- Tags:: #📚Books , [[Reality TV]] - Author:: [[Danielle J. Lindermann]] (sociologist) - Liked:: #3/5 - Link:: [True Story (macmillan.com)](https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374720964/truestory) - Source date:: [[2022-02-15]] - Read date:: [[2022-06-25]] - Cover:: ![[cover_true_story.png|100]] ## Why did I want to read it? Because I am a huge fan of competition reality TV shows, particularly from the US, and even more particularly, [[Survivor]]. I've always thought that they allow you to study complex social dynamics (plus, they are very entertaining superproductions). This way, I will be able to point to this article everytime I have to justify why I love these shows. ## What did I get out of it? Validation! That I was right: > When it comes to Survivor, there's a reason the droves are still tuning in, decades later. Just as we can see ourselves and people we know in these characters, we can also see our own experiences in theirs. (...) **Reality competitions aren't simply a showcase for our everyday group dynamics; they can be a magnifying glass.** Shows like Survivor put people in front of a lens, limit their distractions (no TV, phones, internet, music, or even writing implements), and highlight their basic interactions. These shows isolate our small groups like slide specimens, allowing us to peer through the microscope and focus on their dynamics in a way we don't often get a chance to do (p. 81). >Season one [of Survivor] also reveals social dynamics particularly well because Richard Hatch, the winner, is a corporate communications consultant who is transparent about his strategy for the camera, if not for the other castaways, throughout the show. Richard showed early on that **one key to success on Survivor was the ability to gain mastery over these small groupings.** Just ask Max Dawson, the former communications professor who taught a course on the microdynamics of the show and then became a competitor himself.) **Survivor not only highlights these long-standing social forms but also allows us to see how shrewd players can benefit from them--on TV and in life** (p. 70) And then goes on a mini study of the different social groups that form over the game (dyads, triads...). Very geeky (and incredibly interesting) stuff. I think a lot about this idea that dyads are more stable in the context of [[Poliamory]]. But the book goes further to analyze reality TV over multiple dimensions (genre, race...) as a means to understand our cultural values: > Media researchers have long suggested that television reflects our values as a culture (p. 5). > Conflict relies on casting people who are dissimilar to one another, exposing the categories of difference that are patchworked into our society (p. 5). > scholars have long argued that we can learn about core features of society by looking at the extremes (p. 6) > And, illogically, for all of its extreme personalities and outlandish premises, reality TV reflects how regressive we truly are. It shows us how we tend to perceive our social world in linear and crystallized ways that reflect the persistent tug of history (p. 14).