‘Realityism’ as melancholic storytelling to cope with contemporary risk

In this article I examine the hypothesis that many young people’s propensity to participate in a reality show is related to social risk and uncertainty in planning their lives. This hypothesis underpins the concept of ‘realityism’ as a strategy hybridising the real and the imaginary. In this article I draw on data from a study of 719 video interviews of aspiring participants in the 2011/2012 ‘Big Brother’ reality show (Italian edition, conducted by the audition team. I show that ‘realityism’ is a form of aesthetic reflexivity among individuals who respond mimetically, copying or appearing to be the same as someone else to a fragmented and precarious social experience, brought about by both neo-liberalism and the failure of societal institutions. Participants aim to keep the promises and hopes of modernisation alive amid the suspended space of the Big Brother House, via a melancholic therapy for survival.