Affect

I was interested in the connection between the quote, “(Affect) is the term given to those forces—visceral forces beneath, alongside, or generally other than conscious knowing that drive us toward movement,” from Keywords and “Reality TV masks itself as documentary, which straightforwardly presents, rather than represents, people and situations,” from the Gates reading. I thought hearing Andy Cohen of the Real Housewives franchise talk about audiences reactions of cast members and plot lines was a good example of how people can interpret elements of the show differently. This ties into the affect quote. Then, I used the intro to Real Housewives of Atlanta to give an example of how Andy Cohen and producers of the show present women of color on the show, as opposed to represent them. I used the voiceover of a speech from Yara Shahidi about how those in power in the media control the depiction of people color in their productions and thus create molds and ideas of them for viewers to believe is true reality. In actuality, this “reality” is manufactured by the producers, so the depictions are not necessarily authentic or accurate.