Television is society's mirror.
Like all popular media,
from cats-whisker radio
through to the internet,
it refracts the character
of its audience back to them
in ways which make them hide
whilst drawing them in, horrified.
This is most true with light quizzes
-where under the pressure of time
contestants mine their finite knowledge
and reply in cliches for modest prizes.
The prizes are fig leaves,
small enough in themselves
but big enough to disguise
the interests of the biggest winners;
the advertisers, programme makers
and multi-national corporate sponsors,
who for leading the home audience
in flat rules-based one-sided conversations
with occasional spikey one-liners
make everyone deaf to each other.
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