Post class- 9/24

     Lyotard brought in the idea of realism and the gap that's left out. One quote that was highlighted dealt with the contrast between realism and reality, "Realism, whose only definition is that it intends to avoid the question of reality implicated in that of art, always stands somewhere between academicism and kitsch" (Lyotard 41). This goes with the fact that realism will trump the avant garde because of the desire for what's normal or known. That which is experimental is not guaranteed viewers.
     Look at movies for example. There's different genres, yet within each genre how many different formats are there? There's the intro, the climax, the love story, and the resolution, perhaps giving and taking some. Why do people continue to pay to go and see the same story with different characters? We like believing in fantasy, plain and simple.
      Not only do we like the lack of reality, but he claims there's no such thing and a realistic representation, only those which provoke nostalgia or mockery. An example of this is reality television. Yes, there may be real footage, people, places, and even drama, but there's a lot of editing that goes into the process of making just one episode.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYUL12fappM

    The Real World, a "reality" show where strangers are put into a house and filmed 24/7 for a few weeks. There may be no scripts but there was casting involved and there are situations which the producers have fabricated. Along with all of the outside influences, there's the fact that one episode is 30 minutes but includes days at a time. How is this still called "reality television"?
     Nothing we are seeing in the media is exactly as is. Everything is edited, photo shopped, biased, and or opinionated. Even the news is known for participating in destabilized referents, such as racial stereotyping. For example, there are statistics that deal with the comparison in news stories of black and white victims/ criminals and the difference in air-times. The media is behind the reasons for fantasies in realism.