The People do not see Themselves on TV

[Raisa]

I think the title of my post is self explanatory.
I put on the TV, and most of the people that I see on TV shows are pretty wealthy in comparison to probably most of the people watching.
It is pretty strange when you think about it.
Most of America does not live the way the people on television live, but if you were to put on TV, you could easily assume otherwise. Think of when you DO see poor and struggling people on TV. The show most likely is a drama. There is rarely an evening sit com with a regular person in a regular home, squeezing his family into a regular sized kitchen.

Does anyone else notice this?
If you are not from America, do you notice this in your country?

What do you think this does to people?
What do you think it is telling us to not see ourselves on TV?

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

We are not meant to desire ourselves - we are meant to desire the unattainable goals of the American Dream, held up on our television sets. Consume correctly, and you too might live this exalted life. In contrast, drop out and face damnation as a killer on Law & Order. We are, it seems presented with a harsh dichotomy - win or lose.

I feel as though, generally speaking, this is a conscious decsion or some grand conspiracy - it is simply the fact of a medium that operates within the dominant framework, and is, naturally, twisted by it. The realtionships between those involved in television are skewed by the facts of economic relationships in such a way that television is, largely, "protected" from any radical content.

Just what first popped into my head. If somebody who roughly agrees feels like expanding these rough ideas to their logical conclusions . . .

[Dr. Rosenpenis]

VMC is pretty much right on, I reckon.

Not only is the purpose of this "lie" to force Americans to lust after material wealth, but also to create an illusion that the American standard of living is higher than it really is.

My history teacher told me that the average yearly income in the United States is higher than 40,000 a year. I told her that was absurd, but she asked m to prove it. I did, and she was dumbfounded when she saw that is was only around 22,000. In Florida, that is.

Where the hell do people get these notions that the American suburban middle class household with two or three cars and a four-bedroom home is the norm? I blame it largely on Television.

And the effects of these falsehoods are quite detrimental to our cause, no?

[RedAnarchist]

American Television & Hollywood - women are blonde brainless barbi dolls, houses are huge and foreigners are criminals - especially if they are Brits, Germans or Arabs. All Americans are good, and its fine to steal British history and Americanize it.

American truth - more and more people are unemployed because of Bush. In inner city areas, members of ethnic minorities are poor and in great need of help. Health care is only available if you can pay for it. Religion and the Reactionary Right still control the country.

British television - Northerners speak with broad accents, Southerners are all Cockneys, Scousers are either theifs or comedians. Men are beer-drinking, football-loving layabouts and West Country people are thick. Germans are usually fat or a little dim, French people are snobs, Yanks are fat and way too cheerful, Aussies are drunken idiots and South Asian people all either own corner shops or have silly accents like Apu from the Simpsons.

[VukBZ2005]

I think as time passes - the middle class as we call it - will become apart of the
Proletariat. In fact, for a very large part - it has already happened. But not totally
- there still people who are of the middle class - but they are smaller than we think
they are. The people who look middle-class are actually not middle-class - but they
are in a better-positioned part of the proletariat - however, they have the ment
-ality of rich capitalist people. There is no such thing as "Upper-Middle Class" or
"Lower-Middle Class" at all. More to the point - the people who call themselves
that are blinded the spectacle of Capitalism. But as the Proletarian Revolution
nears - i think they will wake up to the truth that they are Working class men and
women. Hopefully, that is.

The Shows on Television that protray this lifestyle of the "American Dream" are
a part of the spectacle as well. It is also a commodity - because the people who
make those shows profit from people watching them and it is of major importance
to them. So Turn off the TV if you can - There's nothing revolutionary on it -
it's Spectacular Capitalist Entertainment.

[redstar2000]

In many respects, I have the impression that the purpose of television is to give people with boring, intolerable lives the chance to "live vicariously".

If a television series has a character that you find attractive/sympathetic, then you can imagine that you "are" that character and that, for a half-hour or an hour every week, you "live" that "exciting, interesting life"...instead of your own shitty life.

The character's "triumphs" become "your triumphs"...forget about the daily defeats, humiliations, etc. that you suffer in reality.

This even extends into televised sports. There was a study done a few years ago with rather astonishing results. Men who rooted for a certain team and watched that team win a game experienced a 20% increase in the amount of testosterone in their blood streams. Guys who were rooting for losers experienced a 20% decrease.

The increase was probably even higher for Boston Red Sox fans. :lol:

Another one of my "crazy ideas" -- we revolutionaries should publicly advocate:

Throw away that dummyvision set!

:redstar2000:

The Redstar2000 Papers (http://www.redstar2000papers.fightcapitalism.net)
A site about communist ideas

[gaf]

well tv works on your mind only if you accept it. like an illusion but if you look at it really(in a critic way) then news are getting absurd(try to look the same news from land to land,channel to channel) you will understand . and a tv soap is only a shame to people if it is an illusion then is it the one of stupidness.

[niwi]

We are not meant to desire ourselves - we are meant to desire the unattainable goals of the American Dream, held up on our television sets. Consume correctly, and you too might live this exalted life.



aaaaand VMC nails it. You can't sell a person the promise of their real selves.

[niwi]

I think as time passes - the middle class as we call it - will become apart of the

Completely - the middle class is shrinking like mad in the current economy.

