
Real Life
There is a long pause and the dancer steps out on the stage. The audience is in awe of the brightly colored
two-piece costume that she is clothed in. As the music starts to play she moves towards the center of the stage,
dancing so elegant that the audience can not keep their eyes off her. The contemporary music seems to be in perfect
unison with the dancer. It is until she takes the final step that the audience feels pulled in to exactly how and why
she is dancing. She fell out of a turn then finding herself running off stage in tears. Her biggest concern is what the
media will say about her next. As a young dancer on a reality TV show she comes with anxiety and constant worry of
her image.
Within all of my sources I found that they all have in common that they all discuss the ethical issues of
reality TV shows and how the show compares to real life. In reality TV shows there are many different ways that
people perceive what is actually happening in the show. Some people find what is happening to be exactly how the
stars in the show are living even behind the cameras and others know that what happens on the show is completely
opposite from what their real world is like. The media tries to make more of the reality TV show than what reality is
really like for the people staring on the show.
As a dancer I fit into this figured world because there is a fine line between what should and should not
happen in the dance place rather it is on TV or not. Dance Moms uses Abby Lee Miller as the dance teacher which
then represents dance teachers all across the world, which is not the case. There are also often times that the producers
will make more out of a situation just to get better reviews out of the audience.
Dance Moms is a reality TV show that is supposed to focus on the aspects of the competitive dancer and their life. As
the TV series has developed it has become a show more about how the moms can argue with the dance teacher and
each other. This is where the show has problems with ethical issues and creates a bad image for the surrounding dance
communities. The reality TV world has created a stigma about dancers that should now be exactly like the dancers
that are featured on Dance Moms. When the girls are required to say different things because of the producers is when
the show has no longer become a reality TV show.

Morgan McGinn

Literature review

In two of my sources from my annotated bibliography the articles focus was on the ethnical slurs and
influence that is seen on reality television shows. On Dance Moms one of the dancers, Nia, is often singled out because
of her race. (""Race on reality TV: How the genre mediates textual construction and au" by Ji Hoon Park," n.d.) These
two articles discuss the problems with how different races are portrayed on national television. There are often ethnic
slurs used that receive more attention to a show, which is exciting to an audience that wants to keep watching the
show. (Scharrer, n.d.) Having these two sources helped me to construct my paper because they allowed me to expand
my knowledge on the different slurs that are used on reality television shows.
For majority of my sources they discussed how reality television is turning young girls into monsters because of all the
fame and attention they are getting. ("Reality TV Turning Young Girls Into Fame Monsters? : NPR," n.d.) Most of the
sources talk about how the attention they are getting is mostly negative because it is turning them into people that they
would not have been otherwise. On Dance Moms the stars in the show are young girls, therefore their lives have
completely changed due to the attention they have received from the show. ("Viewer Beware: Watching Reality TV
Can Impact Real-Life Behavior." N.d.) Most audience members can say that the girls look pretty old for their age. But
this is considering that they are being exposed to a whole other world way before the average 12-year-old should be.
In the source titled Assignment One, there is exact examples of how each show is done each week. Also featured in this
source is definitions of who each character is and how they act as a star on the show. (McGinn, 2015) This is a good
source because it goes through three different episodes of the series to describe what happens and when exactly on
Dance Moms. With out this knowledge it would be hard to write this paper because I would not know the ins and outs
of the series.
The other sources that I used talk about how reality TV influences the other dance studios and companies around the
world. Dance Moms has become a very influential show for the dance world. ("Where Does Dance Live in Our
Society?, n.d.) For example, they talk about the influence that dance teachers have on each dancer throughout their
studio. With this said, audience members that teach dance will often try to mimic what is seen on television. ("2014 In
Music Through The Eyes Of Choreographer Ryan Heffinton : The Record : NPR," n.d.) This proves that reality
Television does have an effect on the surrounding dance communities all over the world. ("'Dance Moms' Star Abby
Lee Miller Gets Feisty Before Court Appearance." N.d)

