The New Narcissus in the Age of Reality Television

Megan Collins

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• Topic: Social Sciences
• eBook ISBN:
  9781315463476
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

This book explores the emergence and encouragement of the new narcissus in our society and the ways in which this is portrayed in reality television. Through studies of well-known reality shows, including Toddlers and Tiaras, Hoarders, Sister Wives, Catfish: The TV Show, Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew and The Real Housewives, the author examines the combined effects of narcissism and consumerism, shedding light on the ways in which people are pushed to focus on their own biographies and self-promotion to the point of creating a false self within the individual and the development of a sense of dissatisfaction, dis-ease and unhappiness.

Applying Freud's concept of narcissism and tracing it through the work of key social theorists including Durkheim, Lasch, Goffman, Riesman, Baudrillard and Giddens, The New Narcissus in the Age of Reality Television constitutes an insightful analysis of the modern ideology of greatness, perfection or 'being the best', that permeates society – an ideology that overwhelms and ultimately drives the individual to dissemble and project an artificial self. A compelling argument for the importance of understanding the persistence of a powerful and dangerous trait in modern society, this book will appeal to scholars of sociology, social theory and cultural and media studies with interests in reality television, celebrity culture and modern narcissism.

1 Introducing the new narcissus

A tale that seems to be as old as humanity itself, one with a moral warning for all: the tale of Narcissus. Early versions by Conon and Ovid speak of a beautiful young man who was very much aware of his exceptional appearance. As a result of his egoism, Narcissus left behind a trail of broken hearts. At some point, via a jilted lover, he is cursed to love only himself for all eternity. Narcissus, upon seeing his reflection in a pond or riverbank is so enamored with his reflection, with himself, that he cannot part from his gaze. Suicide by obsessing over one’s self. Obsessed with the reflection seen looking back at us.

… god-like

… …

He had a cruel heart, and hated all of them,

Till he conceived a love for his own form:

He wailed, seeing his face, delightful as a dream,

Within a spring; he wept for his beauty.

Then the boy shed his blood and gave it to the earth

… to bear.

(‘New light on the Narcissus myth’ n.d.)

The above quoted passage is believed to now be the oldest version of Narcissus’ tale, dating back to the middle of the first century BC. The translation is by W. B. Henry, who believes the author to be the poet Pathenius. Pathenius would later become the tutor of the renowned poet Virgil (Keys 2004).

Narcissus was ‘god-like’. Today, many people idolize individuals who achieve greatness: celebrities, movie stars, the wealthy, and the brilliant. Individuals, that to many appear as god-like. Reality television has provided individuals the opportunity to access the lives of celebrities and others. Pathenius’ story of Narcissus, believed to be the oldest version on record, describes Narcissus as having ‘a love for his own form’. Today over 2,000 years later, what would someone writing a moral story about our present humanity say?

This book will attempt to piece together different stories. Stories that paint a picture of a broader message about our social world and the messages individuals internalize. Reality television may answer deeper, more existential questions about how we define our sense of self and how we as individuals relate to the rest of society. There are many avenues of our social world that are drastically changing on a daily basis. The growth of social media and reality television alters the way we look at others and ourselves. Youth are found posing in front of bathroom mirrors, fixated upon their reflections, sharing these images with those around them seeking out attention and admiration. A new cultural narcissism is present in social media and reality television. This encouragement to be narcissistic is a growing concern for our youth and for the future of humanity. Few are discussing this matter and reality television is just one part of society that reflects the social changes that are encouraging narcissistic behavior. What may be most haunting in the discussion to follow, are that these reality television shows portray an alarming and consistent message about our social world. We are living in a society obsessed with greatness, of being the best and most admired. You may be asking yourself at this point, what is so concerning about an ideology of greatness and being the best? With a little patience, and more importantly your curiosity, I will attempt to unpack the deep consequences of the messages found within reality television, messages that reflect an alarming consequence of socialization: the new narcissus.

