Introduction: The Fabrication of Reality

Since 1992 the Real World has been featuring a small group of young adults temporarily living together in one residence in a new city while being filmed non-stop. The magic of the show resides in the fact that, despite knowing that most of the ups and downs of the stories are already pre-written, we buy it. Reality TV is a ‘claim to the real within a fully managed artificiality’ (Corner 2002), a claim we embrace joyfully. So, what lies behind the magic?

Entertainment is an ellipse in time; a moment of surrender. The joy of entertainment comes with the acceptance of the illusory principles and their flaws, a pre-condition without which the magic would not work. An infantile credulity or a ‘wish to believe’ always supersedes the doubts for the sake of producing more excitement, of looking actively for a rush of adrenaline.

Most of us have our own favourite show, and become the ashamed or proud fan of the local or original versions of American Idol, America's Next Top Model, Top Chef, etc. Each one of these shows taps into a vast emotional repertoire. This alternative reality is appealing because it plays on the fears and dreams existing within the individual or collective imaginary: heights, fire, dangerous animals, fame, wealth, glory, etc. The orchestration of fears and dreams in aesthetic performance constitutes all the more the ingredients of a ‘credible’ illusion of reality. The question is: could the magic happen in politics?

In the social sciences, the role of emotion in politics is not a new axis but is only starting to be taken up as a possibility in the study of political phenomena (Braud 1996); the notion of ‘illusion’ and the performance and fabrication of legitimacy have yet to be explored. This chapter looks at the longevity of UMNO's rule and offers an explanation for the stability of Malaysian political power by exploring the imagination and fabrication of power and politics.