TV
Here is a wild moment in film/TV history via the ever entertaining Classic Television Showbiz blog. The two video clips below are from a 1977 episode of “The Mike Douglas Show,” featuring interviews with Star Wars cast members Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, and Harrison Ford. The film is still in theaters at the time of the interviews, and you can kind of tell by the conversations that it is already gaining a sacred, wondrous space in the popular imagination.
One take away for me is how cool Mark Hamill seems, and what a blowhard Harrison Ford is. To be honest, I have held a deep grudge against Ford ever since Charles Bronson died back in 2003. Why? Well, because I read in the New York Post that when asked about his feelings about the passing of a fellow action star legend and thoughts on Bronson’s career, Ford was quoted as responding with something like the following, “Well, I was never much of an action film fan myself, so I can’t comment too much on his career.” What?! Is that your eulogy for the great Charlie Bronson? Pathetic. Now he may have been misquoted, it was the New York Post mind you, but how can I live with such a paltry, pompous ass quote as a remembrance of the great Charlie Bronson? I’m scarred for life.
Anyway, here’s the clips.
data="http://www.youtube.com/v/nbvzbj4Nhtk"
width="425"
height="350">
Produced in 1973 [by Richard Serra and Carlotta Ray Schoolman], “Television Delivers People” is a seminal work in the now well-established critique of popular media as an instrument of social control that asserts itself subtly on the populace through “entertainments,” for the benefit of those in power-the corporations that maintain and profit from the status quo. Television emerges as little more than a insidious sponsor for the corporate engines of the world.
A historical lesson for the potential futures of the internets?
Thanks you Nessman for making my day!
While working my way through The Wire, I found myself thinking about the iconic rap song The Message by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, which traces in song much of the same social themes of urban decay as this kick ass TV series. One thing of interest is that this song focuses on NYC, and more specifically the South Bronx, a part of the apple that became notorious for crime and urban squalor thanks to films like Fort Apache, the Bronx (1981) —a loaded and racist argument about the state of inner city America.
A stream of thought that makes me think about a moment in the fourth season of The Wire when the cops are ordered to make quality of life arrests, which ultimately means busting citizens for small, insignificant infractions in violent crime torn neighborhoods. During the general upheaval amongst the beat cops, one of them notes reasonably, “It worked in New York.” Enforcing quality of life, unchecked development, rampant gentrification, and unlivable space for America’s working poor —all of which makes NYC the poster child for the future of American cities. To quote Clayton Davis, “Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeiit.”
I was doing a little YouTube nostalgia surfing with the bambini, and after our fair share of old cartoons I decided to dredge for early 80s music videos. After enjoying the brilliance of “I Ran” by Flock of Seagulls I searched for “Saftey Dance” by Men Without Hats. And after watching that video, it brought back some really strong feelings, namely how much I hated that video. Here it is, and below you’ll find my brief rationale as to why the is the worst music video ever made.
Now I loved this song, it came out when I was in seventh grade, and I remember thinking that it was up there with Def Leppard’s “Pyromania.” That said, once I saw the video I was forever scarred. I mean how can an 80s new wave band who should be modeling their work on the likes of Devo and Kraftwerk offer up a video set in a kind of Renaissance fair environment? The whole renaissance fair thing is perhaps the most odious aesthetic ever, and having a 1980s dance/new wave song teleported back to the idyllic fields of maypoles and horse drawn carriages is not only wrong, but unforgivable. Where’s the hairspray, parachute pants, and the zippers? How about the insane eye make up and mesh shirts? All they could come up with is bodkins and codpieces? It damaged me when I first saw it, and it hurt just as much last night. What have I done to my children?!
I use Firefox with a lot of tabs. I guess I’m a multi-tasker. Or I have surplus attention. Or they fixed enough memory leaks in Firefox 3 so that opening a new tab is almost cost-free. Until you restart your browser (is there a bug open for this? I couldn’t find one).
