"Television rules the nation." It reveals us to ourselves.
Behold, the power of television.
It captivates audiences endlessly, and it is the most widely-used form of technology in America. I have four televisions in my house. My mother has three in her home; my father, four; my brother, two; and my sister, four. Just in my immediate family, the average televisions in the home is almost three and a half.
But enough with math. (I hate it anyway.) The reason that television is so powerful is because of the messages it can transmit to massive amounts of people. It can hit folks when they are most vulnerable, too; for instance, when they are sitting in the comfort of their own living rooms.
It's generally agreed that television's primary functions are entertainment and news, but many don't consider the sheer selling power of t.v. In my mind, it's the greatest rhetorical tool that exists. It's almost like an interaction, yet it usually isn't impromptu (with the exception of live broadcasts), and the audience can't ask the television questions. It isn't a democratizing force like YouTube. Teams of professionals band together to hypnotize us.
Television doesn't just create trends. It can create societal revolutions. It can connect all of us at once, or divide all of us just as quickly. It can introduce concepts, or it can dismiss them. If there was ever an entrance into a modern culture in a certain historical moment, it can be found it what glimpses of that era televison offers us. We've gone from black and white Leave it to Beaver or Lassie and occasional commercials for chidren's toys to high definition raunchy, oversexed reality shows, and commercials that cost millions to produce and consume 40% of air time.
Television has the power to create markets, not just provide to them. It dictates consumerism.
Not all television is raunchy or damaging to our brains. I want to participate in the possibilities that are offered with this traditional media form.
Television has transformed sports. First their were sports venues that could hold thousands. But then there was television that could broadcast sports games to millions. Television fostered the entire glamourous culture of sports, particularly in America. Would NFL players be paid millions if the NFL didn't have such a large televised audience? No. Would the average global citizen be participating int he discourse of the Olympics without television? No.
In addition, athletes certainly wouldn't have such opportunity to brand themselves. If their jobs were limited to field time, no one would have a real glimpse into who they were, or what products they supported, or what they actually had to say.
Most importantly, without television, there would be silence. So many stories would not have come to existence. So many heroes wouldn't have had the opportunity to touch our lives. Television not only offers a means of transmission of these stories for entertainment, but a means of reflection and subsequent life lessons. It offers inspiration and perspective. Television fulfills our voyeuristic tendencies, and it can also offer us wisdom along the way.
It captivates audiences endlessly, and it is the most widely-used form of technology in America. I have four televisions in my house. My mother has three in her home; my father, four; my brother, two; and my sister, four. Just in my immediate family, the average televisions in the home is almost three and a half.
But enough with math. (I hate it anyway.) The reason that television is so powerful is because of the messages it can transmit to massive amounts of people. It can hit folks when they are most vulnerable, too; for instance, when they are sitting in the comfort of their own living rooms.
It's generally agreed that television's primary functions are entertainment and news, but many don't consider the sheer selling power of t.v. In my mind, it's the greatest rhetorical tool that exists. It's almost like an interaction, yet it usually isn't impromptu (with the exception of live broadcasts), and the audience can't ask the television questions. It isn't a democratizing force like YouTube. Teams of professionals band together to hypnotize us.
Television doesn't just create trends. It can create societal revolutions. It can connect all of us at once, or divide all of us just as quickly. It can introduce concepts, or it can dismiss them. If there was ever an entrance into a modern culture in a certain historical moment, it can be found it what glimpses of that era televison offers us. We've gone from black and white Leave it to Beaver or Lassie and occasional commercials for chidren's toys to high definition raunchy, oversexed reality shows, and commercials that cost millions to produce and consume 40% of air time.
Television has the power to create markets, not just provide to them. It dictates consumerism.
Not all television is raunchy or damaging to our brains. I want to participate in the possibilities that are offered with this traditional media form.
Television has transformed sports. First their were sports venues that could hold thousands. But then there was television that could broadcast sports games to millions. Television fostered the entire glamourous culture of sports, particularly in America. Would NFL players be paid millions if the NFL didn't have such a large televised audience? No. Would the average global citizen be participating int he discourse of the Olympics without television? No.
In addition, athletes certainly wouldn't have such opportunity to brand themselves. If their jobs were limited to field time, no one would have a real glimpse into who they were, or what products they supported, or what they actually had to say.
Most importantly, without television, there would be silence. So many stories would not have come to existence. So many heroes wouldn't have had the opportunity to touch our lives. Television not only offers a means of transmission of these stories for entertainment, but a means of reflection and subsequent life lessons. It offers inspiration and perspective. Television fulfills our voyeuristic tendencies, and it can also offer us wisdom along the way.
