This may be kind of a silly thread, but I’m sure it’ll die an appropriate death if that’s the case.
A couple of weeks back, I found myself contemplating the fact that Barack Obama may be our next president. And while I realized that it would be historically significant, the idea doesn’t seem all that extraordinary to me. I think the majority of the country would be fine with a black president (I’m not speaking to anyone’s opinion about Obama’s specific politics – just the idea of voting for someone that represented their ideals who happens to be black).
In contemplating why this idea seemed so…well…normal to me, it occurred to me that I’d spent the last six years watching a television drama (“24”) where a very articulate and inspirational black senator became president, and he was one of the most well-liked characters on the show. And I found myself wondering if having a mainstream character like that on a popular TV show has been of any benefit to Obama’s acceptance by the public. Yeah, I know it’s a weird idea, but that was my thought process.
So, are there ways you think that TV shows (or movies or what-have-you) have had an impact on social stigmas in real life?
I’ve heard tell of the “CSI” effect: people thinking they know how forensics works thanks to TV, or being disappointed when it’s not as cool as TV makes it look to them.
I find it very easy to believe that TV has had a major influence in overcoming prejudice. It’s a lot harder to maintain prejudicial and stereotypical beliefs about, for example, black people, when every week you see people who don’t conform to those stereotypes, especially if you’ve grown up seeing such examples.
Who knows how big an impact television commercials have had on real life. Arguably, exposure to all those advertisements has made the average American more materialistic and less easily contented.
I’d also heard that various gangster movies over the years, totally changed what it like for police to deal with real life gangsters. After Godfather et al, gangsters had a “hard ass” gangster stereotype to emulate when being interviewed or otherwise dealing with law enforcement, and they did.
I blame TV (especially the talk shows) for the proliferation of drama queens and attention whores. Every problem is a BIG problem that requires professional help.
TV news shares some blame too. Anything that goes wrong in someone’s life becomes devastating if they’re asked about it in front of a TV camera.
TV also reinforces stereotypes. Have you seen an Italian that isn’t either stupid or a gangster? A Russian that isn’t either a drunk or a criminal? An Asian that isn’t a geek or doesn’t know martial arts?
You’d have to dig really far from mainstream movies and TV to find examples of those.
BTW, the black or female president thing is done so that the audience will know that we are in the future.
If tv can’t influence people’s thinking, then all those advertisers are imagining the effects of their commercials.
And after pitching companies on the idea that advertising can alter people’s behavior, the network executives argue that the content of their programming isn’t harmful and shouldn’t be scrutinized…
My theory is that TV makes modern life possible. If people didn’t have TV, they’d get bored sitting around at home, and they’d go out on the streets and make trouble. Standard life for lots of people is wake up, work, come home, eat dinner, and pass out in front of the TV. With no TV it would be wake up, work, come home, eat dinner, beat up the wife, go out and join a cult, harrass ethnic minorities, rob liquor stores, gamble, drink, shoot heroin, and join a fascist political movement.
As someone whose business is part surveillance, I am frequently amazed by people who think we should be able to take a 640x480 still of an entire parking lot and be able to zoom and “enhance” a license plate that’s a good 200 feet away from the camera.
Or how about the fact that people think “If you break the law, you are busted. They have you, all the time.”
Plenty of people get away with crimes ALL the time. Everyday. Everywhere.
Tv is just a propaganda machine. You wouldn’t commit as many crimes, or at least be more detoured, if you believed you were going to be caught every time.
I’ve often wondered if shows like Will & Grace, or Ellen Degeneres’ show, were a catalyst for, or merely a reflection of, America’s increasing tolerance for a gay lifestyle. I suspect that “normalizing” the behavior by showing it in a mainstream context on television has a subtle effect in breaking down pre-existing resistance to homosexuality.
(I say this with full awareness that the characters on Will & Grace were largely parodies of homosexuals. The point is not that they were accurately portraying gay men as they actually are, but that they were portraying gay men at all).
