and that's why i don't have teevee

[keryx]

I finally read the Health at Every Size journal that firecat sent me many months ago. I left it on my parents' kitchen table, so maybe they'll read it, too.

In this journal is an article about the Biggest Loser show. The article's not particularly revelatory (unless you didn't know about the show or fat politics), but it tied together this thing I've been thinking. People keep telling me about television they watch. So much of it sounds thought-provoking or just plain good. Teevee seems to get better and better at making interesting use of the medium. Between the quality of much television and others' conversation about it, I feel more and more like not turning it on is tuning me out of the dominant culture in a way I don't like. I'm not really that radical.

But then. So much of teevee is also like Biggest Loser. The whole reality genre seems designed entirely on the principle of schadenfreude. Or even flat-out dislike of other people. It's so exaggerated.

Worst of all, though, as I realize each time I visit my parents and watch their teevee, are the commercials. People keep telling me they don't watch commercials, don't pay attention, are somehow immune. I? Don't think that's true. It's not that you stare in rapt attention at the screen - if you did, at least you'd have a conscious part of your brain to check the validity of whatever message you see and hear. Instead, you don't pay attention and you imagine yourself immune to hundreds and hundreds of seconds of little intimations of the many ways you should hate yourself. And slowly they seep into your pores. They become what you think.

I swear, I'm not all that radical in this regard. I didn't think these things about television advertising before I stepped away from it for awhile. I've watched a lot more teevee with commercials (I do use a television - I've got netflix, and tapes of things, and I have a ton of movies and shows) in the past month or so than I had in probably the previous 6 months. And I? Can actually feel myself become more angry and strident. Two options present themselves - defense (kick television) or surrender (buy whatever tool of self-hate is on offer). I choose, hardly consciously, angry and strident. These are, I think, perfectly valid responses to the barrage of me-hate.

They're just not responses I want to have. I think, right now, that I'd like to be a quiet and reasonable example. As much as I can. I'm not sure I could do that and consume anymore teevee. What about you? Do you watch teevee? Can people truly disconnect from it enough to not consume the crap with the good? I don't think that ever really worked for me.

Comments

[gypsyriver.livejournal.com]

I much prefer watching TV on DVD (we use Blockbuster). But we do have a TiVo so most of our advertising gets forwarded through.

But that doesn't really stop the more subtle hate-thyself messages within the TV shows, movies, etc, even. And there are loads, IME. Just by most of TV being set in a world where fat/old/disabled/etc people don't exist.

I didn't watch TV from ages 15-20 or so. I just wasn't interested. And I never once had a body issue until husband decided to pick up a small TV and order cable. It took a while but the feeling that I was so, SO abnormal eventually sunk in. Maybe this was exacerbated by the fact that I didn't/don't get out much, but I think eventually, it'd sink into anyone.

[maryjholliday.livejournal.com]

I like to think that I observe tv in such a way that I notice the flaws, think to myself what the problems are, get a little mad, then go on my way. I gauge my continued political consciousness on the fact that I DO still get riled up when I watch things like, for example:

the hosts of "What Not to Wear" equating looking better with looking thinner
or
Oprah complaining about being fat
or
Dr. Phil blaming women for turning to prostitution
etc etc etc

I'm such a pop culture junkie that I've somehow managed (I believe) to watch this stuff through a critical lens, pulling out the stuff I do enjoy. I think it also helps that I am active in other ways that are a lot more size-positive (Fatshionista, fat social groups).

Plus, you know, anger can be really inspiring.

[follybard.livejournal.com]

You may have seen this already, but it's making the rounds and ties right into your comments:

Killing Me Softly 3: Images of Women In Advertising (video, about 35 minutes).

Not really anything new in it for those who pay attention to feminist pop-culture critique, but it's well-presented.

[chubbyninja.livejournal.com]

yes...I blame advertising. Advertisers truly are the devil's servants.

[keryx.livejournal.com]

Nah, that's just you!

[queerbychoice.livejournal.com]

I haven't turned on my television in two years. For a little over half that time, I actually haven't been able to turn on my television, because ever since I moved, I haven't figure out how to hook it up correctly in my new apartment. I could probably figure it out if I really cared about figuring it out, but I don't, so I haven't.

I don't feel like I'm missing anything important. I sometimesh ear about shows that sound sort of interesting, and I'm sure that if I spent some time watching a television, I could find something that would interest me. But I also know that the television watching would eat up my free time, and I really, really, really don't like having my free time eaten up. I have too many other things I want to do, that don't involve half the time being wasted on commercials.

I wish I could say that my life is marvelously inspiringly ad-free, but unfortunately, no matter how many ad-blockers I add to my Internet browsers, I still end up seeing an awful lot of ads. I also see ads on billboards and buses and benches and on ym computer at work and so on. So I don't generally feel very sheltered from them at all. But I would definitely not want to invite even more of them into my life.

[sarahmichigan.livejournal.com]

The commercials are exactly the reason I watch zero to two hours of programming a month. Generally, I watch TV shows on DVD-- no commercials.

I have recently gotten into the bad habit of reading magazines of all kinds at the gym, and the sort of "health" mags they keep on hand at the gym have a lot of me-hate ads in them, too. *sigh* I should start bringing my Skeptical Inquirer to the gym to read instead.