This is Reality.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000k94k

Over the twelve or so years we’ve been watching ourselves in reality TV progs like TOWIE, Made in Chelsea etc etc we’ve been learning, not just about life in Essex and Chelsea but how to perform in our own reality. This is Reality. The above radio series lays this progression out beautifully. Though the producers of these shows explain, ‘These are real people in real situations with real emotions’, the finished product is manufactured to a brief. This is Reality. But the emotions are real otherwise, “it would all just be very bad acting”. In these twelve years the mostly young audience have been drifting towards seeing life in these terms. Sure you might be “not from New York city you’re from Hunters Bar”, but the emotions are real, which they are, and emotions are universal, right. The rest is now accepted as pretty fake. This is Reality. So one is left watching a merry dance of entertaining emotions and one begins to accept that emotionally is ‘how life is led. This is Reality. Well yes it is for some people but most, under the slings and arrows of experience, gain a maturity that puts reality first. It’s a,‘If you don’t rule your emotions your emotions will rule you’ kind of thing. (they’re formed in the reptilian part of the brain) This performing emotively in your own reality is appropriate for soaps but it’s become so pervasive in America few American actors can play big roles requiring real character depth so they often turn to English actors. And if that’s the effect it has on actors ordinary people can’t be far behind. This is Reality. Sure it is but it’s a fake reality. With thanks to Donald Glover. This is Reality. Dope.