Artifact One Recording

Three Georgia Tech students discuss the TV show "The Rehearsal" and how it blurs the line between simulation and reality. They talk about how the show uses multimodality to create realistic sets and how the actors start to exhibit real feelings. They also discuss the ethical issues raised by the show, such as manipulating a child actor's emotions and deceiving participants. They highlight how the show exposes the immorality of reality TV and how it exploits people for drama. They also discuss the use of communication methods, like visual and oral cues, to create a realistic simulation. Finally, they analyze a situation where a man is deceived into forming a deep relationship with a secret actor, showing the show's satirical take on reality TV. Hi, I'm Maddie Fuller. I'm Camila Rogan. I'm Reese Johnson. Welcome to Reality Check. We are students from Georgia Tech who are passionate about TV shows and other mediums that can change perceptions of reality. In this episode, we'll dive into the extent that comedian Nathan Fielder's show, The Rehearsal, morphs the line between simulation and reality. Throughout this episode, we'll discuss how Fielder utilizes multimodality to create realistic sets and how the actors start to exhibit real feelings. We'll also focus on how Fielder purposely displays his behind-the-scenes work to the audience. For our audience members who haven't seen the show, The Rehearsal explores the lengths a person will go in order to reduce the uncertainties of everyday life. Nathan Fielder stars and directs both the show and rehearsals within it. To pull off his immersive rehearsals, he elaborately stages scenarios using a huge crew, countless actors, and a seemingly unlimited source of money, time, and effort. All this allows for ordinary people to rehearse moments by playing out every possible outcome in these crafted simulations of Nathan's own design. The Rehearsal is a particularly interesting version of a reality TV show. The show places a heavy focus on showing the audience behind the scenes of how the simulation is created, baking the whole setup of the show like you're watching a social experiment. I agree. It definitely feels like a social experiment. One part that threw me off was in the first episode, when Fielder recreated an almost exact model of Cora's house based off a fake inspection he had the week before. Yeah, I mean, Fielder hadn't even met Cora yet. When I started the show, I wasn't expecting Nathan to be so invested in making every situation as hyper-realistic as possible. If someone created an exact model of my home, I'd feel so uncomfortable I probably wouldn't even continue the show. That's actually a really good example of what we're going to be talking about today. Today we're going to explore the degree of morality behind the way Nathan Fielder mimics human interactions and how this causes confusion about what is simulation and what is real. This hyper-realistic simulation created with multi-modal processes and mastery of woven communication also brings to light the immorality behind the genre of reality TV. I think that in an age of such rapidly evolving technology, it's important to take a moment and reflect on the ethical boundaries of those advancements. Speaking of morals, today we're going to focus on three situations within the rehearsal with questionable morality. The first is when Nathan imprinted on a six-year-old child by telling him he loves him, and then the child had to go back to the real world, completely lost and confused. The second is when Nathan convinced one of his acting students to move out of their apartment and he said he would water their plants but instead moved into their apartment. And the final situation is when Nathan hired a secret actor to perform a fake yet deep relationship with the man he's supposed to be helping. Let's start with the fact that Nathan Fielder brought in a fatherless six-year-old boy to play his son. For the sake of the show's plot, Fielder decides to toy with the little kid's feelings and pretends to be his father on screen. The kid starts to see him as a real father figure and is ecstatic to have this sort of person in his life. Remy, the boy, even says I love you to him. At this instant, I realize the lines between the simulation and reality were blurred for the actor. I understand that Nathan hired kid actors to recreate what motherhood would be like for Angela, but I think he should have looked for a more emotionally available boy to play this role. I agree. Maybe this wouldn't have been an issue if it was a simple show, but Nathan's proficiency in low-end communication caused the simulation to appear too real for Remy. For example, he started saying the reassuring words a father would say and started spending quality time with the boy and playing games with him, allowing for a multilayered, deep connection to be made. This discussion of ethical situations during the rehearsal reminded me of Harlow's monkey mother experiment, where he proved offspring feel a genuine attachment towards their caregivers. However, the arrival of this conclusion involved toying with baby monkey feelings. In the same sense, for the sake of observing and predicting human behavior in the HBO show, the emotional well-being of a little boy was messed with. I think one of the trickiest parts of psychological experiments are that they are often unethical for the sake of observing natural behavior. Back to Remy. At the end of the day, he's a paid actor. His mother must have known the role she was allowing her son to play, and most actors develop a deep connection with the character they play. That's simply part of the career. It's like how many of the actors who played the Joker became too involved, and they themselves also became depressed. Also, I feel that as the director and main character of the show, Fielder already has a lot of factors to worry about, and an extensive background check on an emotional capacity of each actor he hires would be excessive. Those are all valid points. Maybe the scene was less unethical