Electronic Hearth: Creating an American Television CultureOxford University Press, 29 oct 1992 - 249 páginas We all talk about the "tube" or "box," as if television were simply another appliance like the refrigerator or toaster oven. But Cecilia Tichi argues that TV is actually an environment--a pervasive screen-world that saturates almost every aspect of modern life. In Electronic Hearth, she looks at how that environment evolved, and how it, in turn, has shaped the American experience. Tichi explores almost fifty years of writing about television--in novels, cartoons, journalism, advertising, and critical books and articles--to define the role of television in the American consciousness. She examines early TV advertising to show how the industry tried to position the new device as not just a gadget but a prestigious new piece of furniture, a highly prized addition to the home. The television set, she writes, has emerged as a new electronic hearth--the center of family activity. John Updike described this "primitive appeal of the hearth" in Roger's Version: "Television is--its irresistible charm--a fire. Entering an empty room, we turn it on, and a talking face flares into being." Sitting in front of the TV, Americans exist in a safety zone, free from the hostility and violence of the outside world. She also discusses long-standing suspicions of TV viewing: its often solitary, almost autoerotic character, its supposed numbing of the minds and imagination of children, and assertions that watching television drugs the minds of Americans. Television has been seen as treacherous territory for public figures, from generals to presidents, where satire and broadcast journalism often deflate their authority. And the print culture of journalism and book publishing has waged a decades-long war of survival against it--only to see new TV generations embrace both the box and the book as a part of their cultural world. In today's culture, she writes, we have become "teleconscious"--seeing, for example, real life being certified through television ("as seen on TV"), and television constantly ratified through its universal presence in art, movies, music, comic strips, fabric prints, and even references to TV on TV. Ranging far beyond the bounds of the broadcast industry, Tichi provides a history of contemporary American culture, a culture defined by the television environment. Intensively researched and insightfully written, The Electronic Hearth offers a new understanding of a critical, but much-maligned, aspect of modern life. |
Índice
3 | |
1 IntroductionPhasing In | 11 |
2 Electronic Hearth | 42 |
3 Peep Show Private Sector | 62 |
4 Leisure Labor and the LaZBoy | 84 |
5 Drugs Backtalk and Teleconsciousness | 104 |
6 CertificationAs Seen on TV | 129 |
7 Videoportraits and Authority | 155 |
8 Two Cultures and the Battle by the Books | 174 |
9 The ChildA Television Allegory | 191 |
10 Comics Movies Music Stories Art TVonTV Etc | 208 |
233 | |
247 | |
Otras ediciones - Ver todo
Electronic Hearth: Creating an American Television Culture Cecelia Tichi No hay ninguna vista previa disponible - 1992 |
Términos y frases comunes
activism activist addict advertising American anxiety argues Arlen artist become broadcast camera cartoon character child Cold War Colonial Revival color consciousness contemporary Corporation critic culture of print David Foster Wallace defamiliarized DeLillo domestic Don Rickles Doonesbury DuMont electronic hearth experience exploit fantasy fiction figure film fireplace Gilligan's Island habitat hyperreal individual individualist instance journalist La-Z-Boy Lee Harvey Oswald leisure living room look Love Lucy magazine Max Headroom medium movie novel nuclear on-screen image on-screen world parents photograph picture political portable portrait President presumed radio Raytheon reader realm reprint Saturday Evening Post says scene sedentary seen on TV shows simulation social Spock television television set television's texts tradition tube TV age TV environment TV image TV receiver TV screen TV set TV viewer TV watcher TV watching TV-era videoportrait watching television watching TV woman writer York Yorker
Referencias a este libro
Media/Society: Industries, Images, and Audiences David Croteau,William Hoynes Vista previa restringida - 2003 |
Hollywood Planet: Global Media and the Competitive Advantage of Narrative ... Scott Robert Olson No hay ninguna vista previa disponible - 1999 |