Everyone knows I love television. I might not own a set at the moment, but I can usually be relied upon to know what's happening on a lot of shows (not so much this year, obviously, due to a self-imposed limit on TV time), especially those of the reality persuasion. But I watch television as a form of escape, a shallow, brainless medium, for the most part. (Of course, there are exceptions to this - most notably, the news, though that, too, has gotten considerably shallower in recent times.) Imagine my surprise, then, when the topic of discussion - after the requisite painful recap of the syllabus - of my INART 110: Dramatic Arts in Mass Media class on Tuesday, "Why Do We Watch Television?", was actually really thought-provoking.
Who knew there was actual analysis that went into this stuff?
There are five reasons, in fact, why people watch television. I could only think of two: entertainment and education. According to my professor, who seems like a pretty knowledgeable and funny guy, they are:
1. escapism (aka entertainment)I actually can't believe I didn't think of #3, because I am all about having communal television experiences. It is rare that I won't know at least one person who watches a show I watch (and this applies to other media too, like books, movies, music, etc.). Sometimes it's because one of us has hooked the other on the show (I've been blamed for more than a couple of addictions...), but most times, we've each discovered the show on our own, and then discovered the other was a fan. Instant commonality. It's easy, especially in the nascent stages of a friendship or around a group of strangers or acquaintances, to find and grasp on to these shared interests just to have something to talk about. Sure, television's not the most stimulating topic of conversation, but "What did you think of X show last night?" usually gets the ball rolling and breaks the ice. I like to use American Idol because everyone seems to have an opinion about the show, regardless of actual viewing experience. All that deep, serious talk can come later. Plus, it's just more fun to watch something with other people, be it a football game (even if it is a disappointing loss to the Cardinals...), a trashy dating show, or something else.
2. information (aka education)
3. the communal experience
4. companionship
5. reaffirmation of values
Companionship seems like a strange reason - I never would have thought of it - though I do see the reasoning behind it. The way my professor put it in class: People turn on the television as soon as they get home to feel less alone and to hear another human's voice. Or... you could call someone? No? I'm not even a phone person, but I'd rather hear a friendly voice as opposed to, oh, I don't know, the weatherman's.
Out of everything we discussed in class that day, it was reaffirmation of values that really struck me. My professor told us to consider our views of family, relationships, acceptable behaviors and how they are influenced by the shows we watch - and how they influence which shows we choose to watch. Let's take a look at "my shows." To keep it simple, the shows I'm watching this season specifically: The Bachelor and Survivor. (I know, real quality television right there... Let's move on.) Neither of these seems to reaffirm any of my values - unless I value cutthroat competition, exploitation (if not of women, than of the kids of the Bachelor and some single moms on the show), and, oh yeah, being a manwhore (sorry, Jason, you look good in a suit, but it is true).
(Sidenote: Though I don't particularly like words like "manwhore" or "manslut" because they imply that the words "whore" and "slut" are inherently feminine, they do help avoid confusion. Maybe someday derogatory language will catch up and become gender neutral...)
Taken superficially, then, these shows don't exhibit anything resembling my values. But on the large scale, maybe they do. For example, I'm all rah-rah about equal rights and diversity, but the simple premise of The Bachelor/The Bachelorette affirms heteronormativity: in the end, a man and a woman get (or are supposed to get) engaged and eventually married, and that hope for a fairytale ending is part of the appeal for me. Because, obviously, that is one of my goals, too. Survivor also reinforces my belief that teamwork works - and brings great reward sometimes - but ultimately, life's an individual game, and one must take both responsibility and credit for himself. (That, and my belief that dimples are, quite possibly, the cutest dominant trait ever.)
I could make myself sound more intelligent and say that I watch these as anthropological studies or something similarly educational, but let's be honest: I watch them because they're hilarious. I watch them because I get to see other people make fools of themselves and be glad I'm not them.
While I'm still pretty skeptical about this stuff as a legitimate social science, I'm really looking forward to future lectures in this class. It should be a nice reprieve from all my BIOE courses.
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