What do we do when we at last come together [at Christmas]? We watch TV. To some, this sounds awfully tragic. Shouldn’t we be gathered around the piano instead of the Wii? … All that Christmas idealism is sustained by television. Everything we know about how Christmas should appear and feel, we learned from watching Christmas happen on TV to people who don’t exist. Have a look at the pretty, pretty trees in all those living rooms and in all those diamond necklace ads and in Hallmark specials. What’s the one thing missing from these people’s homes? Correct: No TVs are on. The people we see on television at Christmastime have chosen to put their tree up in a formal living room, safely away from the television. (
Tolkien's heroes are always reading and singing about earlier heroes.Mystery Science Theater 3000 features characters who watch movies and make witty responses, something the MST3k audience would like to emulate.
Although the financial hardship is the main culprit, I don't keep a tv in my current household. Having no tv to default to, and actually making the attempt to build connections with my co-inhabitants, had been enriching to my relationships with people. Not just with the people I live with, but the experiences lends itself to outside by helping me be more attune to what people need - instead of shirking away every time there's 'awkward silence', I rise up to meet that challenge.
Having that said, watching movies/tv series during holidays with families and friends are experience in itself. Sometimes sharing an awesome movie together, if memorable enough, gives that common platform to stand on and look back on later days. If used right, it is a legit, powerful relationship builder.
There is a famous story about a guy who reads about heroes: Don Quixote.
Were older stories more in line with this? The Aeneid doesn't talk about stories, but Aeneas's struggle to find a home for his "household gods" does sound like ancestor worship to me. On the other hand, Achilles tells him that the ancestor worship doesn't make up for being dead.
Basically your saying that people should admire themselves and not their heroes. What's the point of having heroes if you are just going to try to emulate them. A hero is not the same thing as a role model.
Should I not like Superman because I can't be more like him?
Wait, reality check -- is the point of watching TV stories to be inspired by people worth emulating? No, so we're fine.
Much of storytelling is crafted "to delight and instruct" -- not to inspire (that is usually called propaganda).
And anyway, those that do try to evoke a magical, inspirational response *do* have characters who are fascinated by stories. Just from browsing some DVDs nearby: Labyrinth, The Neverending Story, The Lorax, Stand By Me, The Sandlot, Gremlins, The Princess Bride, Jesus of Nazareth, and just about any horror movie has several storytelling episodes within the action.
That the characters don't get their stories from other sources than TV is irrelevant, just like if a scene of baptism is supposed to inspire, it doesn't matter that the water comes from some natural pool or stream instead of piped in using modern plumbing technology. The emphasis is on storytelling (or baptism), not the particular method of transmission.
I think most families are less concerned with emulating heroes and more concerned with getting through unpleasant time and taking up cognitive surplus.
TV doesn't show up in stories because we realize that this is its role, and we don't like to think about it.
Watch (or read) enough stories to relax and keep your mind from falling into the rut of only thinking about mundane things. Stories depict (or should) how idealized people deal with situations to entertain (and enlighten) us. They can bring pleasure, make us think about the big questions (death, heroism, temptation, etc.) in life (that we don't deal with everyday but that we ought to think about once in awhile.)
Stories, from whatever source, can be a nice place to visit but you can't live there.
Interacting with friends and family is where you get the real joy in life. Those of you that feel like watching TV lets you avoid talking with your loved ones have my sympathy (not that a short break to share a good movie with others isn't pleasant also).
I think the real issue with broadcast TV (which is why I don't have it in my home, as apposed to movies I pick) is that it is impossible to avoid inadvertently seeing people degrade themselves so they can get on TV. Whether they live such despicable and pitiful lives when the cameras aren't watching I don't know (I hope not) but that our society enjoys (?--or allows our media decision makers to convince them that they should enjoy) watching freak shows is my issue with broadcast television. Watching such drivel is not going to do anything for you but make you want to vomit (I hope) so avoid it and try to enjoy the people in your life during the holidays.
