My housemate was watching some CBS show earlier (I think it had Joe Mantegna in it...what's up with these respected Chicago theater actors-Mantegna, Gary Sinise-being in CBS procedurals?), and I caught about 10 minutes of it. It had something to do with a serial killer, and some ritual where he was eating people or something. Now, I remember when Se7en first came out, and it was all shocking and disturbing, etc (not to me, but to a lot of people, apparently) to show graphic stuff related to a serial killer. This movie was rated "R" to the best of my recollection. Basically a decade later, this same kind of thing is apparently acceptable and appropriate to play on primetime network television. How did we as a society get so desensitized in just over a decade that not only do we not protest material like this, but we applaud it, and tune in in droves to watch it?
I don't sit down and watch any of these shows, but in the bits and pieces I've seen, it seems as if the only thing holding CBS up as a network is sensationalism. Let's make one show (CSI), discover that it's successful, then make a million clones, but make them all slightly different so the viewer feels the need to tune in, and base it all upon serial killers, pedophilia (yeah, NBC is guilty of this as well...SVU), music video-style camera work, and "hip and now" subject matter, such as the Prince of Persia thing mentioned in another thread, and this one I saw a bit of tonight that had something to do with raves.....I'm sorry, but I first read about raves literally 18 years ago. So it appears the mainstream media likes to jump on "hip and trendy" bandwagons 3-5 years (if not more) past their prime.
There ARE exceptions, of course, like some show that recently revolved around some crime committed in Second Life, which is actually pretty current. But they basically had 5 minutes of expository dialogue that sounded like the actors spouting off script rather than "talking," in order to explain what Second Life was to those who had never heard of it before (which, I'm guessing, would be the majority of its viewers). I'm also guessing that what the writers/producers are going for is to introduce plot elements that revolve around stuff like video games and the internet to make those people who know next to nothing about these subjects and watch said programs feel vicariously "hip and trendy." Also, in regard to the Second Life episode, one of the characters specifically states near the beginning of the exposition that it is not a video game, and then later in the episode, refers to it specifically as a game.
Off that tangent....anyway, the point I was trying to make was to wonder why this sort of programming is now deemed acceptable. And why advertisers pay money to showcase their products right after someone just consumed body parts of another human being. I guess the subject matter titillates its audience, and vicariously lets them live through events that they would never carry out in real life, and then not feel any guilt about possibly enjoying thinking about the possibility, because the criminal is always captured and punished in the end.
All I see is a lot of flash, sensationalism, "weird" camera work, and not a whole hell of a lot of substance. I guess I'm thinking, if this is getting huge ratings in mainstream America, how much further can we possibly devolve? And why are all these accusations levied against video games when there are things on network TV that are as bad, if not worse?
And in what kind of a society are we living when children getting molested is a daily news story, and in order to capitalize on the sensationalism surrounding stories about this (especially when it involves respected members of society who work with youth for a living), they don't just make a "special" episode of one program about it, they create an entire SHOW based on this theme (SVU). Are we that desensitized to the subject matter that we can just matter-of-factly accept this kind of program as disposable entertainment? I would think it would be hard to get emotionally worked up over any of it, as we are being presented the same thing week after week. After a while, I would think, it would lose any shock value it may have once had, and just become accepted as another "fact of life."
So is pedophilia and serial killing on the rise in society, and our medium reflects this? As for pedophilia, why IS this? WHY is it you never really heard daily news stories about this 15-20 years ago? Are there really THAT many more sexual offenders in society today than there were 20 years ago? And if so, why? Is it a product of our media/celebrity oversaturated culture, where "tween" girls are encouraged to dress in a provocative manner? Does this have anything to do with it? Or is it something else entirely?
Or is it just more acceptable now to make it a daily headline? Does this make us as a society more enraged every time we read a story about it (not likely, as repetition tends to bring with it desensitization)? Or are we basically being told, "Yeah, this is happening hundreds of times a day, if not more, so we're going to keep telling you about it every week in prime time as a place to focus your outrage (as I said, if that outrage is even there anymore)"?
Or possibly, because there apparently ARE so many active pedophiles out there, the show is designed to titilate them, then show them the reprecussions of their actions, and hopefully instill a sense of either fear, or guilt, in order that they might not do it again. Sort of a public service message mixed with "A Clockwork Orange," sponsored by Pepsi. You already know my feelings on pedophilia from the old "Second Life" topic (it comes full circle), and I don't want to necessarily start another big debate about it here, but, and I'll grant you, I've only seen MAYBE two episodes of SVU in a very piecemeal way, but I seem to gather that the end result is always punishment and ostracization, not rehabilitation for a problem that the person may have little to no control over (*takes cover from the impending avalance of thrown stones*).
