What is Realism, Really?

Reading Summary: 

This chapter dives into the different variables that contribute to realism within the media ranging from presidential speeches to television programs. The chapter aims to explain that realism is complex and can not be simply defined in a few sentences or less. John Caugie argues there are two ‘looks,’ which are the documentary look and the dramatic look. He also acknowledges that in both of these cases it is difficult to fully capture events without distorting the real account of events. For example, explaining historical events that take place over the years is condensed to documentaries barley over an hour. He then proceeds to explain apparent spontaneity and its importance to realism. Apparent spontaneity ranges from lighting to camera work. This chapter mentions that some filmmakers actually prefer improvisation because they like for their work to be more ‘realistic’ and thus more spontaneous.

Personal Example:

I personally thought of the office immediately when thinking of realistic programs that I connect with. The office is appealing to many people for its ability to show a human’s day in a very realistic manner. They accomplish this by trying to capture every event of the office in the time frame that the event would truly occur in. It shows both the pros and cons of having a job in a small office as well as in corporates their personal lives and problems and how it relates to the office life. Although this is very realistic, it is done so purposefully and that becomes more apparent while reading what can make something seem more realistic.

Connection:

I connected this chapter to the office and its ability to adopt more realistic settings like the lighting, volume, camera transitions, and dialogue. Everything in the media is heavy calculated by those filming and or releasing projects. However, this can also have an impact on the audience. Some prefer the more realistic programs and connect that to more realistic settings where lines are not scripted and less is tampered with. However, others see it as an escape from reality and use less realistic programs as an outlet from reality. Either way, how realistic something is always taken into consideration on the producing end as well as the viewers’ end. I connected it to this chapter for that exact reason. I prefer shows like The Office because I find it more authentic even if that authenticity is calculated by scriptwriters and filmmakers. I realized this is not something I often analyze.