Media immersion and the self

How is it possible that our society is becoming narcissistic? Where did this begin and how did it develop? Television and the other media are fairly recent developments in our world. Prior to television the newspaper and then the radio seeped into our lives to inform our thoughts and ideas. The extent to which all of media affects the individual has been debated for decades. In the most basic understanding, all agree that media does effect the individual in some way, shape and form.

Individuals have long been concerned with their sense of self and defining who they are as a person. What is different about our sense of self today and how we are developing our identity is that the process is now a mediated experience. Television, radio, print, and film are engulfing our lives and we are submerged in this mediated world from the moment we are born. Today, births are recorded, photographed, posted on Facebook and tweeted. The growth of a child is tracked and photographed then posted for all the parent’s Facebook friends to follow. Does the child have a choice about their life being put on display? Reality television shifted from the periphery to primetime slots in the late 1990s. Social media followed closely behind, emerging in the 1990s and really blasting onto the scene in the early 2000s.

It is important to pause and reflect on the idea that the self is an ongoing, socially constructed process. As Peter Callero states:

[T]he social construction of selfhood is also about the meanings and understandings associated with the public self, the self that is visible and known to others and encompassed by what we come to accept within the cultural category of personhood.

(Callero 2003: 121)

Family, friends, religion and the media influence our identity and personality. Media is a reflection of our local communities and cultures providing insight into the unknown and unfamiliar. As reality television becomes an increasingly central aspect of our culture today it is important to understand the common themes and messages found within these programs and how those messages impact the formation of one’s identity.

Todd Gitlin’s (2001) work Media Unlimited: How the Torrent of Images and Sounds Overwhelms Our Lives, delivers insight into how the growth of media saturation in the United States is affecting the individual. ‘The United States is the world capital of tinsel and celebrity, the homeland for the manufacture of images and soundtracks in unprecedented numbers and at unprecedented velocity’ (9). Gitlin, who was a student of David Riesman, argues that we are now living our lives in the presence of the media. This research supports Gitlin’s argument that an individual’s constant connection and immersion in media (radio, television, film and Internet) is beginning to alter the formation and maintenance of the self. ‘Media are occasions for experiences – experiences that are themselves the main products, the main transactions, the main “effects” of media. This is the big story; the rest is details’ (2001: 10). Constant contact with the media provides the individual with opportunities to feel or experience feeling. Think about the last time you were moved by a sad movie or when you laughed until you cried at your favorite comedy. The media provides opportunities to feel. Gitlin argues that the increasing saturation of media in our lives leads to confusion as to what constitutes authentic, meaningful feeling.

We are on our way here into a society of nonstop popular culture that induces limited-liability feelings on demand – feelings that do not bind and sensations that feel like, and pass for, feelings. A society consecrated to self-interest ends up placing a premium on finding life interesting.

(41)

A society focused on finding life interesting doesn’t sound so bad; after all, a life of boredom lacks appeal too. This research hopes to point to how the increase of reality television may very well be portraying the negative effects of media saturation. Where does an individual find authentic, meaningful feeling: in their interactions with others or through the consumption of reality television? The answer is likely a bit of both. The more important question is: what do individuals consuming the messages of reality television internalize?

Life has become discontinuous and full of anxiety for the individual. Social institutions are disembedded, otherwise understood as the ‘lifting out of social situations from local contexts and their rearticulation across indefinite tracks of time-space’ (Giddens 1991: 18). For Anthony Giddens, media serves as an example of such an institution that causes time and space to be separated from one another, placing the viewer in a position where they are physically separated from what they are watching. Media is a ‘mediated experience’ according to Giddens, reliant on language to link time and space and to link viewers to the lives of those they are watching. Giddens is extremely concerned with the increase of mediated experience in modern times and how it affects the self. Media does not necessarily display or mirror reality but in a sense helps to form it. There has also been a vast increase in the number of options available to the viewer and Giddens explains that it becomes ‘a question of selecting between possible worlds’ (Giddens 1991: 29). With modernity comes increased specialization and disembedded social institutions separating time and space leading to an increased focus on individuality and concern with defining one’s sense of self.

