“Television is truly an evil invention. In ‘The Idiot’s Lantern‘, an evil alien presence tries to take over 1950’s Great Britain by sucking the minds out of telly viewers while they watch Queen Elizabeth’s coronation. Brainless.”
Even though this avery strong, determined personal statement, I happen to agree with it, on some level. I believe the means of entertainment that are out there in our present society, specially television, are dangerous, pushing us the consumers to an unmeasured and thoughtless, unquestioned level of consumerism.
Television, is either a means to bring back emotions/memories of nostalgia, happiness and excitement…or one to numb all the other emotions we prefer not to feel and deny. This specific desire to silence unwanted emotions, I believe drives the consumers to watch programs or shows where very little amount of thinking is necessary. ‘’Brainless’’; as it was put in the previous quote.
These said programs, things such as ‘Keeping Up with The Kardashians’, ‘Big Brother’, ‘East Enders’, ‘Made in Chelsea’, ‘Made in Essex’, etc.. serve to numb and distract the public to such a deep level that they end up being absorbed into that word and forgetting theirs. This means that in some way, the life they see in these shows is better than theirs, that is what they have come to admire and aspire to. This is dangerous because they are deeply absorbed into shows that only aspire to superficial matters, matters of possessions, ‘luxury’ and reputation… The people they aspire to are people who aspired to the same type of people they have aspired to..And that’s a dangerous and unhealthy cycle.
The funny thing is is that most of these shows are called ‘reality shows’… How can reality, be a show?
There is another side of ‘numbing’ to television. One we may have less responsibility in. And that’s where the greater power uses the means of television to distract us from the more important matters. For example, it is very convenient for the government that most of the public is at home watching ‘brainless’ programs, simply because, they don’t want you to be an awaken civilised thinking individual. And my second example would be; take a look at the politicians in America and their ways of distracting the public; Obama, Hillary and Trump, all three going on Jimmy Fallon’s late night show over and over again, showing the public how close they are to the real people, how funny they are… All of this advertisement, it’s basically saying ‘Don’t worry about me, I’m just a cool funny guy who just wants to make you happy.’ The actual truth is that whilst you were watching them rap with Jimmy Fallon they were throwing bombs in 11 different countries and not fulfilling those promises for which they got elected.
SALOMÉ GAUTIER 