"Dont Interfere, They Will Fuck Up By Themselves": Questions of Genre Hybridization, Authenticity, and Ethics in Reality Television

In this paper, the key topics of debate from the broad field of documentary representation and practice are transposed to the domain of popular factual television and elaborated through a comprehensive analysis of the ontological status and ethical implications of formats that are based on the observation of a contrived situation. Questions of genre hybridization and authenticity as well as ethics are unraveled in a case study design comprised of four recent Flemish reality series with a border crossing circulation, whereby textual analyses are integrated with the findings of qualitative interviews with program-makers and participants of these series. In doings so, it is argued that contestations of authenticity and ethical dilemmas are being reoriented through the popularization and hybridization of the documentary genre.