Television And Commercialism

Television and Commercialism

Television is populated with images which are superficial and lack depth.

Programs look more like ads and ads look more like programs. All this leads to a close circle of consumerism. The three excerpts relate to these unifying ideas thus the validity of their argument.

"Surface is all; what you see is what you get. These images are proud of their standing as images. They suggest that the highest destiny of our time is to become cleansed of depth and specificity altogether." (1). We live in a world populated by images. Children's television has concocted small, preset groups of images such as rainbows for happiness, red hearts for warmth, unicorns for magical regeneration, and blondness to indicate superiority ( 2). Images are just that—images which keep the viewer on a superficial level. For instance, in the program Sailor Moon, little girls are kept on a level of clothes and being cute for boys. This is a very unrealistic outlook and short circuits any thoughts of importance in their lives. Barbie, the Mattel doll, also portrays a false image. With her petite, fragile figure, large bust, tiny waist, long legs, big eyes, and vast career ranging from a lifeguard to a doctor, Barbie wins the hearts of many innocent little girls who become subjected to her unrealistic image. Most often in television there is no depth beyond the surface, what you see is what you get. This is very prominent in children' s television, where without the special effects in action- adventure shows, all that is left are shows that lack enthusiasm. For example, many children's programs are alike.

They often involve very innocent, sweet, high-voiced creatures that live in happy land. They are threatened by bad people who capture one of the happy creatures. However they are rescued on the end and everyone lives happily ever after. In response the viewer experiences the emotion of feeling "happy."

These programs allow for a quick emotional response but no deep response that permits you to go past the surface.

However, television allow us to see further at times such as a program about black Americans discovering their roots. Yet shows like this are far and few between. Most of the time, we only see what's on the surfac...

... middle of paper ...

...ly, but in bonded groups: ten or more Care Bears; scads of My Little Ponies; eight

Hugga Bunch plush dolls with their baby Hugglets in their arms." (15). These shows focus on the need for teamwork. Most often in children's television one of the worst crimes you can commit is to be alone.

Consumerism becomes a naturalized act since all you see is superficial and fake. You begin to believe what you see is real because that is all you see, so it seems natural. The ideas of superficiality and lack of depth, as well as homogeneity combine to promote consumerism. Ads portray utopias which convey that we are supposed to think it is the magic of things. Such that if we buy these things they will transform our lives. For instance, if a child has a He-

Man sword he too will have the " Power of Grayskull." These images try to place the product's image onto the image of this transformation and eventually lead to a purchase. (16).

" If we want a different set of images on the screen, we'll have to produce not just better plots, but a different production system with different goals in a different world." (17).