Many critics in modern society hold their beliefs very near and dear to them and many others try their best to stay as unbiased as possible. I, however am a combination of those two styles. My name is Mike Anderson and I will be critiquing television through the means of this blog. Throughout the semester I’ll do my best to create a better understanding of the social effects television creates in modern society. To do that I will draw on a few theorists of television, all of whom have different opinions on how to go about criticism. I will draw on the theories of O’ Donnell (2007), Sillars and Groenbeck (2001), and Corner (1999) most frequently and occasionally rely on Brunsdon (1993) and Butler (2002) for other areas of expertise, as my personal view of television is most closely tied to the first three. My goals for criticizing TV are simply to understand it better myself, create more understanding for other people, and to engage with my audience.
As I said, the three television criticism theorists I most closely associate with are O’ Donnell, Sillars and Groenbeck, and Corner. I most prefer to look at television as an object of study in terms of the effects it has on society. As Corner alludes to TV displaces culture and that displacement is felt locally, regionally, and even internationally. It will be my job to study those inward and outward forces and how they expand across the population. Though I believe that TV displaces culture, I also know that television never has the same meaning for everyone. Though displacement occurs universally, it can be viewed differently. It is very important for me to persuade my audiences, as O’ Donnell mentions in her piece but also to analyze media coherently in a way that makes a connection with my audience as Sillars and Groenback state. When I look at television, I see very specially targeted niche markets. Demographics are clearly fragmented into channels across the dial and it seems that there is something for everyone on TV. But the way I see it, TV has become so big that it becomes the way we see reality. We think that so much is represented on TV that it must be an accurate representation of reality. The more we study TV and look into what goes into making many of these shows and news programs we can see that is hardly the case. I agree very much with the way Corner put it when he said that television displaces culture. But TV really is as big as it seems, the centrifugal forces of television allow it to spread to every corner of the Earth. So it really does begin to take on a life, and reality of its own. When we as viewers start to think that everyone in the Bronx carries a gun due to watching too much CSI: New York, or Law and Order, it could lead to higher sales of firearms. The same could be said for Midwesterners who think that everyone in California surfs all year long from watching too much Baywatch. The standpoint that O’ Donnell, Sillars and Groenbeck would take would be to, as a critic, make an argument. As this semester progresses I’ll do my best to write about how I feel, but I’ll also make a clear, coherent argument for you, my audience to best understand.
In addition to my view of television I also look at myself as a hegemonic critic, as Charlotte Brunsdon articulates in her piece. I look at myself as more than just an ordinary critic, but I definitely hope to hear from what you like best about television. I think that your thoughts are the best way to stay in touch with reality. I hope that your comments and opinions can help develop an accurate reflection of television effects that I write about. Back to Sillars and Groenbeck, I must describe, interpret and evaluate everything that I write about. That includes making a case, making an argument that is worthy of reading about. But while I’m a subjective author as O’ Donnell points out, I’ll try my best to remain coherent.
References
Brunsdon, C. (1993). Identity in feminist television criticism. Media, Culture and Society, 15: 309-320.
Butler, J. (2002). Television: Critical Methods and Applications (2nd ed). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Corner, J. (1999). Critical Ideas in Television Studies. New York: Oxford University Press.
O’Donnell, V. (2007). Television Criticism. New York: Sage.
Sillars, M. O. and Gronbeck, B. E. (2001). Communication Criticism: Rhetoric, Social Codes, Cultural Studies. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press.
