Over the last couple of years I have been grappling with this feeling that our civilization is in decline as evidenced by the prevalence and popularity of reality TV shows that focus on pain and humiliation. People watch car races for the crashes, "The Batchelor" for the tears, and Springer for the fights and humiliation. Audiences are not satisfied with acting. They need the real thing.
This post on the Long Tail blog made me feel a little better. It references a David Foster Wallace essay which says:
TV is not vulgar and prurient and dumb because the people who compose the audience are vulgar and dumb. Television is the way it is simply because people tend to be extremely similar in their vulgar and prurient and dumb interests and wildly different in their refined and aesthetic and noble interests.
So it looks like mass media just amplifies the negative side of our culture. The positive, aspirational side is still there. There just isn't a market for it.
See you at the Flavian.
No comments:
Post a Comment