Existential questions such as who am I and who shall I become, aid the individual in making the self a reflexive project. One becomes focused on constructing one’s own biography and defining who one is as a person. As a result, Giddens argues that the self becomes fragile, brittle, fractured and fragmented, anxious about the world and themselves. The ‘child learns about its body primarily in terms of its practical engagements with the object-world and with other people’ (Giddens 1991: 56). The important relation of the body and self is important for understanding how one may go about constructing one’s identity.

Giddens draws upon the work of Kierkegaard and Foucault arguing that the self is essentially separated from the body, causing it to act as if under remote control – an ironic description of this relationship considering we are looking at the effects of television on defining one’s sense of self. Questions of what to do, how to act and who to be, cause the individual to be completely wrapped up in shaping their own individuality. Emile Durkheim articulates that ‘[r]eflection […] has about it something personal and egoistic; for it is only possible as a person becomes detached from the outside world, and retreats from it into himself’ (1951: 279). An individual can reflect upon his or her actions and decisions in a healthy way. However, ‘[t]he moment the individual becomes so enamored of himself, inevitably he increasingly detaches himself from everything external and emphasizes the isolation in which he lives, to the point of worship’ (1951: 279). Angela McRobbie also discusses our current situation in what she refers to as ‘reflexive modernization’ where there is an ‘unhealthy degree of belief in the self’ (2001: 3). The self becomes a project to work on: being defined and then redefined as a result of social change.

Similarly, Erving Goffman discusses changes in the self in our modern world. Goffman argues that individuals are constantly performing depending upon the current situation they are involved in. For example, in a work environment we might perform differently than when on a first date with someone. Individuals ‘present a front for an organization as well as for themselves’ (Goffman 1959: 77). Presenting a front for an organization would look like behaving in a professional manner at a business lunch or putting on a face/personality that reflects that particular organization. Goffman indicates that this process of putting on a front is not only for the organization but also for the individuals themselves. What does it mean to present a front for your self? In today’s world we can present ourselves as we like via social media avenues such as Facebook.¹ I want people to see me as this type of person who likes certain types of people, food, activities, movies, products, etc. Does presenting ourselves in a certain way alter who we are as individuals? If on a daily basis we present ourselves one way when deep down inside we are a different person, at one point do we lose sight of our true selves?

Children are growing up in a mediated world. The influences from peers and the media help shape the child and help to define one’s sense of self.

Under these newer patterns the peer group becomes much more important to the child, while the parents make him feel guilty not so much about violation of inner standards as about failure to be popular or otherwise to manage his relations with these other children.

(Riesman et al. 1950: 37)

If children are expected to ‘fit in’ with their peers and be popular they will begin to look to others to aid in defining their sense of self. What am I supposed to like? How am I supposed to act? Cues are taken from one’s peers as to how to appropriately behave. Riesman refers to this shift of the individual as the other-directed person.

The other-directed person must be able to receive signals from far and near; the sources are many, the changes rapid. What can be internalized, then, is not a code of behavior but the elaborate equipment needed to attend to such messages and occasionally to participate in their circulation. As against guilt-shame controls, though of course these survive, one prime psychological lever of the other-directed person is a diffuse anxiety.

(Riesman et al. 1950: 334)

Durkheim argues that we need social interaction in order to understand our place in the world. To learn what the rules and expectations are and to help us feel connected to our community and society. What is different about our current culture is that the media is heavily influencing our sense of solidarity. Individuals are becoming anxious, like Riesman describes above, by constantly looking to others (and the media) for guidance. This results in a feeling of pressure for the modern individual, a pressure to stay up to date with trends and expectations. Constant. Endless. ‘While all people want and need to be liked by some of the people some of the time, it is only the modern other-directed types who make this their chief source of direction and chief area of sensitivity’ (Riesman et al. 1950: 38). Riesman rightly points to this change in an individual’s way of thinking. People today are more concerned about the perceptions of others, a concern that for many has morphed into an obsession.

