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Introduction

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Reality TV and Queer Identities

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Abstract

This chapter sets out the thematic and theoretical groundwork for the study that follows. Lovelock outlines what reality TV is and where it came from, the knotty debates around politics, taste and the ‘real’ that are bound up with analysing queer visibility in reality TV, and the different reality sub-forms this book will engage with: intimate strangers shows, makeover shows, talent shows and docusoaps. In addition, Lovelock explains the book’s theoretical approach to queer identities and media representation, influenced by queer and post-structuralist conceptions of these identities as performative, discursive and culturally constructed. Finally, this chapter sets out and explains the national focus and time-frame of the study, and finishes with a summary of each chapter.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_reality_television_programs_with_LGBT_cast_members

  2. 2.

    https://www.glaad.org/mediaawards/selection

  3. 3.

    http://www.newnownext.com/the-50-most-memorable-lgbt-reality-tv-stars-of-all-time/06/2015/

    http://www.etonline.com/tv/190508_13_lgbt_reality_series_that_changed_queer_life/

    https://www.advocate.com/television/2017/6/30/25-reality-shows-made-lgbt-history#slide-0

    https://www.advocate.com/television/2018/1/30/42-lgbt-people-who-made-reality-tv-history

  4. 4.

    For expanded discussions of the ‘birth’ of reality TV see Kilborn (2003), Holmes and Jermyn (2004) and Kavka (2012).

  5. 5.

    For an expanded discussion of the relationship between early and contemporary docusoaps see Biressi and Nunn (2014).

  6. 6.

    This characterisation is also at odds with audience research on reality TV audiences, which has shown viewers to be very aware of mediation techniques used in the construction of reality texts (cf. Jones 2003; Hill 2004; Skeggs and Wood 2012).

  7. 7.

    See, for example, Arthurs (2004) and Davis (2007).

  8. 8.

    See, for example, Battles and Hilton-Morrow (2002).

  9. 9.

    See, for example, Akass and McCabe (2006) and Heller (2013).

  10. 10.

    See, for example, early collections of essays published in the journals Feminist Media Studies (Volume 4, Number 2: 2004) and GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies (Volume 11, Number 1: 2005).

  11. 11.

    I must also acknowledge, however, that some queer studies scholars have used the term ‘queer’ to refer to forms of life which escape categorisation within legible taxonomies of sexuality and gender altogether. As such, for some, the LGBT spectrum, as a culturally constructed system of identity classification, and the concept of queerness exist in opposition to one another. Paradigmatic of this critical position is Lee Edelman’s (2004: 17) contention that ‘Queerness can never define an identity, it can only disturb one.’

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

    Michael Lovelock

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  1. Michael Lovelock
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Lovelock, M. (2019). Introduction. In: Reality TV and Queer Identities. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14215-5_1

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