Wasabe,
Around 7:20 last night, I was sitting down enjoying a delicious dinner and watching one of the greatest shows, animated or otherwise known to man, that being "The Simpsons". As many of us have, we know the show front to back, can quote lines before they happen, and just plain love the show. The episode last night involved Mr. Burns looking for an heir to his vast fortune. Fans know the episode I speak of, where C. Montgomery Burns holds heir auditions, chooses Bart, then Bart has trouble deciding between the material happiness Mr. Burns offers or the family love he has at home. Anyway, the plot line is besides the point. The epiphany I came to last night was that this show, much like every other formulated sitcom/drama/show on tv exists in a far too small universe. What I mean by this is that within a show, such as The Simpsons, every episodes crazy events happen to the same set of characters. For example, Homer has lived next to ex-presidents, been to space, solved crimes, held multiple jobs while still having the ol power plant to go back to, etc. What's worse is that all these crazy events are supported by the same cast of characters. If Homer is in a barbershop quartet, the other three are the trusty characters of Principal Skinner, Apu, and Barney. These same characters do everything.
I know this is how shows work. The whole point of a show is to keep the audience's interest in the main characters, and that requires many different comedic/dramatic situations to happen to them each time. The formula for the supporting characters allows the audience to connect and be familiar with them and understand them more (I bet this also saves on animation costs for the Simpsons, so they dont have to do new character designs each time).
My point is, I feel that people watching these shows are disillusioned into believing that their own reality will be similar in connectivity of experiences. For example, on Seinfeld, everytime one of the main characters walks down the streets of New York City, they run into someone they know. I might be wrong, but this is hardly a reality. In a city of 10 million, catching someone you know, even once a day, is highly questionable. I feel that this illusion of this closeness distorts the everyday man's expectations for his or her life. Think about it like this, there's a contest at your local McDonald's to win a free bike, or whatever they're giving away this week. The average man thinking of winning that bike doesn't expect to get it, but thinks his chances are still good. This is because his immediate reference is to the people in that Mickey D's, and maybe the surrounding MCD's in the area. This is skewed. In reality, there are thousands of McDonalds across the nation serving MILLIONS of people. When they flash that million dollar prize, that might be given to one person out of 200 MILLION. From all our television watching, we get this feeling of an inner circle, a community or group that belongs in its own universe. We create a world of our own characters that makes up our local reality. The problem is that there is so much more. Think about the number of people you pass in a day, driving next to you or in line in front of you, whom you have no single piece of knowledge about. Each of these people are also living in their own universe with their own set of characters. Disjointed in the mind, yet connected in the world. This is my realization of society.
Thinking about it, I imagine this is how society has been since the beginning of civilization. Every one has his own group to belong to and that world is their life. TV did not start this trend. I ask though, is TV strongly reinforcing the privatization of life in society and is it encouraging being content with one's small world? This question I am raising my stem from my own philosophy of getting the fullest experience out of this life, and being a part of everything I can. To me, holing yourself into a confined set of parameters in your life (some may calling it settling) is a waste of one's precious life. Is the fact that we see these characters on TV living a full life within their small world corrupting our idea of what reality is? I feel that this notion of things happening all the time within the same group of people distorts a viewer's desire to venture out into the world and search out these new experiences, for they are just waiting for them to happen within their familiar world. Routines develop, comfort sets in and before you know it, the window of opportunity has come and gone.
For some, perhaps this notion of routine and comfort is ideal. That inner circle of existance is more than enough, and there is no need for change. This just seems so empty to me. There is so much to the world, so so many people on it, and so so so many experiences outside of your known zone to be had. Perhaps this is why TV is so popular: it gives the viewer a chance to visualize these experiences through familiar others without leaving that comfort zone. Granted, this can be a welcome escape from a day's work, but problems arise when this becomes the crux of your interaction with the outside world. It's third person, not first. TV and books and magazines are great, but they will never beat the first person experience. I know this sounds lame, but go outside, go take a walk, meet someone new. Whether good or bad, your knowledge and understanding (and even appreciation) of life can only be deepened by it. The Simpsons is a great show, and TV a marvel of entertainment, but it is not reality. Reality is waiting outside the door.
No comments:
Post a Comment