seeing tv

A detailed Summary of seeing tv

I have watched television on many occasions throughout my life. When I was growing up I watched TV to pass the time on days when I could not go outside, and the whole day I would complain to my parents that, "there is never anything fun to do in the house." As a child I would sit down in the family TV room watching, what I now consider, mindless shows for hours upon end. I did that to relieve the current state of boredom that I was in. Little did I know that those wasted hours I spent in front of a box would shape some of my outlooks on people and life for the future. I did not come upon this realization until I started attending classes in the beginning of this semester. Through the readings, movies, lectures, and this project I came to realize that I was and am just as impressionable as the next person is when it comes to TV. Between counting the technical events that occur in a TV program and watching programs without turning on the sound I came to the realization that all things portrayed on TV are seen as entertaining. If everything is entertaining it becomes harder to decipher which aspects are real, if any.

To watch a television show and attempt to count the technical events is not an easy task. I say attempt

This experiment has opened my eyes to view television on a whole other level. I can make the distinction, most of the time, which others cannot do, between what is portrayed as reality and what is reality. I also understand that all of the subjects presented on TV are viewed as entertaining. This is not the proper image that should be available for millions of impressionable minds to watch. The television should be projecting interesting and stimulating matters not turning subjects like murder and violence into entertainment. I also agree with what was said in the film "Ways of Seeing", that the camera

changes the way we see things. All of the different technical events that occur in a program can change the light in which we look at the subject matter. If there is a lot of camera movement and scenery changing, that can make the dullest subject matter interesting. It can also have the effect of making bad images seem normal and even pleasurable. The way media works today it can accomplish many things. It can invent stories to create, what they think is reality, which leads to the destruction of people thinking for themselves. There was a good portrayal of this in a recent movie, "Wag the Dog". In this movie the media created a war to divert the attention of the public away from a real life scandal. That made me think that I could fall victim to that now, and never know the difference between reality and "Tvland."

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Approximate Word count = 1947
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Miscellaneous