After reading Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death, there were some points of view of his that I related to. I agreed with his observation that not some, but all television is entertainment. "The problem is not that television presents us with entertaining subject matter but that all subject matter is presented as entertaining" Even serious or controversial topics you may see in the news are kind of filled full of fluff in order to hold the viewers short attention span.
As an example I chose the Colbert Report. While it is obviously not a "real" news show, it does tackle current events and issues that are all over other networks. I went to the Colbert Report website real quick to find some video clips and I came across this,
http://thecolbertreport.cc.com/video-playlists/e883yc/the-colbert-in-60 .
Like Postman stated, this is pure entertainment, with nearly every other line of Colbert's being a punchline. What I found even more interesting about this link though, is that they cut every episode down to the best jokes and punchlines that can fit in 60 seconds, which also reinforces Postman's statement on the average viewers attention span, which is very short. "The average length of a shot on network television is only 3.5 seconds... the viewer always has something new to see." While these highlight reels of Colbert's TV show consist of shots longer than 3.5 seconds, you are still receiving a barrage of jokes. While the Colbert Report is still presented as a satirical version of TV news, he still gets on stage with Neil Young and sings about getting attacked by dolphins.
The quote you used, "The problem is not that television presents us with entertaining subject matter but that all subject matter is presented as entertaining" was used in great terms. It really supports your argument in agreement with Postman. The Colbert Report is a great example, like you said, nearly every line is a punch line and is certainly entertaining. It's hilarious show and many view it as one of the most entertaining shows on television right now. Great post, Jon, I enjoyed reading.
ReplyDeleteI feel like today, all television is entertainment and most television has become more entertaining. I agree with Postman that all TV is entertainment, because we have all had that time where we watched something completely irrelevant to our interests just because it was on TV. But I agree with you that certain programs that are intended to be informative have become entertainment. I wouldn't be exaggerating if I said that most of my "news" intake comes from watching the Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live.
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