Letter to the Hotspur
“Television is an escapist activity, hardly based on the real world. Even the so called ‘reality shows’ select the most bizarre and unusual elements of reality and parades it in front of millions under the banner of light entertainment.”
I don’t think there’s much of an argument against the above statement. The key question in my mind is “does it matter?” Well, I think it very much depends on how seriously people take what they see on television.
There is that very old cyclical debate whether or not television mirrors society or if society influences what we see on television. There are strong arguments that support both sides and I suppose it's obvious that an individual’s view depends on where it is they are looking from. For instance, a successful television producer who delivers a graphically violent drama may claim that they are representing a small element of society and may even believe themselves to be quite virtuous in enlightening the rest of the population how this small minority live. Of course, they claim, their work cannot possibly influence their intelligent viewers and make them more inclined to accept violence as normal facet of life. The teenage viewer however may take a different view when in court attempting to explain why someone else is to blame for stabbing his latest victim.
So what’s my point here?! Why is this strange paragraph on a Dad’s Army blog?! Well, I was wondering who’d be the first to ask that, and I will try to explain. You see, I do believe television affects the actions of both children and adults.
Dad’s Army is a gentle, life affirming programme – we’ve all heard it described as such on several occasions. There was a time when I was a teenager when all I used to watch on television was Dad’s Army. I used to see at least one episode each day, and I listened to an episode of the radio play every night when I went to bed. I was always fast asleep long before Pike got his head stuck in the park gates. Not long after I discovered the world of Walmington-on-Sea, pretty much most of my humour became an unfunny version of Perry and Croft’s scripts. Every time I could offer the rebuttal “stupid boy”, I did. Every time I missed something obvious, “I wondered who’d be the first to spot that”. Whenever someone picked a classmate to play on their football team who I thought was a bad choice, I asked the captain “do you think that’s wise?” I began asking “if I could be excused” when I needed the loo. I started scratching my left ear whenever I wanted to labour a point, I shouted “Death!! Death!!! The Ruby will bring you Death!!” whenever a girl or female relative showed off a new item of jewellery and most of all, I strongly encouraged my friends (yes I did have them) that whatever they did, they should not panic. Along with getting electrisified, contracting verdegis and getting croup, my teenage years were somewhat dominated by – yes, what I’d seen on the telly.
Now imagine I had taken that to the ‘n’th degree (some of
you will think I probably did) – would I have attempted to decapitate someone by using a cheese-slicer? Would I have use a chair in unarmed combat?! Would I have chucked an empty glass bottle from the top of a clock-tower? No, of course not. Violence on telly presents the point I am making in a sensationalist way – I could have used the way friendships are exaggerated out of all proportion on a show like Friends – and how it could be responsible for making people feels as though their real-life friendships are boring, eventless and unfulfilling.
In today’s society, with the boundaries between reality and fiction so blurred, and the way society is portrayed in the media I think its no wonder that that television has become so influential – and with that influence comes responsibility. Whilst television is there to entertain, society needs to remember that no matter how convincing telly is – it’s a vastly exaggerated version of life and its impact on the viewer should not completely dis-regarded.
Thanks for sticking with me if you have got this far – articles like this will be rare! Feel free to post a comment.
I don’t think there’s much of an argument against the above statement. The key question in my mind is “does it matter?” Well, I think it very much depends on how seriously people take what they see on television.There is that very old cyclical debate whether or not television mirrors society or if society influences what we see on television. There are strong arguments that support both sides and I suppose it's obvious that an individual’s view depends on where it is they are looking from. For instance, a successful television producer who delivers a graphically violent drama may claim that they are representing a small element of society and may even believe themselves to be quite virtuous in enlightening the rest of the population how this small minority live. Of course, they claim, their work cannot possibly influence their intelligent viewers and make them more inclined to accept violence as normal facet of life. The teenage viewer however may take a different view when in court attempting to explain why someone else is to blame for stabbing his latest victim.
So what’s my point here?! Why is this strange paragraph on a Dad’s Army blog?! Well, I was wondering who’d be the first to ask that, and I will try to explain. You see, I do believe television affects the actions of both children and adults.
Dad’s Army is a gentle, life affirming programme – we’ve all heard it described as such on several occasions. There was a time when I was a teenager when all I used to watch on television was Dad’s Army. I used to see at least one episode each day, and I listened to an episode of the radio play every night when I went to bed. I was always fast asleep long before Pike got his head stuck in the park gates. Not long after I discovered the world of Walmington-on-Sea, pretty much most of my humour became an unfunny version of Perry and Croft’s scripts. Every time I could offer the rebuttal “stupid boy”, I did. Every time I missed something obvious, “I wondered who’d be the first to spot that”. Whenever someone picked a classmate to play on their football team who I thought was a bad choice, I asked the captain “do you think that’s wise?” I began asking “if I could be excused” when I needed the loo. I started scratching my left ear whenever I wanted to labour a point, I shouted “Death!! Death!!! The Ruby will bring you Death!!” whenever a girl or female relative showed off a new item of jewellery and most of all, I strongly encouraged my friends (yes I did have them) that whatever they did, they should not panic. Along with getting electrisified, contracting verdegis and getting croup, my teenage years were somewhat dominated by – yes, what I’d seen on the telly.
Now imagine I had taken that to the ‘n’th degree (some of
you will think I probably did) – would I have attempted to decapitate someone by using a cheese-slicer? Would I have use a chair in unarmed combat?! Would I have chucked an empty glass bottle from the top of a clock-tower? No, of course not. Violence on telly presents the point I am making in a sensationalist way – I could have used the way friendships are exaggerated out of all proportion on a show like Friends – and how it could be responsible for making people feels as though their real-life friendships are boring, eventless and unfulfilling.In today’s society, with the boundaries between reality and fiction so blurred, and the way society is portrayed in the media I think its no wonder that that television has become so influential – and with that influence comes responsibility. Whilst television is there to entertain, society needs to remember that no matter how convincing telly is – it’s a vastly exaggerated version of life and its impact on the viewer should not completely dis-regarded.
Thanks for sticking with me if you have got this far – articles like this will be rare! Feel free to post a comment.
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