Movis Media Group: Are we willing to pay the price for reality tv?

Society’s views on entertainment have dramatically changed in recent years as far as television programming. Reality tv shows have taken the lead and other shows trail behind, but women’s roles on these shows tend to show more catfights and yelling than anything else. According to Forbes, reality tv is negatively impacting the view of real women in the media compared to the women on reality tv . Although society is gravitating toward the drama of “real life,” what is the cost?

Recently I was flipping through and caught an episode of season 8 of the Bad Girls Club. I can’t say the loud and even over the top antics of the cast didn't grab my attention, but then I saw one girl that attended college with me. We had class together and she was nothing like she was acting out on the tv show. She was a fashion student and model that seemed to have it together. She was very quiet and seemed nice until I saw her jumping a girl on the Bad Girls Club for no reason other than being a bully. I had lost respect for her as a person, but after completing the show she has increased her following 100 percent and launching a much anticipated swimwear line. I guess being bad can pay off pretty good.

There are many cases beside this one that reality tv shows have made everyday people with little to no marketable skills overnight celebrities like “The Real Housewives of Atlanta,” “Jersey Shore,” and Keeping Up With the Kardasians.” These shows made these brands household names and continue to help develop these machines. At what point are the shows destroying the values of the film and production industry? How can reality tv be reality when it is edited? How far are we willing to exploit ourselves to be successful?

Although, some positive things have come from reality tv there are quite a few negative things that are damaging society, the value of hard work and developing a craft. This is a link to the Bad Girls Club Reunion Clip. These women cuss, fight and even spit; however, this is one of the highest rated original series to come from the Oxygen network. Some of the cast blame trash talking on social media networks for their added animosity. The reality of this situation is that they have to keep up the drama to stay relevant.
These antics have become so popular that teenagers have started taken videos committing violent acts and posting them to the web. This is a link to a Teen girl getting brutalized posted on WorldStarHipHop.com over a "Twitter beef." Being a bad girl in real life will get you jail time or worse, but that isn't publicized.

Most people don’t care about the cost of reality tv as long as they can take a check to the bank, but as industry professionals are we willing to pay that price to break into the industry? If we do take the reality tv route can we be taken seriously in our industry professions?