Oxford life. Thirtysomething challenges. Music leanings. Anything really.
Sunday, February 05, 2006
The contradictions of modern life
Life is fast. Txt is mkng us fstr. Video games flash before us. Movies are edited brutally. We eat breakfast in the car on the way to work.
You would think that TV would be moving in the same direction and be so chock full of information and activity we would be able to assimilate and absorb huge volumes of information.
But oh no, television has gone the opposite way. There is less and less information in an hour's TV than ever before. All those wonderful Channel 4 9pm documentaries, any reality show, things by Derren Brown, ER, there's no bloody content any more.
The endless routine is of tedious build-up of tension, followed by a "what's next..." microclip followed by adverts followed by a recap of the non-happenings of the previous segment. It's stultifyingly dull and a direct contrast to the rest of our lives.
Obviously, I'm a sucker for watching these dull shows, but forget the You Are What You Eat turd-voyeurism and the Supernanny child-abuse, even "proper" shows like Grand Designs increasingly suffer the same disease.
Thank god for the BBC. And thank god for the TV license - a happily paid tax frees the corporation from making shows that are nothing more than padding around adverts for mobile phones.
You would think that TV would be moving in the same direction and be so chock full of information and activity we would be able to assimilate and absorb huge volumes of information.
But oh no, television has gone the opposite way. There is less and less information in an hour's TV than ever before. All those wonderful Channel 4 9pm documentaries, any reality show, things by Derren Brown, ER, there's no bloody content any more.
The endless routine is of tedious build-up of tension, followed by a "what's next..." microclip followed by adverts followed by a recap of the non-happenings of the previous segment. It's stultifyingly dull and a direct contrast to the rest of our lives.
Obviously, I'm a sucker for watching these dull shows, but forget the You Are What You Eat turd-voyeurism and the Supernanny child-abuse, even "proper" shows like Grand Designs increasingly suffer the same disease.
Thank god for the BBC. And thank god for the TV license - a happily paid tax frees the corporation from making shows that are nothing more than padding around adverts for mobile phones.
// posted by Andy @ 8:14 pm 
