Reality TV: 80 Years of Propaganda

Описание: You’ve heard it before: “They just don’t make TV like they used to.” But what if the TV shows we're nostalgic for were more political than we remember?

In this longform video essay, we start with a surprising origin story: 1948’s Candid Camera, a show often remembered for harmless pranks but created with a very real political agenda. From there, we trace the evolution of reality TV, from its sparse early years to the explosive boom of the early 2000s. (Remember all that toxic Y2K humiliation culture? Yikes.)

We're going to look at two of the aughts’ biggest hits: 1) Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and 2) The Simple Life and analyze the messages about class and politics that these shows delivered to millions of households. If you grew up watching these, you might find yourself rethinking what they really taught us.

0:00 History of reality TV (Chapter 1)
07:30 What can we learn from Candid Camera (Chapter 2)
14:29 The surprising truth about *the surprising truth you learned about Extreme Makeover Home Edition (Chapter 3)
30:17 The Simple Life: What was the point (Chapter 4)
39:07 Outro & thank you (Chapter 5)

Tags: video essay, video essays, reality TV video essay, nostalgic video essay, early 2000s reality TV, The Simple Life, Extreme Makeover Home Edition, reality TV history, cultural analysis, post-9/11 television, 2000s nostalgia, media critique, longform video essay, pop culture analysis, Candid Camera, early reality shows, reality TV politics, political messaging in media, class and media, media history, TV nostalgia, aughts reality shows, critical nostalgia