I’ve just made a quick movie from the unedited sound of Firefox 3 restarting this morning: Krafty Nacirema (multitasking mix).
Raw materials include: New Order’s ‘Krafty‘ and ‘Confusion‘; John S. Hall’s ‘America Kicks Ass‘ rant, and who knows what else. I liked how it all sounded, so here it is.
Complaints are already circling about the title of the upcoming X-Files feature, X-Files: I Want to Believe. Chris Carter, the original creator of the X-Files, justifies the title by saying:
It’s a story that involves the difficulties in mediating faith and science.
An apt theme for where we are, culturally.
At any rate, a crappy title I can handle. The real challenge will be fulfilling the expectations of fans who have waited six years for this. Almost as tough: capturing the interests of those who won’t have nostalgia tugging on their wallets. Best of luck, Mulder and Scully. I want to believe, too … that the film will be not be sucky.
I’m a big fan of Lost. As a fan, I found this video mash-up hilarious, annoying … and strangely helpful.
One of things I have noticed is that when hanging with a group of friends sooner or later the conversation turns to our mediated lives through television. Without fail, if the company is worth its salt, memories of Larry from Three’s Company, Rerun from What’s happening!!, or even Tootie from The Facts of Life will make there way into the conversation. I have also noticed that if we talk about anything other than Happy Days, the conversation quickly become inaccessible to Antonella, who was born and raised in Italia (woot).
I think this may have changed a bit recently with the advent of media imperialism and cable television, for many of my Italian friends have been recommending US TV shows that I have yet to see, most notably The Shield. I make no excuses for the current state of Italian television or film, for overall it is a god awful series of operatic melodramas. This wasn’t always the case however, and recently I have been introduced to a rich cultural resource that just about every Italian of the network age (translated as RAI) of television treasures: Carosello. Mark Tungate’s article “Are British ads still the best?” describes this Italian advertising tradition as follows:
Their [the Italians] advertising was permanently marked by something called Carosello - the carousel - which was a fixed ten- minute advertising slot screened every day at around 8.45pm from the late 1950s until the mid 1970s. Thanks to a government edict, it had to provide sponsored entertainment as opposed to a hard sell. And because kids loved watching Carosello just before bedtime, Italian advertising began to resemble kiddies’ TV.
The exact dates of the Carosello was from 1957-1977 and his brief overview highlights two fascinating points about this form of advertising:
- These ads seldom highlight the actual product they are pushing thanks to government intervention (further highlighting a point made in a comment on Abject Learning by Jon Beasley-Murray, namely that ads don’t work, or at least in this case Italian ads).
- These ads shaped the nightly routine and sleeping habits for at least two generations of Italian children. Antonella has talked to me about the Caroselli on many occasions, but having no access to this culture before YouTube I was very much in the dark.
Well, I have seen the light, and now you can too. Below are a few outlandish examples of how little these commercials have to do with the product they are selling. The first two are straightforward and need no explanation, the third (which is not subtitled Mojiti is no longer around) features the master comic Totò who is featured in his last role before his death as a cashier in a bank that is being robbed (this commercial is selling broth of all things!).
So, enjoy an Italian tradition that is not culinary.
Related posts on bavatuesdays
I was searching for information about 1980s sitcoms for another post I plan on writing when I came across a pretty phenomenal resource on Wikipedia for anyone interested in the history of U.S. television: a List of United States Network Television Schedules. An article which, by the way, is considered an orphan given the lack of other articles linking to it — what a shame! I imagine the subject has been the premise of several Media Studies/Communications research compendiums/directories that would aid countless scholars in their research (a quick search on Amazon produces at least one). And just think that this information is sitting quietly (even orphaned) on Wikipedia freely available for anyone to use and peruse. That’s open education if I’ve ever seen it!
Here’s an example of the layout (which conveniently links to the Wikipedia article about the TV Show) and a pop (culture) quiz:
Click on image for larger versionNote: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.
Related posts on bavatuesdays