than I had originally thought of, but it is still alarming how real Nathan allowed the simulation to get. Another situation is with Nathan and Thomas. Nathan is supposed to be helping Angela's parenting project, but instead he leaves her and goes to L.A. to train actors to be in his show. In his class, he tells students to find a primary and become them. One of his students, Thomas, is uncomfortable in baiting someone else's privacy. For Nathan to understand Thomas's hesitation, he turns Thomas into his primary. I feel like it's clear to Nathan that Thomas was very uncomfortable stalking others, and then Nathan does it to him anyway. But by playing Thomas, he finds the effect that a camera has on an aspiring actor and how that changes their actions. He also notices how the participants were pressured into signing releases that they hadn't even read. I mean, it's kind of like any reality TV show. People have to audition. I feel like Fielder is shining a light on why people on reality TV shows act the way they do, even if it's not who they really are. They do it for the camera, for fame, and for their big break. Reality TV shows never really touch on this, but the rehearsal shows and reality TV shows like itself. Doesn't Nathan send Thomas to a replica of Thomas's primary apartment and then move into his apartment? Yeah, you tell Thomas he needs his key to water his plants, and then he goes and lives in Thomas's apartment. Nathan treats Thomas's personal residence like it's just another set for his show. Like on many reality TV shows, they exploit people's homes, possessions, and beings for the drama. Shows like this don't treat people like people. They treat them as an opportunity for views. Again, the rehearsal draws attention to this immorality. Fielder accomplishes this by using well-linked communication. He really focuses on visual and oral communication. By creating exact set replicas and then making speech patterns, he creates an almost perfect reality. He also uses electronic communication from stage lights to technological tools to show the behind-the-scenes, which kind of gives a glimpse into the morality of it all. Thomas is completely taken advantage of, from being pressured into signing an unresolved lease form to feeling uncomfortable about stalking someone and then being stalked, and finally to having Nathan live in his apartment without his knowledge. Nathan uses Thomas for his own gain and continuously makes things too real, causing not only Thomas to be visibly uncomfortable but also the viewer. He also makes it clear to the viewer how much he takes advantage of Thomas. It continuously draws attention to the dishonesty of reality TV shows and their exploitation of their cast. I feel that this extensive realism plays a role in how Nathan utilizes the multimodal process to create a very real simulation, which, as a result of his dedication to realism, is also unethical. All the points he brought up are great examples as to how Fielder manipulated oral, visual, and technological modes of communication to practically puppet the actors he hires. Alright, finally, let's dive into the situation where Fielder deceived a man named Patrick by orchestrating a simulation where he met a secret actor who he formed a deep and meaningful relationship with. Fielder later scripted the death of the actor. This also shows that Nathan is attempting to satirize the reality TV genre, calling attention to how people are put into situations which they believe are real for the sake of entertainment. To accomplish this, he chooses a very obvious and rural situation and showcases all the behind-the-scenes. In this specific rehearsal, the focus on a fake death is specifically touching towards the audience of the show. Fielder, as a director, chose this situation as he knew it would resonate with the audience because tricking someone into believing that they have lost a meaningful relationship is morally wrong on all fronts. Also, the thing that makes this different from other tricky situations which people are put in within any reality TV show is the fact that Fielder uses Wogan to help the audience understand the full scope of the situation when they are attempting to reconcile with the morality behind it. Exactly. Take, for example, a show like Too Hot to Handle, where instead of focusing on the fact all the people were tricked into coming onto the show, it chooses to focus only on the interpersonal relationships. In stark contrast, Nathan uses oral and visual communication in tandem, verbally telling the audience that the situation is fake and repeatedly showing props such as cameras. These Wogan tactics bring the morality behind the situation into a focal point instead of masking it with interesting interpersonal relationships. By taking this approach, he purposely showcases the immorality of the rehearsal like other shows in the same genre. These examples and morality issues we've already discussed highlight the meticulous details Fielder uses to create such a real simulation. I agree. He definitely showed complete mastery of utilizing multimodal processes and Wogan communication to deceive individuals' perception of reality. From pretending to be a fatherless boy's father to overstepping privacy boundaries and moving into an actor's apartment to hiring secret actors, Nathan creates a cryptic reproduction of real-life scenarios which makes it difficult for the audience to tell how much is planned and how much is morally acceptable. This deception is why the ethicality of the rehearsal was our main focus for this episode. By creating a far too detail-oriented realm of his own reality and placing uninformed actors in uncomfortable situations, Nathan continuously oversteps morals and shows the audience this overstepping. However, he does this with a purpose in mind, calling attention to the lesser offenders of crossing moral lines within reality TV. Well, that's all we have for you guys today. I'm Maddie. I'm Camila. I'm Bruce. And this was Reality Check. Catch up with us next time when we talk about the Truman Show.