If you don't can't enjoy your family and friends with only short entertainment breaks, make new friends and keep your visits to family short. If you can't find anyone you enjoy, you need counseling, watching TV isn't going to help you with your real problem.
I was going to switch to only watching Christmas TV specials where the heroes were themselves watching TV, but then I realized that unless the heroes were watching TV in which heroes were watching TV, the heroes would be falling for exactly the same hypocrisy you're warning against, and I wouldn't want my heroes to be hypocritical. I think the really rational thing to do would be to only watch TV about people watching TV about people watching TV and so on. If it's not an infinite regress, it's not good enough for me and my family!
Mike - Considering the number of people that are overweight, eating less, whatever the proximate cause, strikes me as an often good idea. I have noticed that a common criticism in Amazon reviews of Modesitt's novels is that his heroes like good food, and he occasionally describes their meals.
Stories can be considered "models" of real life (at best) and like all models they need to leave things out. You can tell a lot about a writer (or modeler) by what they choose to leave out. Note though that this is indirect, it tells you what the writer thinks makes a good story, not what is inherently important. It is more direct for other types of, supposedly non-fictional, modeling.
Stories are very contrived and not particularly like real life. There's a lot of things in real life that rarely make it into stories, from boredom to excretory functions, and some things that get far more time than they do in real life, notably early-stage romance. Learning the things we should do in detail is not the reason we like stories. Kids in California start learning in 2nd grade that how-to texts are different from entertaining texts and how to distinguish them.
You can get amazingly positive responses from having your protagonists think about fictional heroes they've read about and compare those fictions to their current situation, because, to a certain sort of reader, that makes the protagonist far more sympathetic.
Inspirational stories, both because they are shorter than a lifetime and because they seek to inspire, should have different content than a life inspired by them.
In other words, if I want to instill martial valor in someone, i would show them a story that inspires martial valor. Since I neither want them to inspire martial valor (I just want them to have it) or ignore all other facets of human life, and, for that matter, since they may simply not face the same circumstances as the people in the story, it makes perfect sense that they should live their life differently than the hero. If the hero in the story died charging a pillbox on Christmas, that does not mean the peacetime viewer is a hypocrite for not seeking out a pillbox, charging it, and dying every Christmas.
Heroes Of Heroes
Tolkien's heroes are always reading and singing about earlier heroes.Mystery Science Theater 3000 features characters who watch movies and make witty responses, something the MST3k audience would like to emulate.
Maybe we admire heroes who embrace stories, just not via TV.
Although the financial hardship is the main culprit, I don't keep a tv in my current household. Having no tv to default to, and actually making the attempt to build connections with my co-inhabitants, had been enriching to my relationships with people. Not just with the people I live with, but the experiences lends itself to outside by helping me be more attune to what people need - instead of shirking away every time there's 'awkward silence', I rise up to meet that challenge.
Having that said, watching movies/tv series during holidays with families and friends are experience in itself. Sometimes sharing an awesome movie together, if memorable enough, gives that common platform to stand on and look back on later days. If used right, it is a legit, powerful relationship builder.
There is a famous story about a guy who reads about heroes: Don Quixote.
Were older stories more in line with this? The Aeneid doesn't talk about stories, but Aeneas's struggle to find a home for his "household gods" does sound like ancestor worship to me. On the other hand, Achilles tells him that the ancestor worship doesn't make up for being dead.
Replace "watching tv" with "watching porn" and read everything again.
Basically your saying that people should admire themselves and not their heroes. What's the point of having heroes if you are just going to try to emulate them. A hero is not the same thing as a role model.
Should I not like Superman because I can't be more like him?
"That the characters get their stories..."
Wait, reality check -- is the point of watching TV stories to be inspired by people worth emulating? No, so we're fine.
Much of storytelling is crafted "to delight and instruct" -- not to inspire (that is usually called propaganda).
And anyway, those that do try to evoke a magical, inspirational response *do* have characters who are fascinated by stories. Just from browsing some DVDs nearby: Labyrinth, The Neverending Story, The Lorax, Stand By Me, The Sandlot, Gremlins, The Princess Bride, Jesus of Nazareth, and just about any horror movie has several storytelling episodes within the action.
