Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Getting the message
Last night I realized that TV has a simple, two-pronged message:
1) No one is any better than you, and most people are worse. This is especially the message of most sitcoms, which present people being really awful in every possible way. This is a reassuring message for most folks, it seems, knowing that everybody else continually does things as bad, or worse, than the things you do. A TV character who might seem to be superior in some way will always be revealed to be selfish and petty before too long. And characters who really should be trying to be good will always turn out to be hypocrites, self-righteous tyrants, or nutcases.
2) Despite the fact that no one is any better than you, some people are notably better off than you. So the route to self-improvement offered by TV is not any attempt to connect with God or do the right thing or contribute to others, it's becoming more like the wealthiest people on the planet. If you can just have a little more stuff, a little bit better car, a more expensive house, then you can be more comfortable, and that's all there is. No other kind of improvement is possible. This was driven home to me by the premiere of Julia "Can't Break the Seinfeld Curse" Louise-Dryfus' new show, in which she plays a woman with a very nice house, a brand new car, and her own business who compares herself to the exclusive people who can afford to send their kids to a rich private school. (Only funny line of the show: her son walks into this school, looks around, and says, "Where are all the black kids?")
You'd think that fasting would be leading me into some deep insights about the nature of God or something. Instead, I figured something out about TV. But it reminds me which way truth lies.
1) No one is any better than you, and most people are worse. This is especially the message of most sitcoms, which present people being really awful in every possible way. This is a reassuring message for most folks, it seems, knowing that everybody else continually does things as bad, or worse, than the things you do. A TV character who might seem to be superior in some way will always be revealed to be selfish and petty before too long. And characters who really should be trying to be good will always turn out to be hypocrites, self-righteous tyrants, or nutcases.
2) Despite the fact that no one is any better than you, some people are notably better off than you. So the route to self-improvement offered by TV is not any attempt to connect with God or do the right thing or contribute to others, it's becoming more like the wealthiest people on the planet. If you can just have a little more stuff, a little bit better car, a more expensive house, then you can be more comfortable, and that's all there is. No other kind of improvement is possible. This was driven home to me by the premiere of Julia "Can't Break the Seinfeld Curse" Louise-Dryfus' new show, in which she plays a woman with a very nice house, a brand new car, and her own business who compares herself to the exclusive people who can afford to send their kids to a rich private school. (Only funny line of the show: her son walks into this school, looks around, and says, "Where are all the black kids?")
You'd think that fasting would be leading me into some deep insights about the nature of God or something. Instead, I figured something out about TV. But it reminds me which way truth lies.
