Performed realities and intertextualities: the commodification of everyday life and the celebrification of everyday people in modern televisual and digital cultures

Abstract

This paper, while firmly rooted in Dyer's star image system, will also incorporate several narrative (of course, non-fiction) "scenes," based on my own experiences working with a Toronto-based documentary crew. The documentary, Peep Me, which has been produced by Chocolate Box entertainment for CBC Television, focuses, primarily, on peep culture and reality programming. Peep Me also features The Peep Diaries' author and public intellectual Hal Niedzviecki, documenting, among other events, his attempt at creating a "lifecast," and his three-day reality TV boot camp adventure in Simi Valley, California. Needless to say, my six-month internship provided me with invaluable insights into all things "peep," including reality programming, reality performers, and the Internet's answer to the reality star.