subversive TV

[Andrew Dinn]

George Haberberger writes:

> At 05:41 PM 7/9/96 +0100, Andrew Dinn wrote:
> >I've been feeling kind of uneasy over the fact that TV does seem to be
> >the common ground for a great many folks on this list -- even, dare I
> >say it, more so than the works of TRP!  (it always seems to spark the
> >longest, most heated debates).  Or am I just being paranoid?
> >Andrew doesn't seem to think so.

Oh no I didn't. I replied to it. But while we are here let's see what
we have to say.

> I can't vouch for the non-Americans on the list, but TV would be a
> common ground for nearly all Americans, I find it very unusual to
> actually know friends who don't have a TV. The statistics for TV
> watching are probably about the same as for masturbation (no
> coincidence), 95% admit it, and 5% are liars. I watch, I find it
> nearly as relaxing as drugs, but with a different sort of hangover.

Sorry to contradict you but TV and video I neither own nor watch
except on those rare occasions when temporarily residing at someone
else's place with inadequate reading matter (has to be more literary
than a soup can or cereal box, although I can get desperate) and a
damn good reason to squat in front of the box rather than just go
upstairs and masturbate or take drugs. Now internet addiction is a
different thing altogether...

> TV is a great paradox when discussing subversive things, being the
> primary media outlet for too many people, it shapes too many
> American's ideas of the world. Coupled with capitalism, it can
> co-opt or trivialize nearly any subversive movement.

Co-option and capitalist coupling. Yes. Imagine Ted Turner in a
leather mask flogging a naked, gagged and bound Rupert Murdoch lying
ass-up on a bed of porcupine quills. That's sort of how I conceive of
TV. Although, maybe it works out to be less fun than this image
conveys.

> And of course, TRP uses TV in 3 of his 4 novels, amost as much as he
> uses the other American archetype, the automobile.

The automobile? Actually, if I was asked to characterise the dominant
mode of presentation in V, V2 and V3 I'd probably say mythic/iconic,
cinematic and televisual (as in soap operatic) respectively. Don't
know where those autos fit in. A-and Lot 49 gets left out of the
picture because, well, it just does.


Andrew Dinn
-----------
And though Earthliness forget you,
To the stilled Earth say:  I flow.
To the rushing water speak:  I am.