Documentaries, Reality TV Class Starts Thursday

October 2, 2006 (Laramie, WY) -- UW Outreach School, Office of Community Enrichment Programs is offering “Documentaries, Reality TV and Other Moving Images – What is Really Real?” as a new class in the fall lineup, beginning on Thursday.

This new course will clearly critique reality TV and establish what portion of movies “based on real events or facts” is accurate. The class will also discuss how reality TV is different from documentaries. Additionally, it will offer both serious and light-hearted examination of the idea of capturing reality via the moving image.

Mike McElreath, 20-year University of Wyoming Director for Outreach Technology Services, as well as adjunct faculty for the Communications and Journalism department, will be teaching the class.

“I’ve been interested in the impact of “reality TV” since 1992 and its impact on the documentary genre,” said McElreath. “Reality programs such as “Cops” look, feel, and smell like documentaries. But are they? How are such programs influencing perceptions by audiences of “real” or “truthful” depictions of events? If you toss in concepts of propaganda, then the topic becomes complex and challenging.

“Beyond these questions, there are the questions of popular culture (TV programming included) and how reality programming is reflecting, perhaps changing the social, cultural, and political values of America? Why are we such a voyeuristic society? Why are we so interested in watching others (everyday people like ourselves) in so-called “real” situations? Where is the technology of tiny cameras leading us?”

For more information on the class, contact UW Community Enrichment Programs at (307) 766-6802 or visit http://outreach.uwyo.edu/enrichment/specialinterest.asp.

###

Back to CSE News Page
Back to CSE Main Page

For more information, please contact
Sheila Atwood-Couture at
(307) 766-5641 or satwood@uwyo.edu.

Documentaries, Reality TV Class Starts Thursday

Quick Links

Outreach School