Veronica Mars, Lost, and musings on media effects

Last night, kestrell and I watched this week's episodes of Veronica Mars and Lost. She liked them both, whereas I loved one and loathed the other. Details (and mild spoilers) after the cut:

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A few weeks back I saw someone make a claim (perhaps on james_nicoll's LJ?) to the effect of "There's a pervasive meme in modern pop culture that there is no point in trying to make the world better; you should just accept your place." That struck me as rather startling at the time, though I could easily think of some examples. Since being made aware of it, however, I've concluded that he was right. This idea really *is* pervasive, and I hate it. It encourages the apathy that is letting our democracy be dismembered, one piece at a time.

Unfortunately, that sort of message is inherently reinforced by the very *structure* of the dramatic medium that most (American) TV is done in: the infinitely-expansive serial. As long as the definition of a successful show is one that stays on the air forever, then the characters cannot be *allowed* to effect real change. We see, on Lost, that Charlie is defined by his junkie-ness, Hurley by his fatty-ness, Sayeed by his skill at torture, etc, etc. They may *try* to change, but Fate (and the writers and producers) prevents their efforts from having any lasting effect.

As I said to Kes, in conversation afterwards, this is why I can't read Batman for pleasure any more. Because the Joker *keeps* killing people. No matter *what* the Batman does to stop him, it never works. If "once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, and three times is enemy action" then what can we call a regular pattern that had continued for *six decades*? "Co-enabling" at the kindest, but "conspiracy" sounds like a better fit to me.

On a less serious note, watching TV before bed seeps into my brain in odd ways. At times, my dreams would come to a dramatic point with a musical sting, pause as if waiting for the commercial break to kick in, and then resume. And then there was the sequence where this week's Lost plot was re-enacted as a StrongBad email...

Veronica Mars, Lost, and musings on media effects

Last night, kestrell and I watched this week's episodes of Veronica Mars and Lost. She liked them both, whereas I loved one and loathed the other. Details (and mild spoilers) after the cut:

( Read more... )

A few weeks back I saw someone make a claim (perhaps on james_nicoll's LJ?) to the effect of "There's a pervasive meme in modern pop culture that there is no point in trying to make the world better; you should just accept your place." That struck me as rather startling at the time, though I could easily think of some examples. Since being made aware of it, however, I've concluded that he was right. This idea really *is* pervasive, and I hate it. It encourages the apathy that is letting our democracy be dismembered, one piece at a time.

Unfortunately, that sort of message is inherently reinforced by the very *structure* of the dramatic medium that most (American) TV is done in: the infinitely-expansive serial. As long as the definition of a successful show is one that stays on the air forever, then the characters cannot be *allowed* to effect real change. We see, on Lost, that Charlie is defined by his junkie-ness, Hurley by his fatty-ness, Sayeed by his skill at torture, etc, etc. They may *try* to change, but Fate (and the writers and producers) prevents their efforts from having any lasting effect.

As I said to Kes, in conversation afterwards, this is why I can't read Batman for pleasure any more. Because the Joker *keeps* killing people. No matter *what* the Batman does to stop him, it never works. If "once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, and three times is enemy action" then what can we call a regular pattern that had continued for *six decades*? "Co-enabling" at the kindest, but "conspiracy" sounds like a better fit to me.

On a less serious note, watching TV before bed seeps into my brain in odd ways. At times, my dreams would come to a dramatic point with a musical sting, pause as if waiting for the commercial break to kick in, and then resume. And then there was the sequence where this week's Lost plot was re-enacted as a StrongBad email...