From Spectacle to Reproduction: Prank TV Shows

Discourses produced by mass media are grounded on the reproduction of the concrete human experiences which are based on social relations and they are presented to the public, transforming into an object of spactacle through which spectators are alienated. This artificial communication between the mediatic discourse and community refers to The Society of the Spectacle of Guy Debord. Social values are hackneyed and transformed into the materials of the spectacle which humour the spectators on television, which is a area of the production of the society of the spectacle. In this context, a TV program named The First Date has been studied and 35 chapters (84 pranks) in this program analyzed with content analysis. As a result, it has been emerged that produced contents of the program are based on themes such as jealousy, traditional family relationships, sexism and blame. At the and of this process, it has also been emerged that, the produced contents correspond to Guy Debord’s The Society of the Spectacle