Layers of unreality
I came across this gem in the Post the other day:
Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag won’t let anything get in the way of their quest for fame — not even reality. They’ve been pushing their split by trying to sell a made-up story that Heidi may be cheating with Spencer’s close pal, Marine-turned-bodyguard Cougar Zank.
A source told us, “Heidi and Spencer are try ing to play out a fake reality show in the press and get paid along the way. They’ve been approaching magazines and Web sites to buy the fake story of Zank having an affair with Heidi. They’ve been asking for $100,000. But no one is interested as they don’t sell magazines.” A rep for Pratt and Montag didn’t get back to us.
I mean, how many layers of artifice can possibly be jammed into this story?! I asked a few media professors for a scholarly take on this. Here’s Peter Zhang from Eastern Michigan University:
Communication works like an onion. If we peel all the way down, there’s nothing left, no hard core reality there. It works the other way around: people invent layers upon layers of communication about “something.” It is more interesting to pay attention to the effect, power, and motive of each layer than its truthfulness.
Take THAT Speidi!
