Conservatism and Reality TV

After talking about the rise of reality TV in class today, I was intrigued by the connection between the rise of the trend and conservatism. I know some about how we perceive conservatism different here than they do in the US. Still, on principle it seems to me that they are two irreconcilable concepts and the situation in Turkey proves it. Here, with the rise of conservatism reality TV shows took a big hit. They either disappeared completely or completely changed form and tone. They went undercover, they went incognito. They are still reality shows that are up in everybody’s business but the way they are framed make them more socially acceptable. After all they still fulfill the primitive need for voyeurism.  For example, ‘’Yetenek Sizsiniz’’ has been a big hit for a good couple of years now. But it is ethically acceptable because people display a variety of ‘’skills’’ if you can call them that.

We used to have Big Brother. As it is in anywhere in the world, people would kiss in half visible corners, try to snuggle in bed together when lights go off and la di da… It would be headline news the next day! As conservatism became the trending view people started to question the ethical aspects of these shows from a religious point of view and voices were raised. Slowly the shows became extinct.  Now we straight up have match making programs that raise less eye brows- weirdly enough if you ask me.

Upon realizing this reverse relationship, we have here against what US has against the pond I did some readings and came across very interesting researches that show a strong link between voting tendencies and reality shows. One research done by Experian asserts that in the top 20 programs ‘’super-democrats’’ watch, only 3 of them are reality shows while the number goes up to 9 with conservatives.  This is usually tied to conservative tendency to compete and the ‘’American Dream’’ idea that promises success to hard workers.  This is why ‘’The Apprentice’’ and the ‘’Biggest Loser’’ makes the cut. And I think this is where the difference between US conservative consumer and Turkish conservative consumer; American conservatism is tightly related to economic ideology and has less to do with religion. But in Turkey, conservatism mostly stands for an ethical and religious concern.

 The neo-liberal conservatism in Turkey, in recent years expanded to more capitalist shores as well so we see some exceptions to the rule. The competitive spirit is on the rise and it is leaking into every aspect of life. The most bizarre example to this would be the Quran reciting competition TRT put up during Ramadan. This is a state funded show that combines religion and competition. How odd is that? Even though it was fanatically followed by a few, it also had some backlash from conservatives as well, so I guess Turkey isn’t fully transformed into a warped American capitalist religious craze just yet!