Praising the Surface: Behind the Scenes of Reality TV - Tilila Relmani - ★★

AUTHOR: Tilila Relmani

ILLUSTRATOR: Stella Lory

TRANSLATOR: Anna Howell

GENRE: Graphic Novel.

RATING: 2 stars.

In a Nutshell: A semi-satirical graphic novel, focussing on the history and behind-the-scenes of reality TV shows. Might work better for reality show fans. To me, it was as appealing as a reality TV show. 👀

Story Synopsis:

Yasmina, the youngest of four kids, is the black sheep in her family of academic overachievers. Though she is a psychologist, she feels compelled to prove her worth on a grander scale to merit a place on her family’s photo wall of achievements. And what better way to do so than by participating on a reality TV show? She loves reality TV, and getting into one of the multitude of programmes has to be a cakewalk, right?

Through Yasmina’s experience, we get to see the history of reality television and what happens behind the scenes of a contemporary reality programme.

This graphic novel was originally published in French earlier this year under the title “Éloge de la surface: dans les profondeurs de la téléréalité.” This English translation by Anna Howell was released in October 2023.

I am not a fan of reality TV shows, though I have watched a few episodes of various shows years ago with my mom who enjoys these type of programmes. The only reason I grabbed this novel was to try and understand what is it about reality shows that causes so many viewers to be obsessed by them, despite knowing that most (all?) of them are scripted. The endeavour proved a mixed bag.

Almost all people, myself included, are judgemental about fans of reality TV shows. But the fact also is that many of these fans are closeted. They never accept in public that they love such shows, for fear of being ridiculed. Which is why I found the author’s profile very interesting. A psychologist by profession, just like her lead character Yasmina, the author is passionate about reality TV and finds the programmes cathartic. This book reveals her enthusiasm for these productions. Though I didn’t enjoy the book, I still respect how she gave such a frivolous topic her best shot, mixing up the voyeuristic elements with a psychological perspective on the content and its impact.

The book does offer some interesting insights about how show producers and directors manipulate the programme in order to grab maximum viewership and also to keep viewers addicted. The various disparities are also underscored, with a clear light being shone upon how women participants are subject to a different scale of critique than male participants, how many shows pick candidates based on their looks and melodramatic capabilities, and how the manipulators are always more successful than the naïve and straightforward contestants.

Ironically, the maximum insights in this book came from one of the “ditz” contestants. I liked her character as she was unapologetic about her life choices and brave enough to stand by them.

Other than the above, the book didn’t work the way I thought it would. The reality show that Yasmina was a part of was on the lines of ‘Big Brother’, so I felt like I was watching that ridiculous show and the eyeball-grabbing shenanigans of its inmates. It was quite annoying!

The author’s attempt at explaining how psychology has a role to play in whatever happens on such shows didn’t do anything for me because the elaborations were too technical, and my head refused to cooperate in understanding a technical psychoanalysis for something so base.

The frame story of Yasmina’s joining the show just to prove her worth to her family didn’t make much sense to me. As a psychologist, Yasmina would surely have known that reality show accolades won’t impress her highbrow academic parents! I liked how one of her sisters kept supporting her, but on the whole, the frame story could have done much better.

What further reduced my enjoyment were the graphics. Just like the shows, the illustrations are much exaggerated. (What is seen on the cover page is actually quite art. The inside graphics aren't in the same style at all.) The over-the-top expressions and comic-style physiques possibly poke a satirical jab at the theme of the book. However, I found the hyperbolic drawings very distracting. The artwork is as loud as the contestants of the show, and this, added to the cluttered page layout, made the reading experience a pain. (It is quite possible that the messy look isn’t as prominent in the physical copy.)

While I wasn’t aware of a few of the shows mentioned in this book (partly due to theirs being European programmes that aren’t franchised here), I didn’t have trouble keeping up with the book. I don’t think you need to have watched these programmes to understand how they function. The book also delivers on that same assumption. At the same time, it is clear that the story focusses only on one kind of show, though it mentions the other types in the introductory segment. The level of scripting, psychological manoeuvres, and inquisitive tendencies would surely be different between, say, ‘MasterChef’ and ‘Amazing Race’ and ‘Survivor’. I wish the book had highlighted these differences.

Like it or not, reality TV shows will always find an audience. And with the advent of social media and influencers who are ready to share every single bit of their life online, voyeurism is here to stay. So just in case you want a glimpse behind the scenes of such shows and you are tolerant of the somewhat zealous approach towards establishing the psychological merit of reality programmes, you might like to give this a go.

Will you like it better if you love reality TV? Quite possible, but can’t say for sure. Depends on how you feel about the heavy psychological content.

Will it make you a fan of reality shows if you aren’t one? Not at all.

My thanks to Europe Comics and NetGalley for the DRC of “Praising the Surface: Behind the Scenes of Reality TV”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.