I don’t know if you’ve heard or not, but TV pretty much rocks. I have to actively work to not add more TV shows to my Internet repertoire, because I know from the murmurings of my friends and family around the metaphorical water cooler that I am missing out on some seriously good comedy/drama/reality/whatever. It’s amazing sometimes how much 30 Rock, The Office, and Parks and Recreation make me laugh, and I can’t get enough of Showtime’s Weeds. Thank god LOST is over.
Anyway, my weekly love for television has alerted the fear centers in my brain, as most powerful cultural forces tend to do (side note: there is no such thing as a “fear center” in one’s brain – but I’m a philosophy major).
I’m about 400 pages into David Foster Wallace’s “Infinite Jest,” which I’ve been reading for about 3 months now to impress a boy. One major/minor happening in the book is a deadly form of “Entertainment,” ostensibly conceived and disseminated by a Canadian separatist group. The Entertainment kills whoever watches it, because they become so enthralled with the perfection of its, well, entertainment that they cease performing normal body functions, like breathing. Now, obviously this super weapon is probably entirely fictional, but it does lead me to wonder about the power of modern entertainment.
Corporations are so amazingly adept at feeding us what we want to consume, and making us want things we wouldn’t have otherwise, that I think there is a real possibility of extreme social control. Serious market research, which tests the efficacy of products and messages with focus groups, combines with the science of advertising to play with us like puppets on a string. If TV can make me tune in and laugh 4-5 times a week, couldn’t suggestive product placement or even general encouragement of consumerism make me buy, buy, buy just a little bit more, more, more? If it’s got that kind of control, could TV control my political leanings? Will we end up with crazy sensory stimulation, like the TV rooms of Fahrenheit 451? And who exactly is the puppet master?
Do we even really care?
I gave up cable six months ago and haven’t missed it. I was paying $65 per month for a million channels only six of which I actually watched. Honestly, I haven’t missed it although I went a little nuts during the first month, easily spending twice the monthly cable bill at Barnes & Noble on books. Great analogy to Farenheit 451. Stop and think about this: there’s a large chunk of Americans who willingly spend money they don’t have to watch reality shows that are of no benefit. More people seem to care about Snookie and The Situation (no I’ve never watched the show) than are really interested in the national debt, the deficit, and the current bout between the US and China over allegations/recriminations of currency manipulation.
I can’t get more than about 150 pages into Infinite Jest, but I’ve read those 150 pages like 3 times. Feeling a little smarter each time.
This movie hits your mark. http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=26995