True Life: Actual Reality
It’s as if you landed the main role of this year’s soon to be most popular movie, the spotlight shining down on you everywhere you go. Bad thing though, it’s not what you wanted. Millions of people go and watch this movie of yours, only to make assumptions about the person they think you are based on pure generalizations. Being a homosexual at times can have the same amount of pressure as having a main role in a popular movie and the audience judging you can become all of society. Trying to carry on normal lives along with the rest of America, the homosexual community has been aided by the media in many different ways, one being reality television. With it’s ample diversity of episodes, True Life is able to publicize the reality of average people (mainly young adults) in their everyday lives. Revealing the struggles and hardships of the gay and lesbian community, True Life shows Americans worldwide the daily battle these individuals face trying to get society to accept them for who they are.
Created in 1998, True Life consists of a mini documentary series following two to three unique individuals in their daily lives. Each episode is centered around a common theme that these different people share, whether it be “True Life:I’m Bisexual”(2009) or something impacting a person’s health such as “True Life:I Have a Traumatic Brain Injury”(2010). The shows viewers are exposed to the lifestyles and encounters of these different people. Affecting a broad range of people, the show was first mostly viewed by teenagers and young adults. After over 200 episodes since it aired, True Life is now watched by people of all different ages and is one of the few reality television shows that the average American can actually relate to.
The first episode ever containing the hardships of homosexuality and society’s acceptance to them was aired in 2002 and was titled, “True Life: I’m Coming Out”. At first being extremely difficult to expose their true...