With that in mind, consider your favorite movie or TV show. How is it real? How is it not? What parts of it might you want to emulate or adopt in your own way of looking at the world, and what parts should be rejected? How easy is it for us to be seduced by the illusion of reality in video representations?
One of my favorite shows would be the show Chuck. The show follows the adventures of an employee named Chuck who works at their version of a Best Buy called a "Buy More" in their version of the Geek Squad called the "Nerd Herd". Chuck lives two lives, he is an employee of the Buy More (and eventually secret owner) and a forced initiate into the spy world through the neural download of a powerful computer program that allows him to learn any skill instantly and have access to classified government documents by "flashing" in his mind.
His main challenge is to keep his two lives separate and keep his normal life aspects safe from the other. Eventually he and his entourage leave the services of the United States government and strike out on their own as a spy for hire company, however this passion soon leaves Chuck as he wants to settle down with his wife Sara (whom is also a spy) and is forced to realize that his family has a history of getting too tangled in the spy world and it bringing only ruin to things.
Looking at the show without all the spy-iness I feel that many people struggle to live multiple lives and keep them separate: that could either be to protect others or themselves. On a subconscious level at the very least I feel many people change in mannerisms or feeling the presence of others or their absence. On a even more basic level I would say that this lends itself to not bringing your work home with you since eventually Chuck can't escape his secret life, the lies, and is forced to consider which is really his "real" life. Sometimes I myself stop to think about whether I truly desire to do or feel something for a real reason or if it is simply a product of an outside influence.
Obviously there aren't secret spy bases located under my local Best Buy, and employees can't go from store manager or computer repair to front line clandestine national defense, but I find that a lot of the morals are elements that I attempt to incorporate into my own life. One of Chuck's main moral obstacles is that he never kills, he always uses traq darts or knocks his opponents unconscious. Another would be the senses of right and wrong he applies to the world even if it brings him at odds with the United States government. Which I feel actually adds a sense of realism to the show because no one ever agrees with their government's actions all the time.
One of the aspects that I reject would obviously have to be the progression from working on a sales floor to front line for a clandestine world. The other would have to be the social workings between the new arrivals to this world and actually government officials: it's too buddy buddy though they try to stress that they're quite the opposite.
Adam -- I have heard this is a great show; I should check on it. Of course the set up is not all that real -- but what else do the producers do that might make an impression on someone who is not thinking critically? Think about what we're studying in class about how media products are constructed, why and for whom.
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