Now this might surprise you in light of my last post. But a comment made by Peter below set me to thinking.
One of my pet crusades is that TV deadens the mind. I say that a lot. I believe it. The evidence is all around us. At 12:15 a.m., August 1, 1981 the very first music video to be shown on MTV was Video Killed the Radio Star by The Buggles. Well, of course, music videos did not kill radio. Far from it. You'd be hard pressed to find any music programming on MTV these days. But I do believe that watching lots of television kills the ability to communicate verbally.
When people (especially children under 8) spend hours watching television, it literally damages their brains and impairs their ability to think verbally. Vital synapses are underdeveloped. How many people have you heard say, "Well, I learn visually"? Sure. That's legit. But it becomes a problems when folks are truly unable to follow a sustained argument or express complex thoughts verbally.
Everyone should read: The Vanishing Word: The Veneration of Visual Imagery in the Postmodern World (Focal Point Series)
That having been said, I also believe that American television is in a golden age. Insofar as anyone can identify their current age as golden, I think this is the case for American TV. And why has this happened? Market economics. There is sooooo much television these days that producers have had to come up with truly high quality material in order to stand out. Hence, the proliferation of so many very well written and excellently produced programs. Some that I have found to be very powerful and entertaining include: 24, The Office, The Sopranos, Carnivale, Lost, and Battlestar Galactica. Other people have sung the praises of House, Heroes, and others. But I'd be surprised if these programs constitute even 1% of all that is available on television.
Monday, November 27, 2006
Television in a Golden Age
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7 comments:
Try "Scrubs"
Laughs and great lines from start to finish.
Peter,
Amen. Your points are very well taken.
I too am a product of our time. I'm a pop culture junkie even. We are all consumers of mass culture. My thing is to encourage Christians to be discerning consumers. Prophetic screeds blast the just and the unjust alike, I know. Generalizations are useful, however, when communicating to people who are not accustomed to deeply evaluating what they consume. Rather than hypocritical, I suspect I could be accused of being inconsistent. One day denouncing television and the next praising Jack Bauer. I am in favor of speaking in generalities as long as I am allowed to contradict myself.
I would agree that tv is finally coming of age. I think it has just recently reached the point where I would put some tv shows up against some of the best movies as equals. The first couple seasons of the Sopranos really made me sit back and realize that television could be just as good as film. The Wire season three was at that level too. And, I would say that the British version of the office also scores high in the drama/comedy category, as I replied on another thread.
There are probably some others too. I like the other programs you mentioned (except I haven't seen 24. Yet.), but I don't think Lost or BSG is at the same level. I watch them, but really wish HBO would come out with a space science fiction show. Carnivale was good, but they shut it down. For some reason HBO just has the right mojo and people to get this stuff down better than the networks. It just comes off as more realistic, and therefore sucks you in that much more. No cheap tricks, like on Lost. I mean, Christopher has done some dumb stuff on the Sopranos, but I believe his character. I don't think anyone acts like Sawyer on Lost.
Of course, the true test will be if we can still say this in 20 years. Oy, I netflixed the first season of Miami Vice earlier this year (before the movie came out), because I remembered liking it and that it got good reviews back then. But it was terrible. I didn't watch past the first disc.
As to the other thought on the thread, I'll have to check out that book. I have read "Amusing Ourselves To Death" by Postman and liked what it said about tv. But I really liked his book "Technopoly" better because it talked about, not only tv, but all sorts of technologies and what kind of misplaced faith we put in them. I highly recommend it.
scott adle
I noticed you included, "House," which I watch regularly. I am really ambivalent, though, about watching it. I find the main character rather abrasive,and
egotistical and yet I can't stop watching it. Anyone have any thoughts on why this is from a theological perspective?
If you'll forgive a shill I wrote some thoughts on that very question Anon.
Check here.
In a nutshell it's just us wanting to be like the Pharisee looking at the tax collector, instead of being like the tax collector
So, perhaps a secular version of
Dr. Martin, then?
Hello Pastor,
I enjoyed reading your posts but living in Slovakia with english-speaking tv left to CNN (you bloggers know what those letters stand for) and two British kids stations POP and Tiny POP I realized I really don't miss tv as much as I thought I would. Yes we have a satellite with 20 Czech and Slovak stations, German, French, Hungarian, Ukraine, and even Al-Jezeera!! but watching Bonanza or Friends in German doesn't quite cut it. I have read more in the last year than the previous 10 years. We have had more family devotions and "discussions" plus walks around town than ever. Why were we always glued to the tv at night? Habit I guess. But once you don't have tv it amazes me what you find out about yourself and your family. Of course we have friends that send video tapes or dvd series but honestly we rarely have time to watch them other than the cold and dark winters. Our top 5 shows (I am not making this up): (1) Little House on the Prairie Season 2 (2) CSI: Season 2 (3) Madeline on Tiny Pop (4) Magic School Bus on Pop (5) Grey's Anatomy: Season 2
Try that top 5 in the USA!?
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