The Fine Line between Person and Persona in the Spanish Reality Television Show La isla de las tentaciones: Audience Engagement on Instagram

Alfonso Gutiérrez-Martín,Alba Torrego,Michael Hoechsmann

doi:10.3390/su13041753

Alfonso Gutiérrez-Martín, Alba Torrego + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su13041753

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Journal: Sustainability	Publication Date: Feb 6, 2021
Citations: 5	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Valladolid, Lakehead University

Abstract

The hybridization of television genres has led to numerous non-fiction television shows that base much of their success on audience engagement through social networks. This study analyses a specific case, that of La isla de las tentaciones (Temptation Island), to identify interpretive frames in reality shows and their interrelationships with audience involvement on Instagram. Based on a corpus of 8409 comments posted on Instagram by the followers of the program’s actor profiles, the article analyzes the lines between reality and fiction in this non-fiction television show about relationships and infidelity, and, in particular, how online “haters” play a performative role. The show’s participants who were unfaithful are insulted and receive numerous negative value judgments. The “coding and counting” method, drawn from Computer Mediated Discourse Analysis, is used for the coding. Results show that viewers barely allude to this show as fiction, do not differentiate between the actors and their characters, and empathize strongly with the stories they view. The study shows the need for media education, both for those who make the media and those who view it. The goal is not to detract from entertainment value, but to improve critical skills and to recover the educational function of media.

Highlights

Media education and communications science scholarships align on at least three principles: the media construct reality, audiences negotiate meaning in media, and media events have implications for both individuals and societies. These principles have often been stated by media education and communications experts dealing with both traditional mass media [1,2], and emerging and social media [3,4]
La isla de las tentaciones was chosen for analysis because of a active audience on social media—our analysis focuses on audience comments on Instagram—and because this program blurs the boundaries between reality and fiction
By studying social media messages, our research aimed to analyze audience perceptions of contestants in the Spanish reality television show La isla de las tentaciones, highlighting viewers’ emotional engagement, grounded in the apparent difficulty to distinguish between reality and fiction, and between participants and characters

Summary

Introduction

Media education and communications science scholarships align on at least three principles: the media construct reality, audiences negotiate meaning in media, and media events have implications for both individuals and societies. These principles have often been stated by media education and communications experts dealing with both traditional mass media [1,2], and emerging and social media [3,4]. The media create the reality they bring to us in an effort to fulfil their purpose, as stated by John Reith, first General Manager of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC):. Media evolution has altered this order, placing entertainment first [5,6]

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