<doc.id=5036.a3>
<title> Reflections </title>
This essay will deal with a relatively new and fast-growing form of TV entertainment, namely the docu-soaps. I am going to describe the meaning and purpose of the docu-soaps and their effects upon the viewers and our society. I myself do not own a TV, and therefor find it difficult to understand those people who spend several hours every day in front of their TV's watching different docu-soaps. 

Since the characters in a docu-soap are ordinary people who are not " made-up " by a manuscript or by some producer, this combined form of fiction and reality provides the show with a feeling of genuineness that many other ordinary soaps lacks.The only purpose with today's docu-soaps is to amuse the viewers, and the way they do this is by creating intrigues, conspiracies and romances among the participants.In almost every docu-soap today there are one or two persons who are extra good looking, provocative or extreme in some other way, so that they may create conflicts or romances which will amuse the viewers.

Some docu-soaps might have a little more substance and purpose to them than others. " Robinson " for instance, is meant to be a both mentally and physically challenging adventure where the one who survives the longest at an remote island is the winner, while other docu-soaps' - like " Temptation Islands' " - only purpose is to make the competitors cheat and to be unfaithfull in order to amuse the viewers.

By continually watching a docu-soap, the viewer gets the feeling of "getting to know" the characters by watching them talk, act, tell jokes and make plots - just like the viewer's own friends in real life do. For some viewers, the characters in a docu-soap may even start acting as substitutes for "real" friends since they spend more hours in front of their TV than they do seeing their friends.

While watching a docu-soap, the viewer may sometimes feel sorry for some of the participants and be of the opinion that the participants are being used by the producers behind the docu-soap. But actually, it is not like that at all. Surely, the participants in the docu-soap may sometimes have to deal with situations which they do not like, but they have also got the chance to win a large sum of prize-money, and by being broadcasted on TV they also get to become a kind of celebrities. So in the end, those who are being used by the docu-soaps are not the people participating in them but instead, it is the people who are watching them who are being used since they do not profit in any way by watching. 

Finally, there is the problem of television combined with junk-food which eventually leads to increased corpulency among the population. This is very common among young people who are spending their spare-time in front of the TV instead of playing games, playing football, etcetera. In Sweden today, one teenager out of four issuffering from overweight.
</doc>