"The reality of his situation slowly dawned on him" (RM introduction)

In the last few years there has been a movement developing that champions a return towards portraying things in a real, raw and natural way. A return towards reality, if you will. This movement has finally reached the mainstream market but before it dies out I would like to take the time to showcase how this movement has manifested itself in different industries. I have decided to call this movement "the realness movement". In the past, consumers were over-saturated with images that were pure fantasy and unrealistic. Portraying dream worlds in the media doesn't appeal to the general public anymore since we can't relate to it. Consumers don't aspire to live unattainable lifestyles because they are, well, unattainable. I believe that a significant group of people in our society reacted to these false depictions of everyday life by deciding to portray things in a more realistic manner. None of this glamourous, fake, tacky nonsense. Fantasy is dead, now back to reality.

The realness movement was a direct result of the unrealism that permeated the arts and media in our society. Fashion was too glamourous, music was overproduced, photography was too impersonal, models were too god-like and porn stars were too fake. Certain creatives in these industries decided to challenge the norms. They took it upon themselves to initiate a shift in the market by producing work in such a way as to reflect more realistic lifestyles. The strategy they adopted was simple: back to basics. They decided to strip things down and rediscover the beauty of simplicity. This trend can be found in the fashion, music, photography, modeling and adult entertainment industries. In each subsequent entry, I will attempt to analyze the manifestations of "the realness movement" in these five industries.