Forming the Self
Self-Representation and Reality TV Form
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7178089 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Yael Levy (0000-0002-8452-0710, Tel Aviv University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 26 |
| Issue | 7 |
| Pages | 747-763 |
| Publication date | 2025-02-21 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Television & New Media (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1527-4764 • E-ISSN: 1552-8316 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/15274764251320074 |
| OpenAlex | W4407859586 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 11 |
This article examines the ways in which reality television form and textuality offer openings for participants’ self-representation, regardless of how they are initially characterized by edited dialogue and performance. The tension between production interests, commercial interests, and the self-reflexive desires of participants positions the reality participant in constant negotiation between narrative and performance, agency and commodification. Nevertheless, as this article seeks to establish, the genre’s formal conventions—focusing on the confessional, the reunion, and format rules—allow for textual creases through which participants’ selves gain agency. Examining shows such as The Circle , The Real Housewives , Love Is Blind , Temptation Island , Are You the One? , and Sister Wives , the analyses show how reality TV form, despite being highly produced and controlled, may nonetheless facilitate participants’ reflexive, even resistant self-representation
Advertising · Aesthetics · Art · Business · Media studies · Multimedia · Political science · Politics · Reality television · Reality tv · Representation (politics · Self representation · Sociology · Cinema and Media Studies · Computer Science · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Media Studies and Communication
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |