Paranormal Reality TV: Harmless Entertainment or Cultivation at Work? Part I

In Part I, I discuss the ubiquity of both paranormal reality shows and America's enduring beliefs and interest in paranormal phenomenon, as well as the power of the story to cultivate attitudes and opinions that more closely resemble the distorted narrative world provided through the window of television. What role does paranormal reality TV play in harming viewer's understanding of science? And how does paranormal programming reinforce belief in Woo?

Whether it's hunting ghosts, having adventures with ghosts, chasing UFOs, or just Big Foot, chances are there is a reality show about it, featuring a crack team of investigators and night-vision cameras.
 

Do You Believe? Infographic source R. Toro/LiveScience.com

Ever since the early success of shows like Ghost Hunters, the genre has seemingly exploded over the past decade, as some of TV's biggest networks have hopped onto the paranormal reality show bandwagon, including SyFy, National Geographic Channel, The Travel Channel, The History Channel, The Learning Channel, The Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, A&E, Biography, and TruTV.

While belief in certain phenomenon, such as devil possession, have waned since the early 1990s, Gallup polling, in particular, has shown that widespread beliefs in paranormal phenomenon have remained incredibly consistent. The growing ranks of atheists, agnostics and the otherwise non-religious, have seemingly not put much of a dent in the overall trend of America being a rather superstitious country, with a healthy majority of the population believing they have experienced a paranormal event, and a comfortable plurality believing in phenomenon such as ghosts and ESP.

However, the business of TV, is well, just that -a highly lucrative business, one that provides entertainment and escapism to mass audiences through the power of visual storytelling. And of course, paranormal programming of all stripes has never been more in vogue. But is paranormal reality TV harmless entertainment or is there a process of cultivation at work?

The power of storytelling

Chasing UFO's, Psychic Detectives, The Haunted Collector, and the mother of them all, Ghost Hunters, all have a strand of continuity, says Paul Brewer, Professor of communication at the University of Delaware and author of the study The Trappings of Science: Media Messages, Scientifc Authority, and Beliefs About Paranormal Investigators, and it isn’t just the shaky-cam, night vision scenes, over-the-top theme music and cheesy special effects: It's sounding and looking sciencey.