Arrested emotions in reality television

Abstract

“Arrested emotions” references the capitalist firm’s conscious mobilization of prosumers’ emotions and their associated expressions as amenable input for production within corporate confines. We draw on reality TV – The Bachelor and Extreme Makeover (Home Edition) – to suggest the centrality of emotional recruitment in the contemporary economy. Reality TV is driven almost entirely by the work of audiences and those in their ranks who are recruited (or volunteer) to become performers. Our observations lead us to conclude that the corporate arrest of emotions leads to a level of consumer emotional vapidity that is inextricably fused with firm profitability. The firm therefore allows the consumer ample leverage in offering these emotions that are mobilized, packaged and sold back to the consumer.

Keywords:

• reality TV
• emotions
• social factory
• television
• prosumer
• prosumption
• immaterial labor
• co‐production
• co‐creation

Notes

1. News Anchors are hired, fired and remunerated based less on their comprehension of the issues but more on how much advertising revenue they can generate for the network. This is based on how effectively they attract and forge connections with viewers. Indeed, one of the highest paid of the current crop – on a reported $15‐million‐a‐year salary – is Katie Couric of CBS, which, in the words of CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves, has redesigned its evening newscast to “showcase Ms. Couric’s sparkling personality, with the hope of attracting women and younger viewers” (Stanley 2007).