what does TV say to you

zhao

there are no accidents
while bored at work, I came up with a list of main ideological messages underlying American television. can you think of other ones? if there was one from British TV, would it be different?

1. everything is, and will be, OK (do not worry)
2. infinite expansion
3. trust the system
4. you are free (look at all the choices you have)
5. white people are awesome
6. all other ethnic groups act like white people
7. buying stuff makes you happy
8. no one is ever really sad and everyone is always happy
9. you and your ego are the center of the world
10. family is the most important thing in the world (after yourself)
11. bigger is better
12. competition is a virtue / winning is everything
 

Guybrush

Dittohead
this is all rather adolescent innit
How so?

Your outline seems pretty accurate, Zhao, but why bother analysing a dying medium? I dumped my TV in January and have not missed it at all. All that is worth watching is available on-line, and the rest I am more than happy to be spared from.
 

mms

sometimes
what tv says:

why don't you go out and do something else less boring instead.

or use the box to replay a dvd from when tv was not just a body filled with deadly viruses.
 

zhao

there are no accidents
I was working on some motion graphics for AMC and Discovery (cable channels) when I came up with that list... I think it is important to identify the main messages conveyed by -- actually maybe this list applies to all of mass media and not just TV -- which by the way I personally have not "watched" in years.

I would also like to make a list of "modern myths" or things which we (as a civilization? people?) believe and are invested in, but are not true. infinite expansion would be one of them.
 
Last edited:

swears

preppy-kei
infinite expansion would be one of them.

Really? Isn't that an idea that's died of with the enviromentalist and postmodernist movements of the last 20-30 years? I think the average guy in the street understands there are only a finite number of resources.
 

zhao

there are no accidents
Really? Isn't that an idea that's died of with the enviromentalist and postmodernist movements of the last 20-30 years? I think the average guy in the street understands there are only a finite number of resources.

oh I wish you were right but don't think so. maybe less people believe in the infinite expansion of Capitalism now than before, and more are conscious, but in my estimation, in the everyday, very much "business as usual" world, the vast majority either still believe or behave as if they still believed - even if a minority are aware of the absurdity of this notion.
 

tht

akstavrh
those could all have applied 30 years ago, wouldn't it be more interesting to see if anything is specific to current tv shit, rather than imagining everything as a homogenous corporatist pravda.

fox has clearly shifted things further in some respects with the likes of fox news (not just a neofascist billionaire's plaything but wildly profitable in its own right) and the simpsons, which follows every rule in your book but with evident cynicism and disconcertingly hebephrenic colour, noise and commotion . then there was the x files which contradicts several of them but nonetheless commodified unease very lucratively.

not living in america i don't watch a lot of the mainstream network stuff you are talking about but it's all pretty obvious and would apply to commerical tv anywhere. tv adverts are far more fecund with signifiers (and aesthetic innovation) and they seem to be fairly similiar in western europe, east asia and america. the uk would probably the the avant-garde in this respect :)
 
Last edited:

mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
I'm in the Uk and havent had a TV for twenty years, but round my nephew's house recently the TV has been saying to me

"Everyone ends up in hospital"
"Families are falling apart"
and
"Your body is disgusting".

None of which I think about much when not watching it.

Oh, and

"My Chemical Romance are the shittest band in the history of the world."
 

krankissey

mr. great
tv relays "this is not meant for you, this is meant for the mass market, which means that you are relatively smart. good job."
 

gek-opel

entered apprentice
"Your body is disgusting" seems to be the abiding message.

Also "Kill" but I'll ignore that one for now!
 

swears

preppy-kei
I can't even watch TV, it's so....embarrasing! That's the word. I was in a pub tonight and they had FHM TV on, all the girls in the videos try so hard to be sexy it's pathetic.
 

zhao

there are no accidents
"Everyone ends up in hospital"
"Families are falling apart"
and
"Your body is disgusting".

these are interesting.

maybe it is a combination of appealing to the most selfish, self-agrandizing, self centered, ego-driven aspects of socialized humans, and the simultaneous negative and degrading messages which reinforce feelings of fear, misery, lack, impotency, inadequecy -- that is the most effective in terms of social control.
 

DJ PIMP

Well-known member
TV in New Zealand also mirrors and defines the countries (lack of) identity.

From the first episode of the soap Shortland Street, "you're not in Guatemala now, Dr Ropata" (haha), to many memorable ad campaigns over the past decades; it shows a country trying to find itself.

A comparative study of soaps from different countries...?
 

mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
I really can't recommend Jerry Mander's 'Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television' enough if anyone hasn't read it
 

mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
these are interesting.

maybe it is a combination of appealing to the most selfish, self-agrandizing, self centered, ego-driven aspects of socialized humans, and the simultaneous negative and degrading messages which reinforce feelings of fear, misery, lack, impotency, inadequecy -- that is the most effective in terms of social control.

and yeah, I'd agree with that, but I'd really recommend Mander's book if you're thinking about this stuff Zhao, he lays it all out. Had a massive influence on me at an early age anyway, haven't read it for nearly 20 years but I'd imagine you could translate the bits that have dated pretty easily.
 
Top