Title: "This Is Reality. Right Now, Right Here. So Be Real" Reality Television and the Amish "Other"
Abstract: Traditionally, term carries with it connotations of academic. However, recent work in visual ethnography has expanded genre beyond confines of simply observing and documenting to include texts that blur boundaries between observer/ observed and education/entertainment. Mary Louis Pratt describes texts as means by which Europeans represent to themselves their (usually subjugated) others (1992:7). Sharon R. Sherman goes one step further and explains; the emphasis of filmmakers has been and is to record different cultures in an attempt to discover something of their own, thus foregrounding conscious or unconscious self-directed intention of observer (1998:32). Sherman's term ethnodocumentary is reserved for those filmic texts whose filmmakers intend to use them either to portray customs and traditions of cultural other for purpose of elucidating anthropological research or to construct visual ethnographies (1998:33). The diversity of genre is further delineated with Denise O'Malley's phrase ethnographic docudrama, which identifies those visual texts that fictionalize actual events and cultural groups-such as Ridley Scott's film BlackhawkDown (2001).1 What has yet to be explored, however, is intersection of ethnography (specifically a folk-centered ethnography) and a popular cultural text, such as television. If, as Sherman points out, for mass culture to have appeal, it turns to folklore (1998:259), a key question to consider is, what types of socio-cultural representations does collusion of these two seemingly discordant discourses (reality TV and a folk-centered ethnography) create? This paper will explore UPN television show Amish in City, which aired during summer of 2004, and its treatment of Amish and their initiation folk custom rumspringa, a period of experimentation for young Amish men and women when they leave strict world of their Amish community in order to live among nonAmish. Devil's Playground (2002), HBO documentary that preceded and in ways inspired Amish in City, will serve as an important contrast for television series, since generally, a subject's depiction will vary depending on genre or medium (in this case, television or independent film) through which it is represented. Stephen Cantor and Daniel Laikand produced Devil's Playground and were executive producers for Amish in City. Devil's Playground follows a traditional documentary format; director Lucy Walker presents a number of on-location interviews gathered during years she and her crew filmed select Amish youth. Amish in City, however, covers a much shorter time frame that is more typical of TV productions. Though both texts are concerned with documenting rumspnnga, a Pennsylvania Dutch term loosely translated as running around, TV version is far more overtly constructed and mediated. Considering genre's tight filming schedule (Amish in City, for example, takes place over two months), setting as well as events (or dramas) that transpire must be carefully controlled and directed. Set in Los Angeles, Amish in City depicts eleven young men and women, five of whom are Amish and six of whom are not, as they cope with living together in same house for nine weeks over summer of 2004. At issue is representation of Amish as a folk group and transformation ethno-interaction (the deliberate clash between two groups) undergoes when treated under mainstream precepts of TV.Jon KiOlI, one of producers for Amish in City, explains, reality shows at their best can be documentaries for masses (2004). Kroll's statement rests on idea that television is considered more egalitarian than other audio-visual media because it reaches many viewers from many different strata of society in personal sphere of their homes. …
Publication Year: 2005
Publication Date: 2005-07-01
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 5
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