A cut and paste identity : an investigation of reality TV's role in postmodern identity construction with special reference to ordinary people as celebrities

This study aimed to examine the construction of the identity of the participants within the reality TV programmes (Style Her Famous, My Celebrity Home and How Do I Look) as well as examined the representation of that identity as reflected in the change in participants from the beginning to the end of the program. Drawing on literature from fields such as postmodernism and its influence on culture, identity constructions and ordinary people as celebrities, an analysis of the three American reality TV shows Style Her Famous, My Celebrity Home and How Do I Look was conducted. An indepth content analysis with specific reference to comparative analysis further aided this study. A total of 18 episodes (six episodes for each programme) were collected and thoroughly analyzed where the ‘cut and paste identity’ of ordinary people as ‘celebrities’ constituted the hermeneutical key of the study. The episodes and programs have been scrutinized and have been systematically classified to enable an analysis of the observations. This study attempted to not only describe, but also to foster change in the representation of the identity of the participants of the above mentioned reality TV programmes. The study found that reality television plays a role in shaping the postmodern identity of ordinary people as celebrities. The study also found that the participants involved in the above mentioned programmes found it easy to make someone else’s identity their own. It appeared that the postmodern mind is easily influenced and willing to adopt an identity especially that of a celebrity. The participants involved in these programs claimed this identity as their own and then believed that the new identity was in fact who they ‘really are’ but in actual fact it is a beginning of a new sameness with somebody else. Hence the participants possessed a ‘cut and paste identity.