Last night I was watching the Golden Globes with my family and the Tivo message popped up asking if we wanted to cancel the show that was about to start recording and stay on the channel we were already on, or switch channels to keep the recording going. Obviously we stuck with the Golden Globe Awards. After they were over I looked at all the shows our Tivo records on Sunday night. There were 4. It made me begin to think of all the tv shows we record during the week and why we insist on watching so many.
The first answer that came to my head was because anything can happen in a tv show and it doesn't affect the people watching at all aside from the weirdly close connection we feel with these made up characters. For instance, yes, I felt sad or scared a few times watching Grey's Anatomy because the other characters were sad or in some crazy predicament. But if one of the main characters died, it wouldn't affect the way I live or any of my day to day activities. We feel safe when we watch intense, action movies because we get to watch all the action without experiencing all the pain and fear that the characters do.
It feels to me like we live vicariously through these characters. In comedies people say things you would never say to your wife or girlfriend or whoever. Somehow, these people can get away with it and still be funny. These writers find ways to make us want to be like the imaginary characters they come up with. If you watch an episode of some show where they rob a bank, usually afterwards you feel like you could also rob a bank. TV shows can often empower us to feel like we can do things greater than our understanding. They give us confidence that isn't always so false though. After watching the first eposide of The Firm, I thought, wow I could be a totally amazing lawyer too! Of course I would need much more schooling before attempting to defend a murderer in front of a New York judge.
Here's the main thing about TV shows: they make our lives interesting. Some of our lives are already interesting enough, but who besides maybe the president doesn't watch tv on a regular basis? The answer to that question is someone who doesn't have a tv. Or someone who turned off their cable. Which I hear is very bad because you could end up in a roadside ditch or taking in stray animals or something crazy like that. But seriously, we watch way too much tv. Why can't people just hang out and talk anymore? We always have to be doing something "fun" like watching tv or doing something illegal or listening to loud music while we waste gas.
If the size of the object in your house was directly related to how often we use it, I think many of our TVs would come in second to our beds. I also think if everytime you used something, it got bigger, our TVs would be bigger than our houses. A lot of us spend a lot of our time sleeping, watching tv, going to school/work, and eating. I feel like those are our main 4 daily activities as wealthy Americans. (Yes, if you're reading this blog post, you're wealthy because you have a laptop or a phone.) So the challenge of this post is to add one more thing to that list. Make it be 5 things you do everyday. No, not going to the bathroom or bathing, but something like excersize or cleaning! Cleaning is a good one. So is excersize. Or reading; that would be good too. Painting is fun. Being outside especially when it's nice. Reading outside...two birds, one stone. Fixing things; that would be great for everyone! Hey, writing! I do that.
No comments:
Post a Comment