I live with five other people. We just bought a new TV, which has led us to all be watching it because, well, we all want our $200 share worth of the crisp plasma screen. This has also led us to watch a lot of shows, and a lot of them all together as a group. And no one, in the least bit, is afraid to express how he feels about what we are watching. Criticism of television seems to be a past time for a lot of people, because quite frankly there are a ton of different views and ideologies on the internet, TV, newspaper, magazines, etc, about television shows.
My goal for being involved in TV Criticism is to add my viewpoints about TV to the community, to show how TV can explain a lot about why people do, what they do. I also, not necessarily want to change your thoughts or views about a topic, but want to encourage you to participate as well. Just as the purchase of the TV brought us together as a group, TV each and every day forms communities of people all around the world. As stated in my info box, I hope to enrage, or excite you enough that you go write a blog, write a book, write on a napkin, write something to get your view about how you feel about TV out in the world. Television criticism is important and I strive to be able to show how criticism can impact the way we live each and every day.
Television criticism is important and I strive to be able to show how criticism can impact the way we live each and every day. Yes I know I just wrote the same sentence, but I want to stress the importance. O’Donnell (2007) asks the question "What is the advantage of being able to perform television criticism if your not going to be a professional television critic?" He then goes on to answer himself by pointing out how the process of critical awareness can help members of the community enhance their understanding of culture, human nature, and interpretation (3). O’Donnell also stresses the importance of being able to understand not only your reaction to TV, but also the reactions of others (1). This enables people to be informed members of community and helps them move away from ignorance. Sillars and Gronbeck add to this notion by saying "The ability to analyze communication messages clearly helps you from being victimized by misunderstanding (4)." Through this ability to analyze communication messages
Sillars and Gronbeck also go on to explain the importance of how TV is more than just a show. How TV (and movies alike) are vessels for the way people act in their everyday lives, "because film Sillars s are bigger than life and because we usually think of them as entertainment rather than sources of cultural education (6)." They stress how the TV shows and movies we watch can explain actions in our everyday lives. Butler (2002) goes along with this idea by saying how many different ideologies are presented in TV, that TV is polysemic, that televisual texts offer a multiplicity of meanings (10). He also points out how TV does not present these meanings equally. "The television text does not present all meanings equally positively or strongly...the television emphasizes some meanings and de-emphasizes others (10)." This then ties back in with what O’Donnell, Sillars and Gronbeck are all saying.
By us (the people) being critical thinkers we should be able to try and figure out what the important meanings are in shows, what the unimportant meanings are, and how they relate to what we do in our everyday lives. I am a pretty big 24 fan, but I think with the level of critical awareness I have, I am able to figure out the important meaning may not be how Jack Bauer survived another mass explosion or terrorist attack, but maybe how certain branches of the government work during a terrorist invasion, who does what and why it is important to me.
In some cases (perhaps not to the extreme of Jack Bauer and 24) TV becomes an answer for problems in our own lives. As Corner (quoting Fiske) (1999) suggests "audiences seek to make what they watch fit their own experiences and lives (10)." Perhaps you've just gone through a rough break-up, what you thought was love, was over and done in less than a week. You flip on the tube and Flavor of Love 16 is on, and you can relate with "Fierce" or "Candy Shop" (if you have seen the show you'll know what I'm talking about) and you fit their experience with being "dumped" in one show with your story of being trashed in a week. TV provides meaning for situations and Corner suggests the idea that TV programming being related with everyday life should be celebrated and not criticized (10).
I think that last line is a great place to wrap things up. TV programming being related to life should be celebrated not criticized. It may not be clear, because we have to be critical, but I think our critical reactions of how TV develops along with our own lives is celebrated through the process of criticism. Criticism brings communities together, as O'Donnell pointed out, it makes meaning for our everyday lives, and allows us to fit what we see on TV with our own personal soap operas. I am writing this blog because I want to be apart of this community, of higher critical awareness. Your mother may say "TURN OFF THE TV", but I promise you she will not have a comeback if you simply state, "But Mom, TV is making me an better informed member of society through the process of critically analyzing shows and how they interact with our everyday lives." So I encourage you to become a critical member of society, to dive in to what TV has to offer. I am certainly going to try because with all that TV has to offer, I never know what I might find.
Butler, J. (2002). Television: Critical Methods and Applications (2nd ed). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Corner, J. (1999). Critical Ideas in Television Studies. New York: Oxford University Press.
O’Donnell, V. (2007). Television Criticism. New York: Sage.
Sillars, M. O. and Gronbeck, B. E. (2001). Communication Criticism: Rhetoric, Social Codes, Cultural Studies. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press.
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