Emotainment

The term ‘Emotainment’ stands for Emotional Entertainment. It was coined by Robert J. Vizza in his 2008 book, The Age of Emotainment: How The Media Industry Is Manipulating Our Emotions for Profits. He defined emotainment as ‘the use of emotion to entertain, manipulate, and control.’ He stated that the media industry increasingly uses emotainment to sell goods, services and political agendas.

The media is aware that emotainment is a powerful tool and they take advantage of this, sometimes, for harmful purposes. There are three major ways they achieve this which include reality television, advertising, and social media. Let’s take a look at how reality shows employ emotainment.

How Reality TV Shows Manipulate and Control Viewers

Personally, I believe there is nothing real about reality shows. These are pre-recorded and edited shows which are portrayed as reality shows. However, they are popular because they offer a voyeuristic glimpse into the lives of others while intentionally eliciting emotional reactions from the viewers. I was a guest somewhere some time ago and I watched some episodes of Love Island with my host. I am not a fan of such shows and I am not judging those who enjoy watching them but I noticed the following techniques.

Drama and conflict. Reality shows thrive on drama and conflict because that is how emotional entertainment works. That is how they keep viewers hooked on the show. For example, I was very surprised that each time my host needed to go to the bathroom, he would pause the show not minding that I was there and was also watching the show. I was rather amused than offended because while he was addicted to the show, I didn’t enjoy watching it. All the arguments, cussing, breaking up and making up (as well as making out) among the contestants keep viewers coming back for more.

Music and editing are used for creating emotional cues. Like I said earlier, these are pre-recorded and edited shows. So the producers know the right music to use for the right scenes. For example, they use sad music to make viewers feel sad and use upbeat music to make them feel excited. This is emotional control and viewers do not even know it. Their feelings are subtly and subconsciously manipulated and they can’t resist it.

The characters are usually designed to be relatable to viewers. Reality shows do not feature just anyone. They make the actors display all manner of behaviours so that every viewer must have one or two actors they like and others they hate. You have the nice and sweet, the sassy and loud, the quarrelsome and nasty, the flirty and romantic (I’m not sure but I think there may be some script they must follow to be who they were meant to be on the show). It’s all about coercing viewers to either like or hate their characters just to keep them hooked to the show.

Negative Effects of Emotainment on Viewers

Too much exposure to the drama and conflict in reality shows can cause increased stress and anxiety. It is ironic when people say that they want to watch some TV to relax and they tune in to reality shows. In the example I gave above about watching Love Island, my host was upset throughout the show. Why? His favourite guy in the show hooked up with the girl he didn’t like. My host was screaming at the TV, protesting against the actor’s choice. I found it funny and a waste of energy but that is what emotainment does to addicted viewers; unnecessary stress and anxiety.

Body image and attractiveness. Reality shows feature people who are considered to be attractive. That is why most of the actors go through all manner of surgeries to maintain a certain look like no wrinkles, flat tummies, bigger boobs, fake lips, fake bums and so on. Viewers, especially young women, tend to copy these actors because they have been brainwashed to believe that they must look like the actors to be accepted as beautiful. But we cannot have the same body shape and features because we all come from different backgrounds with different genes.

Unrealistic expectations of love, dating and marriage. Reality shows portray so much drama and conflict in relationships and some viewers think that is how it should be in real life. How they break up at the drop of a hat and hook up with someone else by the next episode, is not healthy. They get married in season one and in season three they are divorced and already going out with someone else, that is just crazy. But they don’t care because it is all about the rating and the profit at the end of the day. Now why won’t the vulnerable viewers who idolise these actors think that it is the right way of living?

Conclusion

Emotional Entertainment is a powerful tool used by the media to achieve their set goal whether good or bad. Reality Television is one of the ways they carry out emotainment and it has come to stay. It is left for viewers to protect themselves from the harmful effects of these shows.

Once you understand that these are techniques for manipulating viewers, you can resist the effect by limiting your exposure to reality shows. This is because the more you watch, the more you get hooked and addicted to them for more.

Also, do not focus on the lives of actors on reality shows or use their relationship behaviours as a yardstick for your relationship. Focus on your life and relationship. Take it seriously because you are dealing with someone else’s feelings and emotions. It is not some game. It is the reality.