How Does Talent Show Influence Participants' Life? Find Answer in This Free Essay

A talent is a skill, aptitude, gift and expertise which are natural. People are naturally born with certain skills and talents. The talent is a characteristic in an individual which is not induced from anything but the person is endowed with it naturally (Huang and Wei 30). Natural talents include singing, playing music instruments, public speaking, writing, arts and photography among many others (Huang and Wei 29). People all over the world are not able to show cast their talents to the public easily, this gas been the reason behind the creation of talent shows and television shows for example American idol. A talent show is a competition whereby people come to showcase their talents and the best is remunerated with a reward and given financial assistance to developing the talent showcased in the show. Talent is characterized with judges who are experts in arts , music, and other talents, these judges examine the talents showcased and selects the best (Unkelbach, Christian, and Daniel 198). The questions that will be answered in this essay are whether these talents shows are good or bad and their side effects on participants.

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Reality shows have their good part and their dark side. The other side which is dark is marred with breakdown among participants and in extreme cases suicide (Unkelbach et al 197). Some of the participants in this show have been found to commit suicide after the show is finished. Reality shows showcase the talent of an individual to the world and at the same time opens up the life of the participant to the world. When someones life is opened to the world, the individual becomes very vulnerable (Shattuc andJane 40). In the event of scandals exposing the dark side of the participant, the shame accrued from this exposure in the reality shows is one factor contributing to suicidal thoughts (Domoff and Sarah 995). This is the reason why it a normal occurrence for celebrities in reality shows to commit suicide and indulge themselves in drugs as a result of the pressure participants have as a result of their life being in the limelight all the time (Domoff and Sarah 997). Participants with mental illness are more vulnerable, bipolar participants join this shows because of their quest to be famous and recognized. When such participants fail, they develop negative thoughts and their ego is badly bruised off. These situations lead to depression and other mental illnesses resulting from stress and withdrawal from other human beings (Tessitore, Tina, Mario Pandelaere and Anneleen Van Kerckhove 8). On the other hand, mentally stable participants are as well vulnerable due to the pressure from this shows and the eye of the public as well. The public is not always supportive and endearing to all participants, at times, the public is responsible for downgrading famous people in reality shows to villains (Tessitore et al . 6).

The interviews and screening done to participants during television shows are not enough to protect them from side effects resulting from this shows. More should be done to take care of them when the show is over and especially when they lose. One participant of American idol was found to have died as a result of drug overdose after being rejected harshly by the judges of this show during one of its auditions, this participant was so much devoted to her talent, and the flat rejection is one strong factor that contributed to the overdose of drugs by this participant (Tessitore et al. 6). Rejection is these shows have been found to interfere with the mental and psychological balance of participants in this shows. The interference contributes to mental illnesses which turn these participants to drug abuse and in the end succumb to these drugs. The televisions shows are very entertaining to the audience but a source of stress and mental torture to the participants (Markey, Charlotte and Patrick 209). The pressure to be at your best at all times and the high expectations bestowed on participants of this shows by the public often weigh the participants down. These shows have been known to break relationships of participants with their spouses and contribute to spouses killing themselves. Elimination of participants from reality shows during final auditions and interference with the family and love lives of the participants result to more stress and initiate suicidal thoughts in participants of these shows (Markey et al. 209).Some participants depend solely on the reality shows to support themselves and their families, in the event they are kicked out of the shows, their family life became stalled and is thrown in tantrums.

Studies have cited that reality shows have an effect on young growing children on how they view life (Markey et al. 209). Reality shows portray blond ladies with a slim figure and others with curves to be beautiful and appealing to the public. This has influenced young ladies to take pills in order to change the color of their skin and their body physique. The standards elicited by this shows have lured young ladies to look their ways to change their body shape and skin tone, in the course of these changes, these young ladies end up with distorted body shapes and skin complications (Damhoff and Sarah 997). Reality shows do not portray how things are in reality, this is clear to mature viewers but children cannot differentiate reality and what is portrayed in real life. Reality shows thus instill children with a distorted view of life. Teenagers during puberty are influenced by these shows to some extent to explore sex thus affect their behavior negatively. These shows portray the beauty of a lady is based on her outward and her physique, downplaying the personality and character traits. Beauty is directly linked to fame; this has encouraged women to go for plastic surgery to change their body physique. These surgeries in some cases resulted in bad figures and shapes which intern hurt the ego of participants resulting in suicide and depression (Unkelbach et al. 197). The Lives of participants in reality shows is at times highly sexualized and extravagant. This behavior shows the young generation that having fun includes excessive drinking and attending parties comprising of explicit sexual behaviorisms. The youth thus became vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases and diseases associated with excessive consumption of alcohol (Unkelbach et al. 198).

Materialism is one negative value of life propagated by reality shows, these shows show no regard for consequences resulting from excessive partying and drinking (Tessitore et al. 10). These shows do not teach elements of hard work and thus, the youth grows up with their priorities misguided. Some of these shows portray aggression and interpersonal drama as being trendy. The bad vices seen in these shows instill negative character to the young generation. Reality shows do not expound the importance of focus and intelligence in life to their viewers (Tessitore et al. 6). Lack of education on the importance of intelligence in reality shows often misguide participants and viewers on their view of success in life, the shows concentrate on fame, beauty, and talent. Concentrating on fame beauty and talent has resulted in mental illness among participants of these shows in their quest to find the three virtues expounded in this shows. The winners in reality shows are thrust into the market and public domains with little preparation, the exposure might be too much for participant resulting in losing of balance in life (Unkelbach et al. 199). The television shows at times do selective editing of captions and videos highlighting negative features of the participants, the selective editing result to the participants being thrown into stress and traumatic experiences. The addition of footages on personal lives of participants is detrimental to their self-esteem and ego. This characteristic of reality shows has forced participants to take steroids to improve their physique in order to be appealing to the public (Tessitore et al. 5). Taking such drugs is detrimental to the health of the participants, editing is also done to influence the public opinion of a particular participant. The opinion if bad will have negative effects on the mental state of the participants. Criticisms in these shows can make participants loose hope in life and be destitute. People who are not endowed with the ability to take criticisms positively will end up with mental torture which will, in turn, affect their daily lives negatively (Shattuc and Jane 25).

On the other hand, these shows have been responsible for identifying talents among participants who do not have the financial power to showcase their abilities, the shows have built such participants and developed their talents to higher levels of success thus, changing the life of the participant and the family members of such a participant. Reality shows thus have the positive and negative side on participants and thus, it is recommended for the authors of these shows to set up ways through which their participants will be taken care off after the show is over.

Works cited

Huang, Wei. Music-Based TV Talent Shows in China: Celebrity and Meritocracy in the Post-Reform Society. Diss. SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY, 2015.

Unkelbach, Christian, and Daniel Memmert. "Serial-position effects in evaluative judgments." Current Directions in Psychological Science 23.3 (2014): 195-200.

Shattuc, Jane M. The talking cure: TV talk shows and women. Routledge, 2014.

Domoff, Sarah E., et al. "The effects of reality television on weight bias: an examination of the biggest loser." Obesity 20.5 (2012): 993-998.

Tessitore, Tina, Mario Pandelaere, and Anneleen Van Kerckhove. "The Amazing Race to India: Prominence in reality television affects destination image and travel intentions." Tourism Management 42 (2014): 3-12.

Markey, Charlotte N., and Patrick M. Markey. "Emerging adults' responses to a media presentation of idealized female beauty: An examination of cosmetic surgery in reality television." Psychology of Popular Media Culture 1.4 (2012): 209.