Blog Post #2

Reading Summary:

In “What is Realism, Really,” Smith describes the concept of realism and how it sounds simple, but is actually deceivingly complicated. The author begins the chapter by debating the notion that realism is a simple term. Although many view realism by comparing real life to film and television, Smith instead argues that we should view realism as the ways in which the media makers utilize techniques in order to try to make their media appear more realistic to the audience. Smith acknowledges that it is extremely difficult to achieve realism, especially when trying to turn a real event that happened over a long period of time into a short film. On the same note, Smith believes that realism varies in different scenes and moments of films and shouldn’t be viewed with an “All or None” approach. Techniques such as the “dramatic look” and the “documentary look” of film are utilized by media makers to try to showcase realism in their media. Also, Smith discusses how media makers use spontaneity in their films to mirror the inconsistent real world filled with unexpected events. 

Outside Example:

One of my favorite shows of all time is the 24 series starring Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer. I remember watching this show during a long drive from the L.A. area to my hometown in Northern California. Throughout the trip I was able to get almost halfway through the first season. Most of the time when I go on a long drive like that I am eager to get out of the car when we arrive back home. But in this case, I was so hooked on the series that I stayed in the car for an additional 3 episodes (This was when I was using CDs and the little TV in the car, so I couldn’t just take my phone with me and keep watching the show inside). The show features a clock that ticks in real time and each season is based on a 24 hour clock. Essentially, each episode is an hour and the season conveys one whole day. The day is action packed and Jack Bauer often describes it as the “craziest day of his life” throughout the show. 

Connection:

I see the running clock as a technique to make the TV show appear more realistic. However, I think it strays from realism when you think about all the crazy things that happen to him in one day and just how unrealistic it would be for that to occur in real life. It makes me think about a class discussion we had about how 98% of our life is boring and wouldn’t be worth watching in the form of entertainment. For example, no one would care to watch us sitting on a couch watching a movie. However, 2% of our life is the really exciting stuff and that’s what the media focuses on. The only issue with this is that it seems kind of unrealistic to have entire shows and seasons based only on the 2%. As Smith discussed in this chapter, even with all these techniques, it is still very difficult for TV shows and movies to incorporate realism in their media, especially considering how keen audiences are to detecting when a show feels unrealistic and inauthentic.