Saturday, September 23, 2006
Nobody puts baby in a corner...
When I got home from class on Thursday night, I tried to watch the season premier of the "The Office", which I thought I had taped, but unfortunately my mom programmed the VCR to tape Grey's Anatomy, so I was screwed. Having nothing to do, I started thinking about what I should write in my upcoming blog.
As I was going through my notes, the first concept that jumped out at me was, "...worker as Automaton." I completely agree that many workers are too tired after a long day to want to even think, let alone actively question and possibly resist the messages being fed in their eyes and ears through television. In my own experience as a waitress, working 12 hour days with a ten minute break to eat if I'm lucky, I have no energy to anything when I get home, so I watch TV. TV soothes and lulls me into a relaxing zombie state. I see the commercials, and even the familiar programming I'm watching, but very rarely do I analyze anything I see when I am this state. I just soak it up and the next time I'm at Wal-Mart, for some reason I feel I must buy the Gillette razors and not the generic ones because generic=not as good. Mimi White's point that people get pleasure from TV is relevant here; although capitalism may be manipulating what I know to be my needs, I like my zombieness (is that a word?), so I trade off thinking about the fact that the hegemonic ideals of the culture industry are permeating my brain, through commercials for Gillette and sitcoms like Friends, for pleasure. However, I also agree with White that although we are affected by everything around us, we are also active agents within our surroundings; we are not fixed/forced to watch anything. I choose to watch zombifying shows when I finish working, but at other times I also choose to watch programs I feel are actually entertaining and socially conscious; "The Colbert Report" is a perfect example. As a comedy show I find it extremely funny, but it is also a social satire on the U.S. Republican party and the Bush administration, so in it's own strange way it is fighting against the white conservative hegemonic ideal. I have choice and I affect the world around me, but that does not mean that at times I do not become an Automaton and just let the world grab me and work it's lulling messages of smooth legs and must-have haircuts into my overworked brain.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Sometimes I also feel like an automaton after a long day of work. I know that going into zombie mode is easy. because no real thinking is required. However, is the culture industry all to blame? Is it our bosses that make us work hard, or is it us that just tune out as soon as we sit in front of a TV? I think that it is a combination of all of the above. It is our responisbility to be aware and concious of what we are watching and how it affects us.
ERIN
I was totally taken with your comment that generic brands seem to be less valuable. I too find myself thinking this without realizing where the stereotype comes from. One thing that I think both the articles we read failed to realize was the scope to which our society is branded.
I also agree with you in terms of enjoying your "zombieness." Although Mimi White does mention that watching TV is pleasurable, neither of the articles mentions how enjoyable the whole zombie experience is -- to just vegetate and not question your system is, unfortunately, nice.
Post a Comment