October 15, 2005

Coined word: shrediting.

Shrediting: shredding someone through editing, as typically seen in a reality TV show, where a film editor, to create a story line, selects clips from hours of footage to give a very negative impression of a person. See "The Apprentice," Season 4, Episode 4 (character: Toral). See also, "The Comeback" (a sitcom in which the central character is filming a reality show without realizing when she is unwittingly providing the material that will be used in the final edit to shred her).

5 comments:

vbspurs said...

Or, as it can be termed on podcasting:

Fisking

P.S.: I'm still on Audible Althouse #5. :-/

Cheers,
Victoria

vbspurs said...

Shrediting" isn't the same as fisking, quite the opposite really. Fisking means destroying an argument by showing that argument's logic in a broader context that reveals it to be clearly fallacious. Shrediting means removing facts or arguments from their broader context in a way that distorts their meaning.

Good point, Jonathan.

I guess I was looking at the "ridiculing by using their own words" aspect of Fisking, without paying mind to the actual details.

Cheers,
Victoria

XWL said...

One common plaint for those who have found themselves shreditted (is that formation of this neologism allowable?) is that they have been unfairly portrayed and that even though they did and said all those things on air, they really aren't like that.

But then as they try to extend their 15 minutes they like Omarosa, Anna Nicole Smith, Trishelle or all the others tend to reinforce the narrative that the original program created for them.

Another aspect to this phenomena is that the producers often coax, cajole and conspire behind the scenes to get the folks with the outsized personalities to act out and they cast people who they know are likely to go a bit bonkers since audiences love misery.

Ann Althouse said...

XWL: We need another word to mean going on other shows to play the character they shredited you into on the first show. I'm assuming some of those folks are hired for Show 2 with the stipulation that they act in the way that people found so funny on Show 1. But maybe we also need a third term for someone who we suspect has been shredited but in fact is really like that.

XWL said...

I think the term might be fame whoring, or maybe famestitute (fame-prostitute, a bit awkward, I know).

Clearly there is a small subset of people who could care less why they are famous/notorious and just feel that any and all attention is self-validating.

Actually the more I think about it, the more it seems like there already exists a servicable word in the English language for the phenomenon, they are called "Actors".

(I'm not saying all actors are fame whores, but all those that sell their personalities for reality show consumption are in a very real way providing an 'act' and are 'acting' as they portray the version of themselves that will keep them famous)

(oh, oh, looks like I'm coming close to finding a working thesis for a sociology class on reality shows, I dare someone to steal it, go ahead I won't sue)