Stjepan Mestrovic argues that as a result of these changes we are now living in a post-emotional society. A place where our emotions and feelings are artificially produced, packaged and sold by advertisers, corporations and governments. ‘A new hybrid of intellectualized, mechanical, mass-produced emotions has appeared on the world scene’ (1997: 26). Mestrovic argues that Americans’ emotional lives are being manipulated on a highly organized scale to the point where freedom and choice is seen as a staple of our lives when in fact we are free to choose very little.

The contemporary consumer is not just a mass society automation, as Adorno claimed, but an agent convinced that he or she possesses some degree of freedom to choose group identities, and this belief makes the agent a target of manipulation by corporations who pitch advertisements in relation to specific subgroup versions of emotional reality.

(Mestrovic 1997: 81)

An emotional reality. Has our constant connection with emotions that are artificially constructed by advertisers and marketing experts created a desire for real, authentic feeling? Has the individual lost sight of real, authentic feeling vs. artificial and false feelings? The growth of technology and increased media saturation can arguably affect one’s ability to understand authentic feeling. Where human interaction and community involvement once provided meaningfulness to an individual’s life we now see an increased television consumption coupled with the growth of reality television. Emotional reality and understanding the depth of authenticity within reality television will be a recurring theme within this research.

In The Perfect Crime, Jean Baudrillard delves deep into the world that is obsessed with appearances:

Doomed to our own image, our own identity, our own ‘look’, we become our own object of care, desire and suffering, we have grown indifferent to everything else. And secretly desperate at that indifference, and envious of every form of passion, originality and destiny.

(1996: 131)

Individuals care about other’s perceptions of themselves, resulting in our obsession with our own image. How we appear to others has become the focus for many, resulting in a craving for that which is truly original, passionate and real. Today, we can fake a certain persona in the hopes of being attractive to others. Attractive, not only in the romantic sense, but in the sense that you are a likeable, amiable person that others want to be around and even … be. We are now ‘unhappy consciousnesses extracting from this necrological mirror an identity which is itself wretched’ (1996: 137). Baudrillard argues we are extracting an identity from a dead mirror, an identity that should be sought by many. What does the identity look like in this necrological mirror? Reality television may provide an insight into this ideal persona, one that is desired by many and achieved by few. ‘Projecting ourselves into a fictive, random world for which there is no other motive than this violent abreaction to ourselves. Building ourselves a perfect virtual world so as to be able to opt out of a real one’ (1996: 37). Why would we choose to opt out of our real world? What is driving us to escape into reality television?

The process of adaptation in modernity

Modernity is no doubt absorbed by consumption and consumerism. ‘Modernity confronts the individual with a complex diversity of choices and, because it is non-foundational, at the same time offers little help as to which options should be selected’ (Giddens 1991: 80). As individuals we are bombarded with endless options and possibilities yet we have no choice but to choose. Our lifestyle choices not only define how to act but who to be and this is at the very core of self-identity. Baudrillard states ‘consumption from this Durkheimian perspective is seen not as enjoyment or pleasure, but rather as something which is institutionalized, forced upon us, a duty […] we must be trained, we must learn to consume’ (1998: 4). Learning to consume from a young age will be explored in Chapter 2 on the reality television show Toddlers and Tiaras. Others have discussed the importance of material objects and consumption patterns in defining one’s identity (Rose 1992; Rose 2002...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of figures
• Series editor’s preface
• 1. Introducing the new narcissus
• 2. Learning the importance of falseness: Toddlers and Tiaras
• 3. Consequence of believing the lie: Hoarders
• 4. The ease of falseness: Sister Wives
• 5. Avoiding reality: Catfish: The TV Show
• 6. Experts of falseness: Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew
• 7. The new narcissus goes global: The Real Housewives
• 8. Entranced by the new narcissus’ reflection gazing back at us
• Bibliography
• Index