I guess it can be said that a society's "art" reflects its culture, and if this is indeed the case, I'm honestly pretty horrified as to where we ended up in the late first decade of the new millenium, and where we can possibly go from here. I don't watch TV. I don't read the newspaper. It's not that I get depressed from seeing all the headlines, and wallowing in all this "sin and depravity" on a daily basis. And it's not as if I need to constantly expose myself to "happy news" either. It's just that I have enough trouble trying to justify my own psychoses, paranoia, and predilictions, that I don't need to have a mirror placed in front of me (as a member of society) to show me exactly how ******ed up I really am.
And don't even get me started on sitcoms.
I don't sit down and watch any of these shows, but in the bits and pieces I've seen, it seems as if the only thing holding CBS up as a network is sensationalism. Let's make one show (CSI), discover that it's successful, then make a million clones, but make them all slightly different so the viewer feels the need to tune in, and base it all upon serial killers, pedophilia (yeah, NBC is guilty of this as well...SVU), music video-style camera work, and "hip and now" subject matter, such as the Prince of Persia thing mentioned in another thread, and this one I saw a bit of tonight that had something to do with raves.....I'm sorry, but I first read about raves literally 18 years ago. So it appears the mainstream media likes to jump on "hip and trendy" bandwagons 3-5 years (if not more) past their prime.
There ARE exceptions, of course, like some show that recently revolved around some crime committed in Second Life, which is actually pretty current. But they basically had 5 minutes of expository dialogue that sounded like the actors spouting off script rather than "talking," in order to explain what Second Life was to those who had never heard of it before (which, I'm guessing, would be the majority of its viewers). I'm also guessing that what the writers/producers are going for is to introduce plot elements that revolve around stuff like video games and the internet to make those people who know next to nothing about these subjects and watch said programs feel vicariously "hip and trendy." Also, in regard to the Second Life episode, one of the characters specifically states near the beginning of the exposition that it is not a video game, and then later in the episode, refers to it specifically as a game.
Off that tangent....anyway, the point I was trying to make was to wonder why this sort of programming is now deemed acceptable. And why advertisers pay money to showcase their products right after someone just consumed body parts of another human being. I guess the subject matter titillates its audience, and vicariously lets them live through events that they would never carry out in real life, and then not feel any guilt about possibly enjoying thinking about the possibility, because the criminal is always captured and punished in the end.
All I see is a lot of flash, sensationalism, "weird" camera work, and not a whole hell of a lot of substance. I guess I'm thinking, if this is getting huge ratings in mainstream America, how much further can we possibly devolve? And why are all these accusations levied against video games when there are things on network TV that are as bad, if not worse?
And in what kind of a society are we living when children getting molested is a daily news story, and in order to capitalize on the sensationalism surrounding stories about this (especially when it involves respected members of society who work with youth for a living), they don't just make a "special" episode of one program about it, they create an entire SHOW based on this theme (SVU). Are we that desensitized to the subject matter that we can just matter-of-factly accept this kind of program as disposable entertainment? I would think it would be hard to get emotionally worked up over any of it, as we are being presented the same thing week after week. After a while, I would think, it would lose any shock value it may have once had, and just become accepted as another "fact of life."
So is pedophilia and serial killing on the rise in society, and our medium reflects this? As for pedophilia, why IS this? WHY is it you never really heard daily news stories about this 15-20 years ago? Are there really THAT many more sexual offenders in society today than there were 20 years ago? And if so, why? Is it a product of our media/celebrity oversaturated culture, where "tween" girls are encouraged to dress in a provocative manner? Does this have anything to do with it? Or is it something else entirely?
Or is it just more acceptable now to make it a daily headline? Does this make us as a society more enraged every time we read a story about it (not likely, as repetition tends to bring with it desensitization)? Or are we basically being told, "Yeah, this is happening hundreds of times a day, if not more, so we're going to keep telling you about it every week in prime time as a place to focus your outrage (as I said, if that outrage is even there anymore)"?
Or possibly, because there apparently ARE so many active pedophiles out there, the show is designed to titilate them, then show them the reprecussions of their actions, and hopefully instill a sense of either fear, or guilt, in order that they might not do it again. Sort of a public service message mixed with "A Clockwork Orange," sponsored by Pepsi. You already know my feelings on pedophilia from the old "Second Life" topic (it comes full circle), and I don't want to necessarily start another big debate about it here, but, and I'll grant you, I've only seen MAYBE two episodes of SVU in a very piecemeal way, but I seem to gather that the end result is always punishment and ostracization, not rehabilitation for a problem that the person may have little to no control over (*takes cover from the impending avalance of thrown stones*).
I guess it can be said that a society's "art" reflects its culture, and if this is indeed the case, I'm honestly pretty horrified as to where we ended up in the late first decade of the new millenium, and where we can possibly go from here. I don't watch TV. I don't read the newspaper. It's not that I get depressed from seeing all the headlines, and wallowing in all this "sin and depravity" on a daily basis. And it's not as if I need to constantly expose myself to "happy news" either. It's just that I have enough trouble trying to justify my own psychoses, paranoia, and predilictions, that I don't need to have a mirror placed in front of me (as a member of society) to show me exactly how ******ed up I really am.
And don't even get me started on sitcoms.
Comment