Macs 100 Study Guide

Readings

* Gray, 2008

* pp. 1-12

* Television entertainment

1. For many of us, entertainment becomes mental zone distinct from information, education, and duty, a time and space away from the routine and strict order of the nine-to-five world

2. Entertainment’s critics launch three major attacks:

3. 1) We see great fear of the incredible powers of television entertainment

4. 2) Entertainment is placed in stark and clear opposition to information, they employ the imagery of invasion, rival armies, and unlawful occupation

5. 3) Particularly when metaphors of narcosis are used, --entertainment’s viewers or “users” are frequently seen as unreliable around such a stimulus, and as slaves to their/ our addiction, hence meaning that entertainment plus humans equals a troublesome combination.

6. Entertainment is still seen as banal, and clearly neither informational or educational

* Whose television?

7. The variation seem limitless, and with each passing year, new options are added to the mix, allowing each viewer to have a different “television” from the next.

8. With so many versions of television, we must never assume that one person’s or nation’s experience can be generalized.

* pp. 102-130

* Communities and social groupings are “imagined” all made from the human mind, people often judge people and places based on televisual depictions,

* “Reality” television is not actual reality because it already happened in early tapings and isn’t live or happening in the moment but just a re-presentation of it

* Representations of minority groups on television completely different than consensus of USA, on television these groups are portrayed a lot less than how much they make up in the USA

* “Escape television” is a healthy coping mechanism

* Multiracial casting becoming more popular,...