Mikaela's San Giorgio – Digital Portfolio

THE PITCH

CLICK THIS LINK TO SEE MY PRESENTATION

Hi everyone, for my project, I will be exploring the reality TV series Below Deck through the concepts of representation and interpretation which were discussed in week three.

For those who are unfamiliar with Below Deck, it is a reality TV show that can be streamed on Bravo and Netflix. It follows the lives of crew members (also known as “yachties”) aboard luxury superyachts. The show is known for its insider look at the high-pressure industry of yachting and the antics that occur behind-the-scenes.

The reason I selected this topic is because I worked in the superyacht industry for five years and I’ve always found it fascinating when people think they know exactly what I did as a career just because they’ve watched the show.

This topic ties directly into key ideas from this unit, especially Stuart Hall’s theory of representation. Hall (1997) explains that meaning isn’t simply reflected in media – it’s produced through systems of language, images and signs. What we see on screen is shaped by producers and then reinterpreted by audiences based on their ideologies. What makes reality TV so powerful and problematic – is that it feels authentic, but it’s often carefully constructed.

Scholars like Piper (2006) highlight that reality TV blends fact with fiction, leaving viewers to question what’s real. Wyatt (2023) adds that shows like Below Deck often gloss over darker industry truths like burnout and exploitation. Stuart Hall’s theories on representation (1997) and encoding/decoding help unpack this – media doesn’t reflect reality, it constructs it, and viewers may interpret the same scenes in vastly different ways. Salibian’s (2012) analysis of the TV series Survivor also adds value to my research, by exploring the tension between production and audience interpretation, which I’ll use to examine how Below Deck viewers make sense of what’s “real”.

For assignment 3, I’ll be writing a report. I plan to structure it around key themes like media representation and audience interpretation, using Below Deck as my case study.