Morgan McGinn

Entering the Conversation

Reality TV is filled with fake scenarios that are made to entertain the audience. As Dance Moms has revolved there
are several aspects to the show that would be considered scripted in order to get higher rates and reviews. I will create a
convention that teaches TV producers how to make the reality show as morally and ethically correct without turning away
viewers. It is very easy to get carried away with the racial slurs that attract attention. There is a fine line between using racial
slurs to attract attention to the show and just having an entertaining television show. I would focus on the major television
producers around the nation such as Fox, Abc, Fx, and many more.
During this convention there will be different speakers that will come to speak about why there are ethical issues with the
reality television today. The guest speakers that will come to speak will be the CEOs from various TV producers such as Mark
Scott from ABC. In his speech he will discuss the goals for his cooperation. When talking about this the audience will take
notes on how to improve the reality TV shows that they are currently shooting and the shows they are considering starting.
After the speech part is over the producers will break out into their individual cooperations where they will discuss the new
way they will incorporate entertainment within the reality tv shows. This will help them to know exactly how to avoid racial
slurs and ethical issues during the show. It might be hard to find the truth in the subject that the reality show focuses on
because most of the time there is always a script for the actors to go by, even when it is all supposed to be honest. In the
smaller groups there will be hired professionals that will discuss the ethical principals for reality TV, form ideas to better their
cooperation, and assist the employees with how to stray from using degrading lines while keeping the show entertaining. As a
TV producing company many might believe the information from this convention would lower their rate of viewers but it
would actually help bring reality TV back where it should be.
As the convention progresses the cast from a reality TV show from each production company would come to the convention
center where fans could come to hear the cast talk about what it is like to be a part of a reality TV show. This part of the
convention would be used to help the audience understand what exactly the cast goes through in order to be part of the show.
As people know there is a lot that goes into airing a television show and this would increase the number of viewers that
actually believe in what the show is actually there for. The cast members would have to do an interview in front of the
audience, where they would not know which questions were going to be asked and the answers would not be scripted.
This will relate to Dance Moms because the girls will have to come to the convention to express their feelings about the way
the producers make the show all about the drama. As far as ethical issues are concerned Nia, one of the African American
dancers, would be asked questions about how she might feel degraded on the show because of her race. When talking to the
producers and fans about how the shows ethical issues, the audience will better understand how much of an impact the reality
TV really has on the people that star in the shows.

Morgan McGinn

Conclusion

In this paper the focus is based on the reality TV series Dance Moms. The paper stresses how reality TV has
influenced and is influences the real world outside of reality television. It also discusses the problems with ethical
principles on reality TV. The paper focuses on how the reality TV industry can be improved yet still keep the
entertaining and viewers high. Thus far the conversation is that there are definitely lines that have been crossed in
reality TV. There is nothing that TV producers have done to fix the ethical issues with the reality TV show because of
the amount of people that watch the shows. In adding to the conversation I decided it would be best if I came up with
a type of convention that stressed the ethical and moral issues of reality TV in order to better relate the shows to
actual real life. Dance Moms is a reality show that strongly correlates with this convention because it is a dance show
that millions of dancers take time to watch. Dancers focus on this show because they want to be like the girls that are
featured on the show. With this convention there will be ways in which the girls that are on the reality series Dance
Moms will learn how to be themselves on the show rather than acting out to get attention. This issue matters because
there is no one now that is stressing how much influence the actors on reality TV have on the public eye. It is easy for
producers to get carried away with the excitement of what drama is going on rather than if it is ethical or not. Whether
it is ethical or not plays an important role in the number of viewers a show gets and the number is what the producers
looks for. This is why my adding to the conversation is very important because the producers need to realize there is
boundaries they need to have when planning the reality TV series. When thinking about how a reality show
influences the outside audience, there should always be a good impact rather than one that will change the minds of
the viewers. There are many things in Dance Moms that the audience sees that should not be there. The racial slurs
that have been used to describe one of the dancers is neither ethically or morally correct so there needs to be some
regulation when the script is made. Another issue that could be fixed by having this convention that I added to the
conversation is that there is no reason to script a reality show. As an audience member they want to know that what is
being said is actually what the actor is feeling at the time, rather than something that the producer wants the actor to
say in order to create drama in the next scene. There are many ways that this topic can be researched and added on
more. Such as what are the ethical principles that the producers should focus on when filming a reality TV show? Or
another question that could be asked is how do you think you could incorporate entertainment without offending the
viewers of the show?

Morgan McGinn

"'Dance Moms' Star Abby Lee Miller Gets Feisty Before Court Appearance." YouTube.
YouTube. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.
"Viewer Beware: Watching Reality TV Can Impact Real-Life Behavior." NPR. NPR. Web. 20
Oct. 2015.
Institute, Luna. "Where Does Dance Live in Our Society?" The Huffington Post.
TheHuffingtonPost.com. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.
"Scholarly Commons." Electronic Doctoral Dissertations. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.
http://repository.upenn.edu/dissertations/AAI3246216/
"A Rational Conversation: 2014 Through The Eyes Of A Choreographer." NPR. NPR. Web. 20
Oct. 2015. http://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2014/12/23/371942258/a-rationalconversation-2014-through-the-eyes-of-a-choreographer
"Intervening in the Media's Influence on Stereotypes of Race and Ethnicity: The Role of Media
Literacy Education." Wiley Online Library. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.
<http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/josi.12103/full>.
Assignment one, Morgan McGinn

Morgan McGinn

"Reality TV Turning Young Girls Into Fame Monsters?" NPR. NPR. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.npr.org/2011/10/19/141508287/reality-tv-turning-young-girls-into-famemonsters>.