Forming the Self: Self-Representation and Reality TV Form

Abstract

This article examines the ways in which reality television form and textuality offer openings for participants’ self-representation, regardless of how they are initially characterized by edited dialogue and performance. The tension between production interests, commercial interests, and the self-reflexive desires of participants positions the reality participant in constant negotiation between narrative and performance, agency and commodification. Nevertheless, as this article seeks to establish, the genre’s formal conventions—focusing on the confessional, the reunion, and format rules—allow for textual creases through which participants’ selves gain agency. Examining shows such as The Circle, The Real Housewives, Love Is Blind, Temptation Island, Are You the One?, and Sister Wives, the analyses show how reality TV form, despite being highly produced and controlled, may nonetheless facilitate participants’ reflexive, even resistant self-representation.