Reality and Documentary TV

(4 Credits)

This course surveys the historical development and shifting definitions of documentary and reality television. We explore the ways in which television has understood and utilized non-fiction formats at specific historical moments; trace the formations and deployment of realist aesthetics; explore the ethical obligations/problematics of these forms and their practitioners; understand the impacts on and relationship to both their participants and viewers; examine the implications and meanings of documentary/reality hybrids; and consider the reception of and cultural meanings derived from particular documentary and reality texts and subgenres.