I'd like to comment on something that I see a lot of: television. There are several new television shows (and some returning ones) that rib off the idea of a documentary, except its complete fiction. This is not reality TV, which stylistically is far, far away from any documentary work I've ever seen (Hidden cameras? Producers prodding drama? The first is spying, the second is interference...) No, Mockumentary Television has all the benefits of good documentary, like realism, and "interviews" and generally good editing, with the added twist that it is totally fake. You start to see Modern Family as a real family, neighbors, even though its all made up. My Generation could conceivably be real, except its not. The story lines are too neat, everyone is a little too clever, and houses are a bit too clean.
Which brings me to my second point: how "real" does documentary, or indeed television, need to be to qualify as "real"? Mockumentary shows such as Modern Family can provide an insightful look into the state of American families, and many documentaries, particularly historical ones, are recreations or reenactments of actual events. This is not a new occurrence, from the time of Ancient Greece theater was used to satirize or reflect the contemporary world in a way that people could criticize without cutting too close to the bone.
So then what purpose does "reality" TV serve? While on one hand, it could be seen as and experiment in "how low will humanity stoop", on the other, particularly when producers start egging on drama for better ratings, we have to ask what limit on realism should be set before labeling something as real. Because while we can all sit back and comfortably argue that no one believes those shows, or that no one would actually behave that way, there is a disproportionate number of people watching these shows, and perpetuating the madness.
Perhaps someone will one day do a documentary on reality television, and we can then watch people watching what is supposed to be what life is really like in Atlanta, or New Jersey, or as a Teen Mom. Of course, if we satirize it then perhaps the whole point will become clear.