Very true. Biology departments all across the country have expanded their ‘forensic science’ offerings due, almost solely it seems, to the popularity of CSI and similar programs. With the result, of course, that there are a lot of disappointed forensic biology majors who then graduate with much poorer job prospects than they had hoped (but a lot better than they would have had with no degree I suppose, so that’s the up side).
[Curmudgeon warning]: I think TV has impacts real life in three way:
It has created the illusion that everything in life is resolved at 6:55, 7:55, 8:55, etc. All crimes are solved, justice is served, old friends are forgiven, diseases are cured, marriage spats are resolved, and everyone is made happy at five minutes before the top of the hour. It has created a sense of entitlement where everything thinks they are due “closure”. Real life seldom works that way.
I read this here on SDMB and it rang so true that it bears repeating. I wish I could remember who said it so I could give them the credit. TV shows contain commercials. What’s the goal of every commercial? To make you feel unhappy with your current deodorant, car, beer, or emotional state to create within you the urge to buy deodorant, car, beer, or ask your doctor about the latest anti-depressant or erectile dysfunction medication. So, every 10 minutes, at high volume, someone is saying you stink, your car sucks, you’re too sober, you’re too sad, and you are less of a man because you can’t get it up. Of course, this is all being done by thin, beautiful people. How much of that do you think the average person can stand before they start believing it?
The third impact is - TV gives people a reason to sit on their asses and not interact with one another for four hours every evening. This is somewhat balanced by the fact that TV also gives us a window to the rest of the world and it can be thought-provoking at times.
Do you think that TV invented the world of popular culture? Americans were bombarded by commercials in magazines and radio before television was around and their function was exactly the same. Halitosis and BO were in giant letters in magazine ads by the 1920s.
Movies, plays, and novels all have neat resolutions at the final act. The mystery is solved, the lovers are united, the war is won. This has been true since story-telling began.
You can only believe that rational discourse used to occur in American society by deliberately blanking yourself to all of our history. The newspapers of the 18th century were completely vicious in slander, lies, and contumely. The Alien and Sedition Acts were passed just to imprison their editors. The Founding Fathers’ writings contain a million references to the “mob” and “masses” whom they hated and feared for their susceptibility to propaganda and emotion.
Television has some effect on society. I’m sure that’s true, but nobody has ever been able to define to my satisfaction what that effect is. Television and society are both too big and too loose terms. The way people watch television, the programs they watch, the amount of time they give to television, and the messages they get from what they watch differ too much to apply any general statement.
You only have to read history to know that people have complained in remarkably similar terms about every form of popular entertainment, from novels to comic books to radio to movies to theater to music to dance to vaudeville to the internet. And it’s always “them.” “They” are being affected, they are stupid, they are mindless sheep, we are the elite who know better. Phooey.
Invented - no. Redefined - yes. Why do I say that? My impression was that, prior to radio, TV, and movies, entertainers were not idolized and admired. At least, not by the populace during the 19th century.
Very good point. Any counterpoint I could make to this would probably be selective nostalgia. For example, radio shows and early TV shows often had a single sponsor whose message was, “Buy our product because it’s really good.” instead of “You suck. Buy our product so you won’t.” That’s nostalgia on my part because the hidden message was always “Be like this handsome guy with great teeth and smoke Camels” or “Be a great mom and buy King Biscuits”
However, there is a subtle difference with TV. With print media, it’s easy to flip right past the ads. Until the advent of TIVO, it wasn’t so easy to ignore the ads on TV. The advertisors have a captive audience. That’s one lesson I think that internet advertisors will learn the hard way in time. It seems like they are basing the business models on TV ads and don’t yet realize that it’s too easy to ignore the internet ad.
Another good point. The best stories alway have a good wrap-up ending.
You didn’t disagree with me about the amount of time spent watching TV. Okay, I’ll disagree with me. Technology gave us more leasure time. TV filled the void, it didn’t create it.
What do you think people would do without TV to fill the void?