[Eastside Revolt]

"Throw away your television
time to make this clean decision
throw away your television now
it's a repeat
of a story told
it's a repeat
and it's getting old"

I look around and see people who have no care for fellow man, can't afford education, and have no hopes or dreams more than to own something like that dude on TV. I see people pushing their lives around in buggies. Supermarket attendance is higher on welfare wednesday. Police hasstle and rough-up young and native people, then protect & serve yuppies.

I am also told daily how lucky I am to live in a country where we have all this.

"Throw away your television
time to make this clean decision
throw away your television now
it's a repeat
of a story told
it's a repeat
and it's getting old"

[Rockfan]

I love the red hot chilli peppers redcanada keep it rockin

[refuse_resist]

I agree with everyone. Many of these television shows that get aired potray many of the people who are actually viewing it living a life completely different and wealthier than how the actual viewers do, while at the same time there are often stereotypes about certain people constantly being shown. It just shows that they don't know the reality of what the working class face on a day to day basis.

Take a show like The Swan for example. People are some how shown to be "ugly" or made to be thought of themselves as not looking or being a certain way, which is usually how a "beautiful, good looking" person might be shown to be in mainstream t.v. shows.

[RedAnarchist]

There is a poem called "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised"

I think it sums up what we think of television. I also think that our African-American comrades should ensure that African-American children hear this poem. It may be 20 or 30 years old, but it is obviously quite relevant even today.

You will not be able to stay home, brother.
You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out.
You will not be able to lose yourself on skag and skip,
Skip out for beer during commercials,
Because the revolution will not be televised.

The revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will not be brought to you by Xerox
In 4 parts without commercial interruptions.
The revolution will not show you pictures of Nixon
blowing a bugle and leading a charge by John
Mitchell, General Abrams and Spiro Agnew to eat
hog maws confiscated from a Harlem sanctuary.
The revolution will not be televised.

The revolution will not be brought to you by the
Schaefer Award Theatre and will not star Natalie
Woods and Steve McQueen or Bullwinkle and Julia.
The revolution will not give your mouth sex appeal.
The revolution will not get rid of the nubs.
The revolution will not make you look five pounds
thinner, because the revolution will not be televised, Brother.

There will be no pictures of you and Willie May
pushing that shopping cart down the block on the dead run,
or trying to slide that color television into a stolen ambulance.
NBC will not be able predict the winner at 8:32
or report from 29 districts.
The revolution will not be televised.

There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down
brothers in the instant replay.
There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down
brothers in the instant replay.
There will be no pictures of Whitney Young being
run out of Harlem on a rail with a brand new process.
There will be no slow motion or still life of Roy
Wilkens strolling through Watts in a Red, Black and
Green liberation jumpsuit that he had been saving
For just the proper occasion.

Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Hooterville
Junction will no longer be so damned relevant, and
women will not care if Dick finally gets down with
Jane on Search for Tomorrow because Black people
will be in the street looking for a brighter day.
The revolution will not be televised.

There will be no highlights on the eleven o'clock
news and no pictures of hairy armed women
liberationists and Jackie Onassis blowing her nose.
The theme song will not be written by Jim Webb,
Francis Scott Key, nor sung by Glen Campbell, Tom
Jones, Johnny Cash, Englebert Humperdink, or the Rare Earth.
The revolution will not be televised.

The revolution will not be right back after a message
About a white tornado, white lightning, or white people.
You will not have to worry about a dove in your
bedroom, a tiger in your tank, or the giant in your toilet bowl.
The revolution will not go better with Coke.
The revolution will not fight the germs that may cause bad breath.
The revolution WILL put you in the driver's seat.

The revolution will not be televised, will not be televised,
will not be televised, will not be televised.
The revolution will be no re-run brothers;
The revolution will be live.

-- Gil Scott-Heron

[NeedToShower]

I guess we could call it patriotic propaganda, but then again I do not watch American television, I watch Italian television and well, the shows I watch are very leftist in a certain sense. Comedians tend to send a message, often a good message, so I don’t think I can add much to this thread. I never watch TV series or all that stuff ether.

Movies that are more realistic in economy often tent to be better however then movies where a man got everything thus is perfect. Intellectuals could see the humor and foolishness in this and in the movies way to tell you what is perfect but growing up in such circumstances creates an illusion of the world being better for others and horrible for you thus suicide increase I assume and depression increase and violence increase with jealousy and hate is bigger. I do not see any bonus in this form for false information, however I do not see why the TV should focus on problems only. I believe that if I was in charge of the TV world it would be perfect but I think everyone carry this belief as the TV would suit their tastes, but mine would also suit other tastes, more wishful tastes, but it would in most cases send a message, I think the fact of sending a message is very important, specially in the media.
I do not think that throwing it away will help much, but changing it, and writing about the injustice and bad information it gives could help. Throwing it away is the same as running away, and running away inst always the best answer, it is for sure not going to help now as so many people are operating with this equipment. Protesting and being heard is the only way to reach others in this case.

Just brainstorming, don’t hate me for being wrong if you find me wrong. :)

[Hegemonicretribution]

One of the things that piss me off is whilst the same idea applies elsewhere, BNritain for example, we get double teamed by listening to lies manifested about ourselves and then American lies about everyone. It is not always the best lifestyles on British T.V. we are too cynical for that but the shit stuff is often made daft or unbelievable. The propaganda is through Sky and the cinema, rewrites of WWII are on daily for example.

I ain't turned on a set in over 2 years fuck it.