I am intrigued by how much media and tv reveal about the emotional place a particular culture is in, especially below the surface level.  For example, I’ve always loved media from the ’40s-’50s.  Granted, the content of these movies are a feminists’ nightmare, and they are often disregarded as unrealistically squeaky-clean.  But I personally believe that images of a warm home atmosphere, and simple, happy, silly stories were what people craved because real life contained the nightmare and after-effects of WWII and other social unrests.

That said, I wonder what our media says about us today?  I recently saw a couple clips on YouTube from two of my favorite shows when I was little: Wishbone and Ghostwriter.  Those shows held me absolutely spell-bound.  Now when I watch them it’s amazing how slow they were compared to the break-neck speed and exaggerated acting of kids shows today.  (Granted, I was a little homeschooled girl and watched PBS a lot…most kids were probably watching Nickelodeon which is a more logical precursor to what we see today on Disney channel etc.)  But these shows are so flashy and over-stimulating, I can’t help but think it’s corroding the attention-span of these kids who will then move on to MTV (ugh).

I remember when Survivor first came out, and while I was mildly entertained I still expected the reality genre to fizzle out quickly.  Instead, reality tv has grown and morphed into sub-genres, and now seems to comprise 80% of what we watch today.  Granted, there are some great reality shows out there.  I’m currently addicted to John and Kate Plus 8 (TLC) and try never to miss an episode of Project Runway.  But most of the shows are so trashy…and they will probably continue on.  Networks love them because they’re so cheap to make.

I guess, ultimately it doesn’t matter that so much of our media is of poor quality, as of course there are still excellent shows out there.  And, ultimately there are higher and better things than tv to look to for inspiration.  But, I just wonder…where will we be in 10 years??