If TV is a vast wasteland, then TV Land is a vast wasteland-land. TV has become self-sustaining. It reached it’s critical mass. Minimum input with maximum output. TV shows based on and about earlier TV shows. Disneyland (the amusement park) was the fundamental example of postmodernism in Media Lit, so it’s not so surprising to read that they’re essentially the ones that implemented this chain-reaction of television. True, it wasn’t quite the same form as today because they were making TV about movies and parks, but it opened the door. Davey Crocket? Really Disneyland? An epic that swept the nation? I think I said this in my response paper (no, I will not take the time to look), but I gotta repect the Dis if nothing else. That man got a lot done in his time, AND he could work the camera. Smiling and telling the viewers what great things are in store for them today. If only he had had something worthwhile to put that type of energy towards, he probably would have been president…of one of the broadcast companies.
I watch a lotta C-SPAN with a side of C-SPAN2/BookTV in there. I don’t give a fuck how lame people think it is, I find it fascinating. Specifically because of how few people stereotypically tune in. I think it’s a lot better than most of the TV out there in both informative and entertaining lights. It’s amazing to watch the human psyche in action. To see how certain people can manipulate and how some can be manipulated, or how a back and forth game of coercion can develop because neither parties are prepared to actually put the true topic out in the air. Watching people’s reactions and phone-in responses of both incredible naivety and intelligence can keep me entertained for a good while. It makes me wonder how that particular person developed to this point in their life to say or ask what they did. It’s the same things that make me wonder why there is such Grade D crap on the air and in the system. In my gut I’d agree with Minow about ‘the people’s taste’ not being as low as the broadcasters assume, but in my head I can’t help but notice how there is absolutely no demand for anything more than what we’re being served. It’s quite curious, how placid we’ve become.
I watch a lotta C-SPAN with a side of C-SPAN2/BookTV in there. I don’t give a fuck how lame people think it is, I find it fascinating. Specifically because of how few people stereotypically tune in. I think it’s a lot better than most of the TV out there in both informative and entertaining lights. It’s amazing to watch the human psyche in action. To see how certain people can manipulate and how some can be manipulated, or how a back and forth game of coercion can develop because neither parties are prepared to actually put the true topic out in the air. Watching people’s reactions and phone-in responses of both incredible naivety and intelligence can keep me entertained for a good while. It makes me wonder how that particular person developed to this point in their life to say or ask what they did. It’s the same things that make me wonder why there is such Grade D crap on the air and in the system. In my gut I’d agree with Minow about ‘the people’s taste’ not being as low as the broadcasters assume, but in my head I can’t help but notice how there is absolutely no demand for anything more than what we’re being served. It’s quite curious, how placid we’ve become.
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