Date: 14 Apr 96 14:17:21 PDT
From: Ryan.Schram-AT-directory.Reed.EDU (Ryan Schram)
Subject: Re: Reality Based Programming


Nate,

Sounds _very_ Baudrillardian...
How long have you been subscribed? Did you read this list's discussions on OJ
television coverage, MTV's _The Real World_? 

One thing I always thought was odd about COPS was that you can always tell how
a story is going to end (if they arrest/prosecute the guy or if they let him
go) by whether or not they blot out the offender's face. It suggests to me that
the nature of the documentary style constructs a simulated world which does not
try to be real, but presents events as if they displayed their ontologies as a
visual effect. (ie: face/no-face = innocent/guilty). Is this a hyperreal form
of cinema?

A question: You said:
"I would like to discuss ... how they are
good postmodern artifacts...."

What does it mean to be a "good postmodern artifact?  What's the significance,
IYHO, that these shows can be called "hyperreal."

Aloha nui loa and a hui hou,
Ryan