3.Reality TV: a dearth of talent and the death of morality

Salman Rushdie

Salman Rushdie censures Reality shows on his article. "I do remember the American Survivor contestant who managed to fry his own hand so that the skin peeled away until his fingers looked like burst sausages,but that's because he got on the main evening news." he said.By saying this he means that although this behaviour was not normal,it makes the contestant famous and the spotlight. So he highlights it is an easy thing to become the spotlight,it is enough to take attention,that's all this will make you famous for a few time. He also mentions reality shows are successful because they tell us things about ourselves in other words they share same properties of our lives. So it's like a mirror. It provides us to see other people's problems,loves,cheers,laughs,tears. He thinks people are really interested in reality shows maybe because "they are the most boring and normal way of becoming famous" .Thus, these shows adds our lives dullness. We are getting use to watch people when they are just sleeping,laughing,kissing,maybe when they are actually doing nothing. Do you think this adds our lives anything? I don't think so. I think it is just waste of time.If you want to become famous and rich you don't need to have a talent, just a camera and self-acting is sufficient.(eg:Big Brother) I suppose, the most interesting part of this article is Salman's ideas about future of the reality shows. He doesn't see it's future bright and thinks it will contain much more absurdity in it by the following years. For example,"the witnesses at an execution(Oklahoma bomber's execution) watch through a glass window is also a kind of reality show" he mentions and by this he tries to show the future of such programmes, which are full of voyeurism. So the reality show producers actually don't know what to do. To get more detail about Oklahoma bomber's execution watch, click here.