While reading Blogging as Social Action: A Genre Analysis by Carolyn R. Miller and Dawn Shepard, I was struck by the interconnectedness of blogs, reality television, and the concepts of public and private information. While referencing the Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky scandal that went public in January of ’98, as well as the death of Diana Princess of Whales in August of ’97, Miller and Shepard make note of a “cultural trend in the 1990’s, a weakening boundary between the public and the private and the expansion of celebrity culture to politics and beyond.” (p4).
I remember in 1994 at the age of 7, seeing my Nanny glued to the T.V. set. Along with tens of thousands of viewers across North America, they seemed hypnotized by the infamous televised O.J. Simpson murder trial. O.J. Simpson was a famous professional athlete, actor in the well-known ‘Top Gun’ movies, as well as a charismatic NFL sports broadcaster. He was a hero to the Nation and also on trial of the murders of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and waiter Ronald Lyle Goldman.
As Miller and Shepard put it, “American culture became obsessed with both making celebrities into regular people (as with Clinton) and making regular people into celebrities (as with Lewinsky)” (p.4). During the famous Ford Bronco chase seen here (34:57-35:31), cop cars, even helicopters following closely behind while documenting first hand the exact “obsessed” viewer that was referenced by Miller and Shepard. “This became televisions first reality show” as said here (2:56-3:00) by the narrator of Dateline.
Fast forward twenty years to the reality television era of today where Chris Jenner is more famous than ever. Jenner, who seen in the above mentioned Dateline story (00:04-00:09) multiple times discussing her relationships with the victim Nicole Brown Simpson (her best friend), the accused, and Jenner’s ex-husband, Robert Kardashian (lawyer of the accused). Today she can be seen with her family on the extremely popular reality show Keeping Up With The Kardashians.
So I find myself at the realization that O.J. Simpson did start the first reality T.V. show and potentially financed one of the most popular ones on air today. In another twenty years, will celebrities still be flirting with the line between public and private to capture an audience? And will that audience still be captivated?
Sources:
Dateline: The People vs. O.J. Simpson What The Jury Never Heard, published on Youtube by John Charmed 2 (July 4th,2014) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbKgEU8uqP0
Keeping Up With The Kardashians http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1086761