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Live Panel! 1971: "An American Family"; Our First Reality TV Show

Presented by AS220 at AS220 Concert Hall

October 19, 2011

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What's Real? What's Not? Does Anybody Care? When Directors Alan and Susan Raymond put their cameras--and us--into the lives of an upper middle class white family from Santa Barbara in 1970-1971, California, the schisms in the American Family became readily apparent. What was revealed was not Leave it to Beaver. What was introduced was, well, unreal...or was it? With the current proliferation of 'Reality TV' and its 'reality' which often seems quite suspect, we will wonder what accounts for its popularity, whether or not An American Family can be seen as its direct ancestor and ask what it might be preparing us for. Here is a chance to look more deeply at a subject that sits with us in our living rooms, brought to you by an American Family that allowed us to sit in theirs.

Action Speaks looks at contemporary issues through the lens of history by using underappreciated dates of twentieth-century that have changed America. Join host Marc Levitt and guest panelists for some old-fashioned community exchange in the heart of down- town Providence's arts and cultural district. For Fall 2011, Action Speaks looks at how the border between conflict and amusement is disappearing and what it portends for good TV...are we all embedded?