That the characters don't get their stories from other sources than TV is irrelevant, just like if a scene of baptism is supposed to inspire, it doesn't matter that the water comes from some natural pool or stream instead of piped in using modern plumbing technology. The emphasis is on storytelling (or baptism), not the particular method of transmission.
I think most families are less concerned with emulating heroes and more concerned with getting through unpleasant time and taking up cognitive surplus.
TV doesn't show up in stories because we realize that this is its role, and we don't like to think about it.
Watch (or read) enough stories to relax and keep your mind from falling into the rut of only thinking about mundane things. Stories depict (or should) how idealized people deal with situations to entertain (and enlighten) us. They can bring pleasure, make us think about the big questions (death, heroism, temptation, etc.) in life (that we don't deal with everyday but that we ought to think about once in awhile.)
Stories, from whatever source, can be a nice place to visit but you can't live there.
Interacting with friends and family is where you get the real joy in life. Those of you that feel like watching TV lets you avoid talking with your loved ones have my sympathy (not that a short break to share a good movie with others isn't pleasant also).
I think the real issue with broadcast TV (which is why I don't have it in my home, as apposed to movies I pick) is that it is impossible to avoid inadvertently seeing people degrade themselves so they can get on TV. Whether they live such despicable and pitiful lives when the cameras aren't watching I don't know (I hope not) but that our society enjoys (?--or allows our media decision makers to convince them that they should enjoy) watching freak shows is my issue with broadcast television. Watching such drivel is not going to do anything for you but make you want to vomit (I hope) so avoid it and try to enjoy the people in your life during the holidays.
If you don't can't enjoy your family and friends with only short entertainment breaks, make new friends and keep your visits to family short. If you can't find anyone you enjoy, you need counseling, watching TV isn't going to help you with your real problem.
I was going to switch to only watching Christmas TV specials where the heroes were themselves watching TV, but then I realized that unless the heroes were watching TV in which heroes were watching TV, the heroes would be falling for exactly the same hypocrisy you're warning against, and I wouldn't want my heroes to be hypocritical. I think the really rational thing to do would be to only watch TV about people watching TV about people watching TV and so on. If it's not an infinite regress, it's not good enough for me and my family!
"tv is bad, our tv heroes dont watch it" is a lol argument.
Mike - Considering the number of people that are overweight, eating less, whatever the proximate cause, strikes me as an often good idea. I have noticed that a common criticism in Amazon reviews of Modesitt's novels is that his heroes like good food, and he occasionally describes their meals.
Stories can be considered "models" of real life (at best) and like all models they need to leave things out. You can tell a lot about a writer (or modeler) by what they choose to leave out. Note though that this is indirect, it tells you what the writer thinks makes a good story, not what is inherently important. It is more direct for other types of, supposedly non-fictional, modeling.
Stories are very contrived and not particularly like real life. There's a lot of things in real life that rarely make it into stories, from boredom to excretory functions, and some things that get far more time than they do in real life, notably early-stage romance. Learning the things we should do in detail is not the reason we like stories. Kids in California start learning in 2nd grade that how-to texts are different from entertaining texts and how to distinguish them.
You can get amazingly positive responses from having your protagonists think about fictional heroes they've read about and compare those fictions to their current situation, because, to a certain sort of reader, that makes the protagonist far more sympathetic.
Inspirational stories, both because they are shorter than a lifetime and because they seek to inspire, should have different content than a life inspired by them.
In other words, if I want to instill martial valor in someone, i would show them a story that inspires martial valor. Since I neither want them to inspire martial valor (I just want them to have it) or ignore all other facets of human life, and, for that matter, since they may simply not face the same circumstances as the people in the story, it makes perfect sense that they should live their life differently than the hero. If the hero in the story died charging a pillbox on Christmas, that does not mean the peacetime viewer is a hypocrite for not seeking out a pillbox, charging it, and dying every Christmas.