╨╧рб▒с>■  -/■   ,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                ье┴3 Ё┐Щjbjb^^ Ю&h<h<Щ      l▄▄▄▄▄▄▄HHHHH T Hя$llllllllмоооооо, 3 ╢┌▄lllll┌м▄▄lllмммl▄l▄lммЁ,,▄▄▄▄lмм╠мx▄▄x` ╜-F┴HHК"xx4яяxщ мщ xм├хLeigh H. Edwards, Florida State University (ledwards@english.fsu.edu) Response for FLOW Conference Panel #23: Reality TV, Governmentality, and Citizenship Many forms of reality programming quite problematically norm the idea of neoliberal privatization as desirable and as a model of good, participatory citizenship, as media studies critics (many on this panel) have begun detailing. Often this norming of neoliberalism appears as part of discourses of self-improvement, which promote rhetorics of individual responsibility and choice (Laurie Ouellette 2004). If reality TV helps discipline subjects because it encourages them along paths of self-improvement, it does so by mobilizing some specific genre features. Critics have pointed out how the genre generates cheaper content by getting viewers to put themselves on TV, what Graeme Burton has called "the growing use of viewers to entertain viewers" (Burton 2000: 159). On the question of this impetus towards self-disclosure as a means of self-improvement, Mark Andrejevic has convincingly argued that reality programming harnesses the supposed democratic potential of interactivity in the service of mass customization marketing and, more broadly, commercial and state surveillance (2004). The self-improvement discourse also depends on promoting the idea that audiences can find opportunities for social learning and moments of emotional realism in the genre (dynamics Annette Hill has found in her audience study to be prevalent among viewers). In discussing this trend in which shows norm neoliberal citizenship, I am interested in analyzing how rhetorics of self improvement become linked to other sites of social reproduction. In my view, discourses of the family are a key space where rhetorics of the self and the state often come together in the reality genre. Wood and Skeggs have argued that the genre's focus on self-making as self-regulation, as part of the biographical project of the reflexive self social theorists such as Beck and Giddens have identified, does not move subjects beyond traditional structures of social reproduction like the state or the patriarchal family (Wood and Skeggs 2004). I'm interested in interrogating this issue. On many reality shows that focus on the family, we can see how the state intervenes in legislating family forms (such as regulating who has access to the rights and economic privileges the state grants through marriage), but we can also see, simultaneously, elements that encourage the private monitoring of families. Relevant examples would include corporate philanthropy mixed with individual volunteerism, or "expert" judgment of families as models for the moral judgments audiences are implicitly encouraged to engage in themselves. These dynamics are particularly evident in the home and family makeover subgenre, specifically the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition franchise and its imitator, Renovate My Family. These programs picture teams of experts who evaluate family life, advising participants and home viewers alike in family values as they anxiously gauge new household forms. On both series, it is families that depart from the older modern nuclear norm that need assistance (whether single parent, blended, impoverished, or orphaned households). In an update of nineteenth century domestic science rhetoric, their ideological tie between a rationalized home and a healthy family reveals further blurring of the traditional public/private split. Instead of advocating government aid in the form of low-income housing or social welfare safety nets, these series perform a kind of neoliberal privatization and outsourcing, which speaks to a diminishing public sphere. Through the largesse of their corporate advertisers, these programs will provide needy families with domestic palaces and consumer goods that will effortlessly heal any family troubles. In the case of Renovate My Family, the program uses pop psychology (and the kind of therapeutic address Mimi White reads as saturating television in general) to counsel families on problems like alcoholism, threats of divorce, or withdrawn children. It is no surprise that the host is Jay McGraw, son of famous TV "life coach" Dr. Phil McGraw, who has successfully marketed a rhetoric of self-improvement, self-responsibility, and tough love. In this reality format, as critics have shown, the moment of "revealing" the new home is supposed to spark emotional realism in the family, the weeping moments of "authenticity" Hill has noted viewers look for in reality programs. It should also be no surprise that neoliberalism reaches new heights in Extreme Makeover when First Lady Laura Bush appears on one episode to laud their work and a series of other episodes sends the design team to hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast areas to provide assistance where the government has not. These genre trends seem to beg more critical attention and more discussion of productive methodologies for analyzing them. Andrejevic, Mark (2004). Reality TV: The Work of Being Watched. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. Burton, Graeme (2000). Talking Television: An Introduction to the Study of Television. London: Arnold. Hill, Annette (2005). Reality TV: Factual Entertainment and Television Audiences. London: Routledge. Ouellette, Laurie (2004). '"Take Responsibility for Yourself": Judge Judy and the Neoliberal Citizen,' in Reality TV: Remaking Television Culture, eds. Susan Murray and Laurie Ouellette, New York: NYU Press, 231-250. White, Mimi (1992). Tele-Advising: Therapeutic Discourse in American Television. Chapel Hill: UNC Press. Wood, Helen & Skeggs, Beverly (2004). 'Notes on Ethical Scenarios of Self on British Reality TV." Feminist Media Studies 4.2, 205-208. 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