Television is made for entertaining, so if it didn't do this we would all be upset and living in a world a little bit like The Invention Of Lying, with Ricky Gervais in it.
So I'm wondering why this apparently real television we watch pisses me off so much. By real I mean factual programming like the news, the news! I watch it in amazement because its no longer just letting us know whats going on in the world, it tells us with an opinion, no matter how unbiased they tell us they are and with so much excitement and speed collecting the latest opinion of the nearest specialist. I honestly don't give a flying monkeys if people think a bloody octopus can predict the future, and I don't need telling in HD! I also think that it all gets over dramatized because people want things fast and now; lets blame technology for this. Shit just needs to stop being blown completely out of proportion. Over compensating a sad story with sad music, we know its sad, its real, don't try and create an Oscar winning sketch when you're telling me someone's just died. Is this being done for ratings figures? I don't know, I hope not, sometimes the news becomes a parody of itself.
Then reality television comes in, theres nothing real about it, stupid people who annoy me put on a pedestal and praised or hated by general public. Whether your feelings be mutual to mine or not its just the same because you are giving them attention. Attention that isn't needed. these people then become 'celebrities'; whatever that means nowadays I'm not sure. But these 'celebs' are thrown into the spotlight and were so hungry for it in the first place that they want to stay there for as long as possible. Being a celebrity doesn't make you talented it just means your being seen by people, no matter what you do. Its down to the individual what you do with this new found stardom but I think the pedestal should definitely be shorter if not there at all. The fact that most of these reality television programmes are scripted just shows that these people are not worth the exposure.
This is where I see a parallel with the news, television slapping a script on what is 'real'. Surely thats not right. Eventually I think actual reality will slowly merge over to what people believe is real on television and nothing will be real. Actual life as we once lived will no longer exist, everyone will have an over-dramatized self awareness but no awareness of self. They will just become the same as the next person and strive for 'celebdom' but 'celebdom' will no longer exist, because that will then be the fucked up reality we all live in. (Not to be confused with fame. I believe people who actually have a talent are 'famous' not 'celebs'.) No matter If people think they are effected by this mediation in television viewing, its quite difficult not to be because its everywhere. But unfortunately it sells, and makes money, and isn't that what makes the world go round? I don't see myself as a critic or as someone who even wants to be heard, this is just being written down to learn a little more about myself, in the form of a rant.
Thanks
