The Tube Has Spoken: Reality TV and History
Edited by Julie Anne Taddeo and Ken Dvorak
978-0-8131-2553-4 ? $40.00 cloth ? University Press of Kentucky
Featuring ordinary people, celebrities, game shows, hidden cameras, everyday
situations, and humorous or dramatic situations, reality TV is one of the
fastest growing and important popular culture trends of the past decade,
with roots reaching back to the days of radio. The Tube Has Spoken provides
an analysis of the growing phenomenon of reality TV, its evolution as a
genre, and how it has been shaped by cultural history. This collection of
essays looks at a wide spectrum of shows airing from the 1950s to the
present, addressing some of the most popular programs including Alan Funt¹s
Candid Camera, Big Brother, Wife Swap, Kid Nation, and The Biggest Loser. It
offers both a multidisciplinary approach and a cross-cultural perspective,
considering Australian, Canadian, British, and American programs. In
addition, the book explores how popular culture shapes modern western
values; for example, both An American Family and its British counterpart,
The Family, showcase the decline of the nuclear family in response to
materialistic pressures and the modern ethos of individualism.
This collection highlights how reality TV has altered the tastes and values
of audiences in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. It analyzes how
reality TV programs reflect the tensions between the individual
and the community, the transformative power of technology, the creation of
the celebrity, and the breakdown of public and private spheres.
Julie Anne Taddeo is visiting associate professor of history at the
University of Maryland and the author of Lytton Strachey and the Search for
Modern Sexual Identity.
Ken Dvorak is former president of the American Culture Association and an
editorial member of the Journal of Popular Culture, Journal of American
Culture, and Film & History: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Film &
Television Studies.
³The essential book on this ever-more-important topic, The Tube Has Spoken
offers a wide range of essays from the top names in the field, offering new
insights and a wealth of information on every page. A must-read for
students, professionals, and the general public, this fascinating volume
delights and surprises; it is the single best volume available on the topic
to date.²? Wheeler Winston Dixon,
Ryan Professor of Film Studies, University of NebraskaLincoln
