Abstract
In May 2020, Kimura Hana, a 22–year–old professional wrestler and a cast member of Terrace House–a reality show aired on the Fuji Television Network–passed away. Ms. Kimura allegedly took her life after being subjected to social media harassment that had been triggered by an episode of the show.
”Reality show,„ in the first place, is a genre of television programs, but its definition and formats are rather ambiguous. Deducing from roughly common characteristics, we may define it as ”a program in which the production staff create a fictitious situation, star ordinary people or unknown actors/entertainers, device gimmicks that may induce changes in the emotions and behaviors of participants, and document their reactions„. The number of reality shows has grown over the past two decades, notably in Europe and America, and some shows are now available on pay video streaming services.
However, right from the start, reality shows invited criticisms over issues such as the mental distress of participants forced to balance on a thin line between truth and fiction for long hours, the show's social experimental aspect of using gimmicks to make participants struggle, and the ethical issue of viewers' ”peeping into„ participants' personal lives, and with a number of participants having taken their lives, reality TV became a social problem in Europe and America. With the spread of social media in recent years, reality show cast members have become more exposed to defamation and slander, and there has been a pressing need for appropriate measures to be taken.
The author examines what should be take into account in the field of media studies in order to prevent painful incidents such as the death of Ms. Kimura from being repeated. As the first part of the discussion, this article tries to identify what exactly reality shows are, why this genre has grown to this extent, and what issues have been indicated so far.
