Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves To Death has opened my eyes to the perspective I've never been able to see. At one point, he refers to "The Age of Show Business" and talks about the television. To me, the television has always been the place to go to for either entertainment or information. There came a line where I had to sit and question myself. Postman says (p.87) that television is "devoted entirely to supplying its audience with entertainment", "that all subject matter is presented as entertaining", and that even "news" isn't supposed to be taken seriously. After this, Postman goes on and talks about how each type of show has their flaw that makes the show more entertaining than the purpose we all think.
For example:
P103-105- The news we watch is covered in a brief time, only to be replaced with another story or commercials. MacNeil confirms it with his writings that news isn't supposed to strain the attention of anyone and that complexity should be avoided to provide stimulation for the viewer in other ways.
P142-145- Sesame Street is a show used by many parents to help aid their children in learning their basic numbers, the alphabet, and, if I remember right, manners and other things a child should know. Even something meant to be educational has a different look on the television. It uses puppets, celebrities, and other things to keep their young viewers entertained. Rather than learning, I can agree with Postman and say that the show, which is meant to be educational, has children learning to love, not school or learning, but the television.
With those two different types of shows, Postman reveals to us that the purpose we initially see isn't really what the purpose is. The news, which is watched on a daily basis by many people, is only meant to be for entertainment rather than information and Sesame Street, which many children grow up watching, is meant for entertainment rather than education. I'm left here to wonder, is there anything on television that can be taken seriously? In other words, is there anything on television that isn't out there for purely for entertainment, but for more reasons? Is there any show that strives for actual education, minus the entertainment?
Sesame Street- Call Me Maybe Parody-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qTIGg3I5y8
Education!
I think you and Postman have it very correct in that everything, from education to news is focused around entertainment. Certainly "Sesame Street" is not an educational show with bits of childish fun to make learning enjoyable for children, as many of us would like to believe. It is a show focused on entertaining children while promising "education" for young children. Since "education" is offered through "Sesame Street," it has a wide appeal to parents who are possibly skeptical of letting their young child loose into the world of television, because, of course, "Sesame Street" is "educational."
ReplyDeleteEven with the History Channel, one would assume they are aired to educate people on history. Looking at the show "Deadliest Warrior," I realize that the show had almost no interest in giving us an education into history. I didn't watch it to learn about history; I would watch that show to see what type of cool weapons each warrior had and who won in the dramatic fight scene.
As for your question, is there any television program not aired for entertainment but to actually get their information across? I think yes. How would we find one? If Postman concludes that almost every genre, from politics to education, is out there for entertainment, you would have to look for shows that ARE boring. Shows that do not catch your interest. If a show is boring, it probably does not have entertainment as a priority in its message. The question is, how long would a "boring" show last on the air in this entertainment driven culture?
On a digression, I believe the show "Deadliest Warriors" was on History Channel. However, I am not 100% sure.
After thinking about this for a while, I realized how true Postman's observations are. People watch television mainly for entertainment. Dramas, movies, and cartoons, are all meant to entertain. The news, which is meant to be informative, tends to feature trivial stories that are interesting in the moment, but are often forgotten by the commercial break.
ReplyDeleteAs Stephen said, even the history channel has some entertainment value. When a show does not entertain viewers, they are less likely to tune in and watch. When there comes a scene where there is little entertainment to be had, we change the channel and find something else that catches our interest. "Channel surfing" in between commercial breaks feeds into our need for immediate entertainment.
If you were looking for programs that were purely educational, you may be in luck. I believe that local public access television channels may feature town hall meetings and other informational programming. You may also come across channels that provide coverage for the U.S Senate and the U.S House of Representatives. The only other channel that comes to mind for "purely educational purposes" would be the weather channel perhaps.
I cannot imagine that many people will actually tune into these programs for the simple reason that they are very boring. Out of curiosity I watched one of the programs on the weather channel, and lasted about five minutes, at best, before losing interest.